The wedding invitations have finally been mailed, and not a moment too soon. I was a woman obsessed. For a solid week, I complained to anyone who would listen about how the United States Postal Service recently increased their rates from .41 to .42 without offering wedding-worthy stamp designs. This effectively left me to choose either a Forever stamp, a Flag stamp, a Frank Sinatra stamp, or a .41 stamp and a .01 stamp combination.
“Go with Frank Sinatra. He’s classy,” a friend advised, causing a lengthy discussion about Sinatra’s attitudes towards women.
I visited more than a few post offices, trying to track down the .41 cent stamps that were especially designed for wedding invitations. I heard rumors of another .41 stamp that featured spring blossoms. Finding none, I sent many postal clerks digging through caches of old stamps for any winsomely-themed stamp.
“I got a .41 stamp commerating the Chinese New Year. It’s a nice shade of red,” one clerk offered to my amused horror.
I wound up selecting the .41 cent “Pollination” series (here) paired with the .01 cent Tiffany Lamp stamp. The Pollination series proved to be semi-acceptable to my inner Bridezilla, except one of the pictures in the montage features a bat pollinating a flower. Oooh, the pollinating bat bothered me. I carefully sent the bat stamp only to guests whom I felt would be oblivious to stamps in general, or open-minded enough to delight over an invitation featuring a pollinating bat.
“What’s wrong with bats?” Mr. Pinault asked, causing an argument about whether a blood-sucking flying mammal that is associated with fictional characters of the night is a proper symbol of our love.
