As a bride, you would hate to try on a wedding dress you love, or find a wedding vendor you connected so well with, only to find out what you wanted is out of your price range. Our hope at Tatum Acres is that through our combined wedding industry knowledge, we can educate brides with wedding planning tips on hidden wedding costs and how to plan the wedding of their dreams without sacrificing the start of a healthy financial future. Today’s hidden cost you don’t want to miss: wedding invitation postage. Avoid sticker (or stamp) shock by researching as much as possible when carving out an allowance for wedding invitations and postage from your wedding budget.

Photo: Tiffany & Makenzie, Stationary: Along The Lines

Now, the cost of an invite itself is another story, but here’s what to look out for as far as postage so that you’re not surprised when you have to pay additional for the following hidden wedding costs:

The heavier the invitation suite, the higher the postage: You know you will need stamps for your outer envelope, but don’t assume you can get by with a standard stamp. Rather than purchasing a book of stamps and sending them out, go to the post office to have your invitations weighed. A suite with more pieces, such as a direction card or map and separate RSVP envelope, will be heaver. Therefore, your cost per invite can quickly jump from the standard $0.34 to as much as $2.03 (for a 1st class large envelope). That being said, if you have a guest list of 150 people, the additional postage quickly adds up.

Invites that are oddly shaped are more expensive to mail: This doesn’t just apply to those fancy boxed invitations! According to the post office, brides can expect to pay a non-machinable surcharge of $0.21 per invitation for square invitations, items that are too rigid or don’t bend easily, or envelopes that have non-standard closures like strings or clasps. Again, it depends on the weight of your unique invitation, but a 1st class 3.5 ounce invitation that is considered an odd size can cost you $1.33 per invite.

Yes, you do need RSVP card stamps: This is an additional hidden wedding costs! Some brides forget, while others think they’ll pass along the cost to their guest. Wedding etiquette will remind you that if you mail someone an RSVP, you need to send them pre-stamped. Few people’s houses are stocked with stamps, so making someone go out of their way to get one in order to RSVP is considered poor etiquette. Again, just in case your RSVP card is heavier than normal or considered to be an odd shape, have it weighed at the post office just in case to determine what kind of stamp you will need.