About This Stamp
The 2011 Wedding Roses stamp features a photograph of two white roses gently resting atop a piece of wedding correspondence. A white ribbon is visible in the background. The stamp is meant for use on the RSVP envelope often enclosed with a wedding invitation and on announcements, thank-you notes, and other correspondence.
Wedding ceremonies are as varied and distinctive as the people who celebrate them. They range from large formal services held inside to small and informal outdoor gatherings—and everything in between. Yet no matter the size and style of the ceremony, one thing remains certain: Weddings are a celebration of the union of two people who have pledged to love and trust one another as they begin a new life together.
Photographer Renée Comet worked with art director Ethel Kessler to develop a new stamp design that would complement the two-ounce Wedding Cake stamp.
The Wedding Roses stamp is being issued in panes of 20 self-adhesive Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.
Photographer
Renée Comet
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1957, commercial photographer Renée Comet went to college to become a nurse. Her direction changed in her freshman year when she bought a camera and fell in love with photography. After transferring to Rochester Institute of Technology, Comet pursued a degree in photo illustration, graduating in 1980.
Hired by Time-Life Books in 1985 to photograph a cookbook series, Comet moved to Washington, D.C., where her company, Renée Comet Photography, Inc., is located today. Specializing in food and still photography, Comet has provided the photographs for nearly 75 cookbooks, including Extreme Brownie; The Founding Farmers Cookbook; Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Pepper; The New Jewish Table; Dining with the Washingtons; Mitsitam Café Cookbook, National Museum of the American Indian; The Artful Pie; The Artful Vegan; and Dining at Monticello.
Her client list includes the Food Network, PopCorners, Glutino, Marriott International, Australian Lamb, California Almond Board, Ritz-Carlton, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Butterball Turkey, The Washington Post, and the American Diabetes Association.
More than ten of Comet's photographs have been featured on U.S. stamps including two Rose and Love Letter designs (2011), the Wedding Cake and Wedding Rings stamps (2009), the Celebration Corsage and Celebration Boutonniere stamps (2017), and most recently the Garden Corsage and Contemporary Boutonniere stamps (2020).