I tried, you guys. I tried to be normal. I walked to the post office, waited patiently in line, and when I got up to the counter I expressly asked for the “King and Queen of Hearts” stamps. The USPS employee looked me dead in the eyes. “Oh, we don’t have any of those,” he said. “We haven’t had them for months.”
Okay then.
He pulled some samples out of a drawer and pushed them in front of me. “Is this for a special occasion?” he asked. Yes, a wedding. He showed me a stamp with two gold bands on them. Eh. He showed me a stamp with some purple flowers and the word “love” on them. Eh. Then I spotted the ones. “This,” I said, plucking a sheet from the pile. “This will do nicely.”
I purchased four sets of “Cowboys of the Silver Screen.”
Do Hollywood cowboys of yore have anything to do with our wedding theme or location? No. Do they have anything to do with our wedding invitation design?* No. Do the beau and I share an interest in old western films? Not in the least. But you know what? They make me happy.
And at the very least, my grandparents will get a little thrill out of seeing Tom Mix on their envelope.
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* To make matters worse, the only stamps they had for postcards had polar bears on them. So yeah. Polar bears and cowboys will be adorning my invitations and RSVP cards. When will the horrors ever cease?
oooh! those are fantastic. Nice choice!
And that is the perfect example of how you plan a wedding.
Ask questions.
Do a little research.
Keep the faith.
Do what makes you happy.
Cowboys fucking rock. No doubt.
Cowboys! Best ever.
[Also, I saw some comedy video where a lady did a dramatic reading of wedding message boards in which people talked about the polar bear stamps. It made me laugh, but mostly irritated me with its, “aren’t these chicks who care about the weddings the WORST?” vibe. I cannot find it this morning, which might reflect my meager motivation to rewatch something I had such mixed feelings about more so than its actual unfindability.]
Yeah, it’s kind of about finding your happy place. The stamps were something I felt like I should care about, and think for a very long time about, but what it came down to was: on a sudden lark I went to the post office and bought stamps. This act alone felt like I was thumbing my nose at the Martha Steward detail-obsessed thing, which made me feel elated and superior. On the other hand, I spent THREE DAYS trying to get the @font-face CSS styling property to properly work on the wedding website, because OMG, there was no way in hell I was going to let our guests read the site in Georgia. No. They would read the site IN THE FONTS I PICKED, OR ELSE EVERYTHING WOULD BE COMPLETELY RUINED.
So. I suppose the moral of that story is that it’s OK to care about wedding details, but the things you actually care might not be what anyone else cares about, and vice versa.
Hahaha, I love these. I would have put cowboys on our invitations in a heartbeat. Moving forward in the face of disappointment to something else that makes you happy is always a good thing.
lol! I saw those and almost went for them! But I did get the king/queen to appease my mama who had called me freaking out saying, “JEN! I FOUND THE BEST STAMPS EVER OMG! THEY HAVE PURPLE FLOWERS AND SAY LOVE!!!!! AHH!! HOW MANY SHOULD I GET? 200!? 300!? a MILLION!”
crazy.
and we totally have to polar bear, too! I dig the polar bear. and the cowboys.
Haha, awesome.
Love the cowboys! And also love that you cared enough to want to choose your stamps, and then didn’t care enough to worry when what you wanted wasn’t there. I’m so with you on that.
Dude. Roy Rogers was MADE for wedding invitations. And way awesomer than “love” stamps.
sweet! Cowboy stamps are reason alone to send invites!
we had dolphins and The Simpson on ours!
Oh, the Simpsons!!! That’s so awesome. I wish I’d known about those! My very first choice of all was Calvin and Hobbes, but I was depressed to learn they came in a pack of “Sunday Funnies.” Dude, I’m sorry, I’m not putting Beetle Bailey stamps on my wedding invitations. And I’m not buying 75 billion stamp packs just so I can use all the Calvin & Hobbes ones and throw the rest away. Sigh.
My mom once bought a pack of children’s storybook stamps just to have the one stamp with my daughter’s favorite book on it. I’m pretty sure she used the rest, but yeah, the Olivia stamp was the bomb.
I no longer buy pretty stamps or cute band-aids. I have discovered that they are acquired by others in my house to be used to mend their stuffies’ boo-boos and for multimedia art projects.
As Tony likes to joke, “This is why I can’t have nice things.”
The cowboys are awesome. When did it become a requirement that the stamps match the contents of the mail, anyway?
BTW — why is that the only postcard stamp is a polar bear? It seems so arbitrary.
I would totally laugh if I got an invite with these on them. They’re awesome to say the least.
We got the King and Queen stamps delivered (purchased online) last week to send our invites. Now I sorta wish I had those sweet cowboys 🙂
I take it your invites are designed, printed, and ready to go?
Uhhhhhhh, not quite. We ordered the paper but it hasn’t been delivered yet, and I am still dicking around with the final design. BUT! Progress! Hooray!
Those are awesome stamps, I have never looked at a stamp that came on an invitation, BUT if it was a cowboy, I know I would.
YAY! I really wanted the Calvin and Hobbes ones too, but not all the other comics. And I think it’s wise not to care about stamps. I bought my artist-stamps and now the post office might go and boost stamp prices before we can use them. If so, I have a Jan 2 limit to my invitation procrastination. Shit.
And, if anyone asks (which they won’t) remind them that So Cal is home of the western (Really. They used to film them about a mile from where I grew up in LA). I can’t help with the polar bears though. But cuteness doesn’t need help.
Those are awesome!!! We did the king and queen of hearts stamps because they were the only thing. those wedding bands are snoozaroo.
One year for xmas cards I sent them with Alfred Hitchcock stamps. If I could send everything with random goofballness, I would.
And since I still haven’t sent out my thank you’s yet, you’ve given me something to look forward to…
Diggin the cowboys.
Our STD postcards were adorned with postcard stamps of halved tropical fruit. I thought a sliced papaya was a little vulgar for a lesbian wedding, but what can you do. That’s what they had in stock!
I was thisclose to buying those cowboys for ours!! But then they came out with the purple love flowers and they matched our colors. Oh well. I will live vicariously through you and your awesome cowboy stamps!!!
We totally did the Simpsons. I’m sure the great aunts were confused, but the groom’s brothers loved it.
We had the Queen’s head on ours – wish we’d had a choice. These are AMAZING. Love them!