aaaaannnd.....exhale........
Our biggest conference is finally over! It's been a long few months scrambling to get everything done for our conference in Quebec City but it's done. Finito.
I came home from a long 1.5 weeks in Quebec City. I love Quebec City, but man, were those days ever long. From 6 am to midnight every day. I'm zonked.
It's been tough planning the wedding and this huge conference at the same time, but for the next 6 weeks (SIX WEEKS!) i can focus on wrapping up the wedding stuff.
Did i mention the wedding is only 6 weeks away??!!
I never did tell you the story of the stamps, did i?
Well, if you didn't think i was a bridezilla before, this should change your mind.
So, i'm a bridezilla as my friends often tell me. But i'm not the mean kind of bridezilla. I don't boss my friends around and tell them they have to buy a certain shoe, or buy a certain dress or wear their hair a certain way. But i AM a bridezilla when it comes to the details of my wedding (which, by the way, i often don't think of as my wedding when i'm in planning mode, but just another event that i'm planning). I'm pretty detail-oriented.
So, yes, the stamps. One element of the invitations is of course the stamps on the outside envelope and on the reply card. I wanted to get stamps custom made which you can do through Canada post, but it works out to being about twice as much as buying a regular stamp. It doesn't seem like a lot, but if you normally put a 52 cent stamp on an envelope and that doubles to over a dollar and you need to send out about 70, that's of course, over $70 bucks.
On stamps.
To go one direction.
Of course, double that because you need the reply card to come back which brings you to over $140 (probably closer to $150). Add to the fact that your invitations are HEAVY and bulky and you can probably double that again so add another $70 and you're up to (gone to get the calculator) $220. And don't forget about the international guests so you're looking at about $300.
$300 bucks on stamps. And that doesn't include thank you notes.
NOT IN THE BUDGET.
Sooooo, i nixed the custom stamp idea right away.
However, you know i'm not going to put a crummy regular-old stamp on the invitations that i spent so many hours crafting and perfecting. For some reason the queen's face just doesn't go well with chocolatey autumn flowers.
So i scoured the internet and the canada post website for nicer stamps.
And i found them.
And they were PERFECT!
OH! i was SO HAPPY to find such lovely stamps that cost the same as a regular stamp.
They are commemorative stamps of Ottawa being the capital of Canada for 150 years. They had a gold background (um, perfect fall colour?!) with a beautiful picture of parliament (we live in Ottawa!). They cost 52 cents -------> IN THE BUDGET!
I count out how many i need taking into consideration the distance my invitations need to travel, the weight of my invitations and the reply cards. I enter in the quantity and click submit.
A message pops up: "unavailable"
hmm....maybe i've ordered too many. I try fewer. Still the message reads: "unavailable".
I try to order just one, because surely they have just one of these stamps. Message reads: "unavailable".
fak.
Now, i admit to being a pretty stubborn person and when i decide i want something, damnit, i WANT IT!
i drive to the nearest post office and describe the stamp i'm looking for. The girl says they came out a year ago and that they don't have any left.
I drive to the next post office. Same thing.
And the next one, and the next one. They are completely sold out.
Remember how i said i was stubborn? Still not convinced that i can't have what i want.
i call my mom and my dad who live in another city and tell each of them to scour every post office in the city for these stamps. i put a message on my facebook. i tell everyone i know to look for these stamps.
And then. My director comes to me and says she has a friend who works for Canada Post. Her friend is the executive assistant to the CEO.
She calls her friend.
Her friend calls THE DIRECTOR OF STAMP SERVICES.
I get a call from THE DIRECTOR OF STAMP SERVICES AT CANADA POST.
He wants to know how many of these stamps i need because he can get some for me and can have them RUSH DELIVERED.
Our biggest conference is finally over! It's been a long few months scrambling to get everything done for our conference in Quebec City but it's done. Finito.
I came home from a long 1.5 weeks in Quebec City. I love Quebec City, but man, were those days ever long. From 6 am to midnight every day. I'm zonked.
It's been tough planning the wedding and this huge conference at the same time, but for the next 6 weeks (SIX WEEKS!) i can focus on wrapping up the wedding stuff.
Did i mention the wedding is only 6 weeks away??!!
I never did tell you the story of the stamps, did i?
Well, if you didn't think i was a bridezilla before, this should change your mind.
So, i'm a bridezilla as my friends often tell me. But i'm not the mean kind of bridezilla. I don't boss my friends around and tell them they have to buy a certain shoe, or buy a certain dress or wear their hair a certain way. But i AM a bridezilla when it comes to the details of my wedding (which, by the way, i often don't think of as my wedding when i'm in planning mode, but just another event that i'm planning). I'm pretty detail-oriented.
So, yes, the stamps. One element of the invitations is of course the stamps on the outside envelope and on the reply card. I wanted to get stamps custom made which you can do through Canada post, but it works out to being about twice as much as buying a regular stamp. It doesn't seem like a lot, but if you normally put a 52 cent stamp on an envelope and that doubles to over a dollar and you need to send out about 70, that's of course, over $70 bucks.
On stamps.
To go one direction.
Of course, double that because you need the reply card to come back which brings you to over $140 (probably closer to $150). Add to the fact that your invitations are HEAVY and bulky and you can probably double that again so add another $70 and you're up to (gone to get the calculator) $220. And don't forget about the international guests so you're looking at about $300.
$300 bucks on stamps. And that doesn't include thank you notes.
NOT IN THE BUDGET.
Sooooo, i nixed the custom stamp idea right away.
However, you know i'm not going to put a crummy regular-old stamp on the invitations that i spent so many hours crafting and perfecting. For some reason the queen's face just doesn't go well with chocolatey autumn flowers.
So i scoured the internet and the canada post website for nicer stamps.
And i found them.
And they were PERFECT!
OH! i was SO HAPPY to find such lovely stamps that cost the same as a regular stamp.
They are commemorative stamps of Ottawa being the capital of Canada for 150 years. They had a gold background (um, perfect fall colour?!) with a beautiful picture of parliament (we live in Ottawa!). They cost 52 cents -------> IN THE BUDGET!
I count out how many i need taking into consideration the distance my invitations need to travel, the weight of my invitations and the reply cards. I enter in the quantity and click submit.
A message pops up: "unavailable"
hmm....maybe i've ordered too many. I try fewer. Still the message reads: "unavailable".
I try to order just one, because surely they have just one of these stamps. Message reads: "unavailable".
fak.
Now, i admit to being a pretty stubborn person and when i decide i want something, damnit, i WANT IT!
i drive to the nearest post office and describe the stamp i'm looking for. The girl says they came out a year ago and that they don't have any left.
I drive to the next post office. Same thing.
And the next one, and the next one. They are completely sold out.
Remember how i said i was stubborn? Still not convinced that i can't have what i want.
i call my mom and my dad who live in another city and tell each of them to scour every post office in the city for these stamps. i put a message on my facebook. i tell everyone i know to look for these stamps.
And then. My director comes to me and says she has a friend who works for Canada Post. Her friend is the executive assistant to the CEO.
She calls her friend.
Her friend calls THE DIRECTOR OF STAMP SERVICES.
I get a call from THE DIRECTOR OF STAMP SERVICES AT CANADA POST.
He wants to know how many of these stamps i need because he can get some for me and can have them RUSH DELIVERED.
*blink*
*blink*
I got my stamps the next day and i'm as happy as a clam.
All i had to do was ask the Director of Stamp Services at Canada Post. Who knew?
