You have assembled the perfect wedding invitation. From the overall appearance, to the specific color scheme, to the precisely chosen wording, it is just what you were after to create the mood for your event and stir your guests’ anticipation. Now, all that is left to do is address your envelopes and send them on their way! After all of your hard work, you want to be certain this final step is done properly, and that your invitations arrive at your guests’ doorstep looking as beautiful as they did leaving yours. Like many people, though you may have the basics of wedding envelope etiquette down, you still may have a few lingering questions, and a few new tricks you may wish to learn.
The first step in addressing your wedding envelopes is of course to go through your guest list and determine how to properly address each guest or pairs of guests. Where a typical Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith is an easy one, how do you go about addressing the doctor and the judge who are a couple, yet do not live together? What about the freshman in college who still lives with his parents; should he get his own invitation, or be included in his parents’? Scenarios such as this may make envelope addressing complicated, which is when traditional etiquette guidelines may come in handy. The following chart contains these traditional guidelines.
Click to View Traditional Guidelines Chart
Here are a few additional wedding envelope tips to keep in mind:
• The previous chart contains traditional guidelines. Of course, you may address your envelopes to fit the style of your wedding, or in a way that feels comfortable to you.
• You would not want any of your beautiful, perfectly addressed invitations returned to you covered in postage markings. Be sure that your invitations have the correct addresses and amount of postage on them. Remember, invitations of unique sizes or weights may require extra postage. Consider bringing one complete invitation to your local post office to determine how much postage will be necessary.
• You may also consider requesting that your invitations are hand canceled at the post office with a stamp, rather than being run though a machine. This will eliminate ink smudging and unsightly black marks. Most post offices do not have a problem with this request.
• Last, be sure to mail your invitations six to eight weeks before your wedding day. This will allow for adequate delivery and response time.
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