How to Address Wedding Invitations – Properly
You’ve spent countless hours selecting the perfect wedding invitation and fine tuning each word. Your wedding invitations have finally arrived, and they look FABULOUS!! You’re already imagining what you’ll hear when your guests get wowed by your perfectly planned invitation reveal . . .
But wait!
What if the first thing they see is NOT your gorgeous invitations, but instead, a glaring social gaffe on their wedding invitation envelope?
Believe it or not, nothing can take the POW out of the WOW of your wedding invitation reveal more than an improperly addressed envelope!
So, to make sure your guests remain captivated from the moment they receive your wedding invitations, you’ll want to adhere to these time tested envelope addressing conventions and protocols below.
But yet! Before learning the proper way to address wedding invitations, first make sure to refresh your knowledge of the proper use of Social Titles – as in Mr., Mrs., etc.
For more on using social titles properly, read our post here on “How Well do You Know Your Social Titles?”
Now, on to our post!
We Start With the Double Envelopes
Weddings are considered an especially important event. And because of that, traditional wedding invitations are customarily addressed formally.
Additionally, you’ll often see wedding invitations enclosed in a double envelope (i.e., an outer envelope and an inner envelope). These envelopes and their purposes work as follows:
- The outer envelope is the envelope you address and stamp.
- The inner envelope is the envelope you line (if a lining is chosen), and, more importantly, it’s where you list the names of your guests.
- Some may feel the double envelope convention is unnecessary, but nevertheless, double envelopes serve an extremely useful purpose because the inner envelope allows the bride and groom to specify who is, and who is not, invited.
Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s continue on to the proper addressing of wedding invitation envelopes. And just a reminder, make sure to refresh yourself on the proper use of Social Titles, since proper addressing goes hand-in-hand with proper use of social titles.
Below are the proper conventions for addressing wedding invitation envelopes (outer and inner) for each of the examples shown:
Proper Envelope Addressing
For a Married Couple
Outer Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- Always address wedding invitations to both members of a married couple, even if the bride/groom only know one, or knows that only one will attend.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
For an Unmarried Couple
Outer Envelope Addressing
Ms. Jane Ann Taylor
Mr. John Lewis Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- For unmarried couples, write each name on a separate line with no “and” connecting them.
- The woman’s name goes on the first line.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Ms. Taylor
Mr. Smith
- Each name appears on a separate line.
- There is no “and” connecting them.
- The woman’s name goes on the first line.
Single Adult
Outer Envelope Addressing
Mr. Sean Taylor Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Mr. Smith
- A young woman’s inner envelope would be addressed to Ms. Smith or Miss Smith.
- Unless an invitation is addressed with the person’s name accompanied by “and Guest”, then it implies that only that one person is invited.
Guests or "Plus 1" Addressing
Mr. Smith and Guest
- When a person is invited to bring a guest, “and Guest” is added to their inner envelope.
- “and Guest” should not appear on the outside envelope.
Child at Home Over 18
Outer Envelope Addressing
Miss Jennifer Leigh Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- Children over 18 should, if possible, receive their own invitations (Emily Post puts the age even younger at 13 years of age).
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
- A young man over the age of 18 would be addressed as “Mr. Jason Titus Smith.”
Inner Envelope Addressing
Miss Smith
Optional - Children Younger than 18
Outer Envelope Addressing
Miss Justice Olivia Smith
Miss Janet Ann Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- If preferred, younger siblings may be sent a joint invitation.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
- The oldest child is listed first, followed by their siblings in chronological order.
Inner Envelope Addressing
The Misses Smith
Additional inner envelope variations follow:
Inner Envelope Addressing
The Messers Smith
Inner Envelope Addressing
Justice and Justin
Married Couple and Child
Outer Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- Always address wedding invitations to both members of a married couple, even if the bride/groom only know one, or knows that only one will attend.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Miss Janet Smith
Married Couple with Children
Outer Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis Smith
698 Sycamore Road Lane
San Pueblo, California
- Always address wedding invitations to both members of a married couple, even if the bride/groom only know one, or knows that only one will attend.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Justice and Justin
- If the children are not to receive a separate invitation, their names may be written below the parents names on the inner envelope.
- When inviting several young children first names may be used.
- The oldest child is listed first, followed by their siblings in chronological order.
*Intimate* Friends or Relatives
Outer Envelope Addressing
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Willis Taylor
4222 Clinton Way
San Pueblo, California
- Always address wedding invitations to both members of a married couple, even if the bride/groom only know one, or knows that only one will attend.
- If you don’t know your guest’s full name, don’t use initials, simply omit the middle name.
- Spell out Avenue, Road, and Street, etc., as well as the State name.
Inner Envelope Addressing
Gamma and Paypa
And there you have it, the proper way to address wedding invitations!
Each and every option has not been covered, but, with the examples above, one should easily be able to follow the above protocol as guidelines. If not, feel free to contact us!
Also, do note that the U.S. Post Office prefers two letter state abbreviations, as well as no comma between the city and state on envelopes. Because of that, we always recommend that before you address your envelopes, or even purchase stamps, you visit your local Post Office and become familiar with their preferences. There’s no bigger nightmare than getting a box load of wedding invitations returned, just because you happen to live by a Post Office that likes to be difficult!
Big Tip!!
And while you’re visiting the Post Office, make sure to take an envelope already stuffed with your invitation and enclosure cards with you. Have them weigh your envelope to let you know the amount of postage they’ll require, and also have them verify whether your envelopes will need hand cancelling or not!!!
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