[Alyson Kuhn] I want to follow up on yesterday’s post presenting the King & Queen of Love. The King and Queen are Love stamps, as differentiated from wedding stamps. In 2006, the Postal Service began offering a duo of stamps especially for wedding invitations, one for the invitation {1 to 2 oz} and one for the response envelope and card {less than 1 oz}.
Michael Osborne designed the first-ever US wedding stamps, a pair of “love doves” inspired by antique calligraphic illustration. After Michael had created the stamps, the US Postal Service commissioned him to design a companion booklet, which I had the pleasure of writing. It’s called Weddiquette: The official guide to mailing your wedding invitations. And it is still available from the Postal Service. The original booklet has not been revised, so the referenced rates are now out of date, but all of the other facts and finessements – presented in smart charts, detailed diagrams, and chatty captions – still pertain.
You do not need to be a bride to benefit. Weddiquette™ is handy for anyone interested in addressing with aplomb. It covers the envelope equator, from abbrevs. to ZIP™ Codes. As I said at the time, these style tips “will help you avoid Envelope Heartbreak Hotel, where beautiful invitation envelopes are ‘all dressed up with no way to go.’” Weddiquette™ is not available à la carte; it is served with a booklet of love-dove stamps {a $20.40 value!}. The stamps make a lovely checkerboardy pattern on a large envelope or a package. When you place the two denominations side by side, the surrounding foliage forms a single heart shape. Sweet.
For dessert, savor these French stamps I bought in Paris in 2002. Would you lei down and laugh with delight if you received a wedding invitation with this azure stamp? Oui would. Bonbon appétit!
That’s so cool that you were the one who wrote the USPS wedding book and that it is still available after all this time.