Postcrossing Blog

We’ve written about postcards and weddings on the blog before (here or here), but these sweet stories keep showing up on our inbox, so we thought it was time for a new roundup of these happy moments.

The first story comes from Portugal! When Teresa (aka Tenar) learned that her close friends were going to get married, she invited the Postcrossing community to surprise them with messages from around the world. She enlisted the help of her friend Sofia (aka suphiia), and together they collected over 100 postcards and even little gifts and drawings which were offered to the bride and groom on their wedding day. Everyone was moved by the kind wishes and the thoughtfulness was put into this wonderful gift.

Zijie (aka zijie) from China and Karsten (aka dagonno) from Germany) met through Postcrossing back March 2014, exchanged some postcards back and forth… and the rest is history, as they say! They got married in July this year in Denmark, and sent a few postcards from there to mark their special day. Karsten’s sister even designed a big round postcard for the occasion too, which was signed by all the guests — a very nice souvenir!

And the last story comes from Albert and Cassey (aka albertcass) in Malaysia, who also got married in July this year! In the months prior to their wedding, they collected 160 postcards with messages of all kinds, from lyrics of romantic songs, to Bible verses, to practical marriage advice. The love shown by fellow Postcrossers was just immense so the couple, as promised, displayed the cards during their wedding which also featured postcards as the main theme. Here’s how it looked:

Awww… so many sweet displays of love and generosity. Congratulations to all the newlyweds, and thank you for sharing your special days with us! We love to hear all the creative ways in which postcrossers use their postcards, and how they’re included in your special days, so please keep sending them our way. And now if you’ll excuse me, I think I have something in my eye… 😭

Caitlin (aka Harbs0412) is a wedding planner and postcard-lover from the USA. For her own wedding earlier this year, she decided to combine her two passions and include postcards on her special day! She explains:

Letter and postcard writing is a big part of my life. I have been a postcrosser for over 3 years and I have 7 penpals – a few friends from college but also some I have never met. My husband and I also have a long tradition of writing letters as he is in the military and when we are separated we write each other letters."

For some time before the wedding, Caitlin collected postcards from different places via Postcrossing. She then used her favourite received postcards to make a back drop in a frame for cocktail hour.

She also collected blank postcards and had all her guests write notes on them… a guest book of sorts, written on postcards. A friend then saved the written cards, and will be in charge of mailing them to the couple throughout the year. Brilliant!

What did people write on the cards? Caitlin says a little bit of everything, from advice for the newlyweds to kind words about the wedding… They’ve gotten a few of them back already, and had a lot of fun reading the spontaneous messages from their special day.

Doesn’t that sound like a lovely idea for postcard lovers? Well done Caitlin, and congratulations! :)

“Hannah Brencher’s mother always wrote her letters. So when she felt herself bottom into depression after college, she did what felt natural—she wrote love letters and left them for strangers to find. The act has become a global initiative, The World Needs More Love Letters, which rushes handwritten letters to those in need of a boost.” (source)

I’m sure postcrossers understand better than anyone the difference it makes to get home after a long day and find something special on our mailbox, waiting to cheer us up.

Hannah extended this concept of cheering up strangers via real mail to love letters, which she collects every month, from all corners of the world. The letters are then repacked in bundles and forwarded to people in need of love and encouragement. She explained the inspiration behind The World Needs More Love Letters on this short & sweet TED Talk:

Doesn’t it make you want to write a letter today? Check out her website for more information on how to help!

By the way, if you’re feeling inspired to write more this month, the second edition of the Month of Letters project is just starting – grab your stationery supplies, address book and start penning those letters! :)

First of all, happy New Year! We hope 2012 brings lots of smiles to your mailbox! We start the year with lovely news: a Postcrossing wedding!

Ivan, the groom, writes on his blog that he met Natalia in a Postcrossing meeting in Ukraine, over a year ago. Since then they’ve done a lot of things together, like a photography course, kayaking, and of course, attending more Postcrossing meetups (like this one in Balaklava).

Last fall, they decided to get married on the 26th of November, and send a lot of cards to their friends. Here are a few photos from that special day:

Don’t they look lovely? Congratulations Ivan and Natalia, and thank you for sharing your story with us!

Today we would like to share with you a love story. It’s one of the many wonderful stories we receive from our members about their use of Postcrossing.

Hi!

My name is Mircea and I want to tell you the story of the “relation” that I’ve created between my grandmother and Postcrossing. My grandmother (mamaia – in Romanian – which is her name in Postcrossing) is a 78 years old lady living in Timisoara. I wonder if she is the oldest or not. I’m just curious about that! She is a retired math teacher and loves postal services. For example one year ago, she has sent me a telegram (a really rare thing in this times) to wish me happy birthday.

I have made the account in her name because she is old and doesn’t know languages other that Romanian and also doesn’t know how to use a computer. I have asked every one to write her in Romanian. So I’ve created a pattern that can be copied and by the sender to include the sender name and location. In that way, my grandmother can read the postcards she has received. Every time she got a new one she makes a call to me and I registered the card. We live 600km apart, she in Timisoara in the western part of Romania and I in Focsani, which is in the eastern part.

I also chose, write and send her cards in the world. Some senders write something more in Romanian than I have asked them and that is a great feeling.

Love from Romania from KLMircea and Mamaia.

If you have an interesting use of Postcrossing, please share it with us!