5 Times You'll Wish You Had A Stamp During Wedding Planning

Expressionery provided the items for this post. All thoughts and opinions belong to A Bride On A Budget.

I. Love. Stamps. I love stamps.

Okay, pause and go back and read that in your best Oprah "I love bread" voice (you know, the one from this commercial). I understand Oprah's passion for bread. I mean, who doesn't love bread? Here in North Carolina, we can't get good bread like we could when we lived in New York, so it's a sad struggle. I still love bread, I just can't eat it every day like her.

But we're not talking about bread. We're talking about stamps. And I love stamps for wedding planning. If you started wedding planning without stamps, once you get one, you'll love stamps too. I don't mean postage stamps. We're talking about nice, self-inking stamps.

You need them. Every bride needs them. Shoot, Oprah could use one to label all her bread. But why you ask. Why do I say that my favorite gift to give newly engaged couples is a personalized stamp? It's simple, really. You will get so much use out of them, plus it will save you so much time. And when you're wedding planning, you really don't have time to spare. So time you can save is a blessing.

5 Times You'll Wish You Had A Stamp During Wedding Planning

1. When You're Addressing Envelopes.

This is an obvious one. Think of all the return addresses in your future. There are engagement party invitations (and thank you cards for that), save the date cards, bridal shower invitations (and thank yous), wedding invitations (and another set of thank yous), plus you have to address your RSVP cards that are stuffed into your wedding invitations. That's eight sets of return addresses. Let's say you send out 100 invitations for each event, that means writing your address 800 times.

Ouch.

Instead, you can pick up an address stamp, like the Love Address Stamp from Expressionery. My suggestion would be to put both your first names on it and no last names. That way, you can still use it after you get married and it doesn't seem messy with the bride's maiden name on it (in case she chooses to change her last name).

2. When You're Making Wedding Favors.

You don't have to order thank you tags if you have something like the Handmade Address Stamp. You can use a paper trimmer to cut tags from a piece of card stock, poke a hole with a one-hole punch, then stamp them with your handmade stamp. This is perfect for any favors that you make yourself (like our homemade fudge maybe?).

If you're giving favors that you didn't make yourself, you're better off with the In My Heart Custom Stamp. You can personalize it with your names or you can just write the words "Thank You." That's what I would do ... mostly because after your wedding, you can lend it to your best friend for her wedding and no one will really realize you shared.

3. When You're At A Bridal Expo.

Before my first bridal expo, someone told me to bring an address stamp. I didn't understand why, so I didn't bring one. My cramped hand at the end of the expo really wished I had listened. Each vendor wants your name, phone number, and email address so they can get in touch with you. It's a lot easier if you already have this information in a stamp. Just stamp it and move on to the next vendor.

A quick tip: Create a separate email address for wedding planning. That's the one you'll put on your stamp and give to vendors. You'll have all your wedding emails in one place and you won't have to sift through countless emails with funny cat photos to find the one from the photographer you love.

4. When You Need Thank You Cards.

I always like to give a pack of thank you cards to my friends who get engaged. That way, when anyone gives them an early congratulations gift, they have a thank you card ready to send. If not, they risk being caught off guard and needing to run to the closest store to pick up a card.

But what if you need a card and don't have one handy? If you have a piece of card stock and a stamp, you're in luck. Fold and cut the card stock, then stamp the bottom right corner with a monogram stamp, like the Detailed Diamond Monogram Custom Stamp. You could stamp in the middle too, but I think the bottom right corner seems a little more artsy -- and a little less last minute.

5. When You Feel Like Personalizing Everything!

If you have stamps, you should use them everywhere you can. Get your money's worth, ya know? I used the With This Ring Custom Stamp to make personalized drink stirrers, just because I could. And you should do the same thing. Making wedding welcome bags? Stamp them with your wedding logo instead of purchasing stickers. Feel like making paper wedding koozies? Put your logo on them. Want personalized napkins? Pick up plain cocktail napkins and stamp those too. You can really stamp anything, so the only limit is your imagination.

You can check out Expressionery's website here. If you fall in love with something, now is the time to buy it. You can save 25% off your total with the code SPRING25. That code will work on all products on Expressionery. If you're just looking for stamps, you can get BOGO stamps (through March 20) with the code BOGO16. You'll also get free shipping on orders of $50 or more.

The items in this post are projects I made using stamps from Expressionery. The tutorials for the homemade gift tags and drink stirrers will be on the blog soon!

BRIDAL BABBLE: When did you wish you had a stamp during wedding planning?