Explain Hand Canceling to Me Please.

If your invites are bulky or a unique size, I can see why they would want them hand stamped.

I think I'm just going to let the machine take care of it. Mine are in a regular size 10 envelope, and not going to be bulky or fragile in any way.

I think it's awesome that your designer suggested that. It's an added touch to show they care about the little details. Not a bad idea by any means.

My cousin let her invites get metered instead of buying stamps. I thought it was kinda tacky especially since her wedding was very formal , definitely not a casual affair.

Why would you want to hand cancel? I never heard of that.. lol

It's not metering, it's what it says, as odd as that sounds.You place stamps on each envelope beforehand, then the postal clerk will actually cancel each letter with a hand stamp as to avoid sorting machine rips and metering marks, ect.

Hint!- When wanting this done, go to a smaller post office if possible and try to arrive during a slower time of day. If the worker seems as though they are placing them to the side, give your best smile and say you've never seen it done before and you'd love to see. It's a polite way of saying, I know you're planning to throw them into the machine and I'm not going to let you.

Hmmm, never heard if this. i think im going to try it.

I would never be able to get that done in Chicago....pigs would fly first

LOL Katie!

I tried to ask about hand canceling at my post office and they showed me the stamp. It was a huge stamp and they said the ink often smears so oftentimes it can look worse than just running it through the machine. Of course they could have just been saying that to prevent more work? But I don't think so since they were offering me the stamp to do myself so I ended up just letting it go through the machine. I should've mailed one to myself as a test though to see how it would look.

My invites were hand canceled. The sorting machine presses the invite flat so if there is anything like a belly band or wax seal or anything like that- Your invites will get ruined in the mail. I had a burlap belly band and monogram around my pocket invites. I needed to hand cancel. Even my STD's had a knot on the right side and I didn't hand cancel and the knot popped through the envelope when it went through the machine. I saw them hand cancel all of my wedding invites and its just a red stamp that they stamp over the postage stamp. (it doesn't smear any more then a normal stamp would) It only goes through that machine to put a marking over the stamp so it can't be used again. Hand Cancelling removes that step. It will still be sorted but the sorting machine doesnt press it flat.

The postmaster at our post office offered to do it for me for free. If you ask nicely, maybe they will just do it? It looks better when it arrives on the other end if it has been hand cancelled.

I wish I would have known about that when I sent my STDs! My STDs were post cards and when they went through the machine some of the pictures got a little smeared!

It is often recommended that if you have any bulky embellishments to have them hand cancelled instead of running through the machine to prevent any damage to the invite.

On the flip side, I have read during my own research in deciding what to do with my invites that sometimes hand canceling may not prevent your invites from going through the machines at any other post offices it passes through beyond the initial. I don't know for sure what is exactly the case.

As for my invites, I had pocket invites that were embellished with a rosette ribbon lace, as well as small rhinestones here and there. I chose not to have them hand cancelled and as far as my knowledge, all arrived in perfect condition at their destination. However I also did both inner and outer envelopes so that might have provided some extra protection.

Here are a couple photos of mine as an example. (envelopes seen were the outer envelopes which is why they were so much bigger than the invite)