How To Address Wedding Invitations To A Family
When addressing the wedding invitations of family members, there are some easy ways to handle this. If an invitation is going to an entire family, it can be addressed to the parents on the outer envelope, Mr. Timothy and Mrs. Barbara Gordon. Then, on the inner envelope, Timothy, Barbara, Miss Colleen, and Graham. Female children under 18 are addressed as Miss, and male children do not receive a Mr. until they reach 18.
If adult children of wedding guests are invited, they should receive their own separate invitationsfor example, Ms. Colleen Gordon and Mr. Graham Gordon. If you do not want to invite children to your wedding, that should be printed clearly on the invitations.
Invitations to Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins should be addressed formally on the outer envelope. On the inner envelope, it is perfectly acceptable to address Grandpa Joe and Grandma Bette, Uncle Bob, Aunt Karen, or Cousin Jesse.
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When To Mail Your Wedding Invitations
Typically you should send your invitations 6-8 weeks before your wedding date. For a destination wedding and for out of town guests, send invitations 3 months in advance to give guests plenty of time to make travel arrangements. You should also allow an additional week or two if your envelopes require hand-canceling by the post office.
To A Single Person With A Plus One
Traditionally, Ms is used by women regardless of their marital status and Miss for unmarried women, usually those under 18. Of course, these are old-fashioned rules, and today you can go with whatever you like!
Outer envelope: Ms. Lillie Ellis
Inner envelope: Ms. Ellis and guest or Lillie & guest
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Outer And Inner Envelopes
Sending out an invitation in two envelopes ensures that each guest will receive a pristine envelope, even if the outer one has been torn or soiled in the mail. Still, the two are not necessary you may omit the inner envelope if you wish. The outer envelope includes all of the information the postal service needs for delivery. The inner envelope should have the names of the invited guests in the household .
Some Basics To Get Started
A few helpful things to know:
Street Addresses & State Names should be spelled out in full
Miss vs. Ms.: Miss should only be used for guests under the age of 18
Do not use initials if youre including a middle name, for example, write it out in full.
Guests over 18 living in the same household should receive their own invitation in an individually addressed envelope this applies to both roommates & adult children living at home.
Organize guest addresses in a spreadsheet, like Excel, Numbers or Google Doc, with a separate column for Guest Names, Street Address, City/State/Zip, and Country if applicable. This will make it easy to hand it off to your stationer for printing or calligrapher for hand-addressing.
Above: a more modern style of printed envelope addressing from our collection
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Return Address Etiquette: 5 Questions You Didnt Know To Ask
Wedding invitation address etiquette isnt a common topic of conversation for obvious reasons. Its not often something you think about until youre faced with a pile of envelopes waiting to be addressed.
Many of the questions that come up may surprise you. Were focusing on return address etiquette because its often overlooked in the hustle of preparing to address your wedding invitations.
Here are the answers to five questions you never thought to askuntil now.
How To Address Wedding Invitations Guide
Our How to Address Wedding Invitations Guide addresses not only wedding invites but also save the dates notes.
So, youve picked a date and the big day is on the calendar, but now what? Where do you begin? Do you create a list of things to do? Should you create a guest list first? Which family members will you invite? What is the budget? Where will the wedding ceremony take place? Will it be a local wedding or a destination wedding? So many questions and so little time.
Were here to help you with one critical component of your wedding: the wedding invitations. The best place to start is to create a comprehensive guest list in alphabetical order. The reason to put the list in alphabetical order is it will be easier to track when you have completed specific tasks for each guest. Also, it gives you a reference guide for the seating chart .
You may want to begin by determining how many people you will invite youll want to factor in your budget. List the person you are planning to invite, make sure if it is a couple to list both of their names together. If you believe that the person you are inviting will bring a date, but youre not sure who, make a note of plus one. This will give you an evolving headcount so you know when youve reached your limit of guests.
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How To Address Bridal Shower Invitations To Multiple Guests In One Household
If you’re inviting multiple guests from the same household, traditional bridal shower etiquette dictates that each person should get their own invitation. The exception is if you’re addressing an invitation to a couple. That said, it’s not uncommon for some hosts to ditch this rule, in which case there are some examples you can use as a template. This is how to address bridal shower invitations to a family with children:
Mr. Michael Smith and Mrs. Nicole Smith Sarah, Emma, and MarkNew York, New York12345
The above is the most formal way to address a family without sending separate invites to each person. Alternatively, if you’re planning a casual event, you may feel comfortable using this format:
The Smith FamilyNew York, New York12345
Addressing wedding shower invitations to a mother and daughter? Follow this template if you’d rather not send separate invites to each person.
To Mrs. Anne Jones and Miss Nicole Jones123 Oak Street
When Should We Send Out Our Wedding Invitations
Traditionally, invitations go out six to eight weeks before the wedding. That gives guests plenty of time to clear their schedules and make travel arrangements if they don’t live in town. If it’s a destination wedding, give guests more time and send them out three months ahead of the wedding. Most couples also send out save-the-date cards so that their guests can hold the day in their calendar before getting into the nitty-gritty details. Save-the-dates typically are sent out six to eight months before the wedding.
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When To Send Wedding Invitations
Get organized about a month before your desired send-out date. This should be six to eight weeks before the wedding, allowing your guests adequate time to respond and ensuring that you will get a reliable headcount a week or two before the event. The address on a wedding invitation should be handwritten printed labels are not appropriate .
To A Family Including Children
When inviting an entire family, the family name or the parents’ names should be listed alone, and everyone can be included on the inside.
When including female children under the age of 18, address them with a Miss.
- Outer envelope: “The Thompson Family” or “Mr. and Mrs. Alan Thompson” or “Mr. Alan Thompson and Mrs. Emily Thompson”
- Inner Envelope: Alan, Emily, Roger, Chance, Miss Jennifer, and Miss Lily
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Wedding Envelope Addressing Etiquette Tips
Before you get started, here are some helpful tips for addressing your outer envelopes:
Do not use any abbreviations, except for Mr., Mrs. or Ms.Do not use symbolsSpell out the word “and”Do not use initialsUse figures only when writing house numbers and zip codesWrite out the words “Street,” “Boulevard,” “Avenue,” etc.Do not abbreviate state names
If Our Wedding Reception Is For Immediate Family Only Is It Okay To Invite People To The Ceremony Only
This is a tricky situation. Standard etiquette dictates that everyone who attends the ceremony should be invited to the weddingthat means the ceremony and the reception. By inviting guests to one and not the other, it could send the message that you want them there for the actual ceremony but you either don’t want to pay for their plate at your party or don’t care enough to have them there to actually celebrate your newlywed status.
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How To Address Wedding Invitations To Those With Other Distinguished Titles
Apply the same rules you use for doctors for military personnel, judges, reverends and so on. If both titles don’t fit on one line, indent the second line.
On the outer envelope:
The Honorable Jane Kelly and Lieutenant Jonathan Kelly, US Navy
If they’re both captains in the military:
Captains Jane and Jonathan Kelly, US Navy
On the inner envelope:
Judge Kelly and Lieutenant Kelly, US Navy
The Captains Kelly
Traditional Wedding Invitations Are Compiled Of An Inner And An Outer Envelope:
The larger outer envelope contains:
Recipients Name Street addressReturn addressPostage
The inner envelope has less information being invited). Traditionally, the inner envelope is not sealed with a gummed flap. You may either tuck the flap inside or place a seal on top of the flap to seal it loosely. The inner envelope should be addressed as if you are hand delivering it.
As contemporary invitations and new styles are becoming increasingly popular, many do not include an inner envelope, but rather just one outer envelope. Please make sure to pay close attention to this detail if having both and outer and inner envelopes, or outer envelopes only, is important to you.
More about inner and outer envelopes here
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How To Address Wedding Invitations
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By this point, you’ve likely selected your stationery and collected information from guestsand now you’re looking into how to address wedding invitations. There’s a lot that goes into sending your invites , which is why we created this guide. No matter who you’re sending an invite to, here’s exactly how to address your wedding invitations.
Traditional etiquette indicates the outer envelope of your wedding invitation should be more formal with titles and/or full names, while the inner envelope is more informal . Since titles can be restricting and exclusive , know that they aren’t necessaryyou’re free to simply use your guests’ names and leave the titles off.
When To Send Your Wedding Invitations
Send your wedding invitations six to eight weeks before the big day. Ask that guests RSVP within two or three weeks of the event. Your save-the-date cards should go out approximately four months before your wedding date.
If you order custom invitations, you may want to plan for additional time to proof them and make any necessary changes. Make sure that youre able to get a sample invite before you place your order to make sure everything looks just the way you imagined.
To help speed up the process of assembling your invites, consider a personalized address stamp for the envelopes and response cards.
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What Is The Proper Way To Address A Wedding Invitation
Use First Names
It is proper to address a wedding invitation to a persons full name. For those using an inner envelope, then the outer envelope can omit them, while the inner envelope has the full names of everyone invited, but for those who only have one envelope, it should be addressed to everyone in full.
Where Do I Put Return Address
For mailing, the return address usually goes on the back flap of the outer envelope and is traditionally the address of whoever is hosting the wedding. For the RSVP return envelope, the address used should be that of the person whom youve designated to receive response cards, be it your parents or you . Dont forget that the RSVP envelope should include the proper postage for return mailing.
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How To Stuff Wedding Invitations
Before stuffing the wedding invitations, assemble all of the components that will be going into the outer envelope. These may include, but not be limited to, RSVP card and postage-paid return envelope, printed directions or map, and information on additional events.
After the names have been written on the inner envelope, the invitation is placed in the inner envelope. For a folded invitation, it is placed in the inner envelope folded edge down front-facing. If it is a single card, it should be placed left edge down also front-facing. This means guests will see the printed invitation once they have opened the inner envelope.
The assembled components listed above should be stacked smallest to largest and placed inside the folded invitation or in front of the single card. The inner envelope is placed unsealed in the already addressed outer envelope. Names and addresses should be double or triple-checked before mailing.
Once you have fully assembled the invitation, you should bring it to the post office to determine how much postage will be needed. The addition of multiple items may make the postage more than a standard letter. A few websites even offer personalized stamps that will have a picture of the bride and groom and the correct postage. You can also ask the post office to hand stamp the envelopes, which many feel are more attractive than the machine stamp.
How To Address Wedding Invitations To Children And Families
Include younger guests on the inner envelope of their parents’ invitation by their name. For girls under 18, you can use “Miss” if you’d like. Boys don’t need a title until they’re 18then they can be addressed as “Mr.” As with the other guests invited, you can always forgo titles or use the gender-neutral title of “Mx.”
Note: If you don’t include each child’s name, you’re implying that children are not invited. That said, don’t be surprised if some guests still mistakenly assume their children are welcome. If you’re concerned this will happen with your guests, ask your immediate family and wedding party to help spread the word that the wedding will be adults only and add the message to your wedding website. You may still have to follow up with guests who don’t get the message via phone to gently explain the situation.
On the outer envelope:
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Abraham
On the inner envelope:
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Abraham
Daniel, Jeffrey, Miss Brittany and Mx. Kelly
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