9/3 updating status...

Hello. I figured if anybody could help with this request, it would be the FT Community.

MrKS and I are finally getting married. After 2 years dating New York-San Francisco (thanks AA! We loved the Fly 3 promo ) and 3 years living in the Bay Area, we've decided to make our grandmothers happy and get married. The shindig will be on the East Coast and I don't know where the honeymoon will be because MrKS is keeping it a secret for now. (I think somewhere in Africa.)

What I'd greatly appreciate:

We thought it might be nice to have photos and postcards from the places we've been as decorations at the wedding. We'd either put the postcards on the tables or maybe put them in a central box with stamps and people could write wedding/marriage advice and send them to us. I've been going through our travel albums and realize that we have lots of photos but not many postcards.

So, I'm in search of blank, unstamped postcards from certain places. If you happen to live in, or be traveling to, any of these places I would love if you'd buy me 5-8 postcards and send them to me in an envelope. I will happily reimburse you for the postcards and the mailing costs.

The wedding is towards the end of August, so it would be great to have the postcards by the end of July (so we know what we have and what we're still missing).

If you can help, please send me a PM and I'll send you my address (Bay Area).

Thank you very much!

Postcards wanted from:

Delhi - DONE!
Agra/Taj Mahal - DONE!
Jaipur
Jodhpur
Fatehpur Sikri
"Rajasthan loop" (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Fatehpur Sikri) - DONE!
Udaipur
Cochin (inc. if possible a postcard of the Pardesi Synagogue) - DONE!
Kerala/Backwaters (esp. Kathakali theater and the wooden kettu vallam boats that you rent on the backwaters) - DONE!
Goa (Old Goa, Se Cathedral, Palolem, Benaulim) - DONE!
Ellora and Ajanta Caves

Bogota, Colombia - Done, thanks Viajero Vojen
Cartagena, Colombia - Done, thanks Viajero Joven
Costa Rica - Done, thanks Viajero Joven
Puerto Vallarta -- 1 down, still in search of some more, thanks Viajero Joven

Hong Kong - DONE! Thanks Turing! (It turns out that he lives about 12 miles from me, so we got to meet in person and compare wedding planning stories... )
Tokyo (may have a lead on this) - DONE! Thanks Turing!
Kyoto - DONE! Thanks Exsynner
Hakone

Las Vegas - thanks Bazsika!
Seal Beach (near Los Angeles)
The Getty Museum (Los Angeles) - thanks tnarg-LAX!
Yosemite

By the way, I am happy to return the favor and send you postcards from New York or San Francisco or the Bay Area.

Thank you!

PS. Moderators, if it is not okay to reimburse for postcards and postage, please let me know, and suggest what I could offer as an alternative. Thank you.

What an interesting thread.

Question, though: Since you want unstamped postcards, wouldn't your photos be the same thing as the postcard? Unless you were going to show the back of the postcards or something...?

I'll check my stash and see what I have. Most of the postcards I buy are mailed shortly after then, but every once in a while I forget that I bought them.

Thank you. It was an interesting exercise -- to see where we'd each been before we met, where we've been together, and where we still want to go (of course the last category is the longest ).

What we're thinking is that we'd frame 1 picture of us at each place and we'd put that on the table (maybe next to a flower centerpiece or something from that place). Then people's table assignments would be the place name. (Mr. and Mrs. Smith - Cartagena, Mr. and Mrs. Jones - Kyoto, Ms. Doe - Jaipur, etc.). Then we thought we'd put 5-8 postcards on each table -- addressed to us and stamped. Then guests could write some good wishes or words of advice and either leave them for us to collect at the end of the day or mail them to us from their home. So the postcards would end up being a combination of a guest book and a "gift" that we get in the mail. I'm not entirely sure it will work, but we thought we'd give it a try. And for what it's worth, some of the trips we've taken were to attend the weddings of friends who will be at our wedding, so it will be meaningful for us and hopefully fun for them too.

What an absolutely lovely idea! I'll do what I can and PM you once I have. I'll be in LA next weekend so will try for the two you need from there. Also, if no one can get you Yosemite, I can easily have that sent to you from there. I have Las Vegas covered for you too. I'll check and see what I have for HK

Truly, one of the best ideas I've ever seen for a wedding. Good for you for thinking of it!

How fun! Now I sort of want to attend your wedding just to see how it goes.

I've been lucky enough to visit most of the places on your list, but I don't think I have much in the way of unused postcards. As I stated earlier, I will check though.

What a great idea! baglady has you covered on the places that I could get you covered (Getty, Vegas, Yosemite). But if those fall through, then let me know.

I had some friends get married - him from the US, her from Australia, so we were seated at tables w/ names - Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, etc. It was fun.

Congrats on your wedding! Cheers.

Excuse me. I didn't see Brooklyn on your list.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding.

You've been getting together on the East Coast, at least some of the time, for three years and never visited either Boston or Providence? If either or both was an inadvertent omission from the list, update it and I'll take care of it/them.

nnn did something similiar for his wedding to the lovely mrs. nnn, where we were seated at tables named for where they had vacationed together and had pictures of them at each location.

It was very cute.

I love it.

Unfortunately, other than the LA, yosemite stuff, I can't help you out.

You also might want to look for vintage postcards on ebay or etsy that might have something to do with the places you visited if you want things to be a bit funkier.

lala

I've gone thru my stash of unused postcards. All I could find for Japan were replicas of well known paintings or water colors. Two are of Kyoto gardens; the others are mountains and rivers. I can understand that this might not be what you want; if you'd like them, PM me with your address.

Here's a thought: if we have photos of these places, you could get the card that sticks on them to make them into postcards. The ones that I have are called PhotoPostos.

Well, I grew up in New York and MrKS grew up in New Jersey, so when we're on the east coast nowadays it's usually a mad dash 3-day weekend to see 2 sets of parents and grandmothers in Long Island, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Kinda feels like a mini Mileage Run. But it's funny that you mention Boston and Providence. We're talking about a quick weekend trip to see the Red Sox just for kicks. And I worked in Boston for 7 months so it is near and dear to my heart.

That is a good idea -- thank you!

I'm taking a mileage run to SIN the first weekend of July, passing through HKG and NRT. So if you need Hong Kong and Tokyo postcards, I'd be glad to pick them up for you. Let me know.

Congrats on the up-coming wedding.

I once did a travel video in which transitions from city to city included CGI postcards falling into a scrap book. I created the postcards myself in Photoshop from photographs of the various places we went. They were very easy to do and looked completely convincing. I even scanned stamps (my late father had an extensive collection) and added them to the "back" of the postcards, along with digitzed handwritten notes. Though my postcards always stayed in the digital realm -- they were imported into Premiere and then composited into the video -- it would have been an easy enough task to print them out. If you do that, you can have a consistent style.

Just an idea.

Bump to provide update and to thank Turing -- who lives pretty close to me and suggested that I come pick up the postcards in person. So I got to meet a FTer (who has a FT luggage tag no less!).