Second Installment of Invitation Etiquette
So you have selected your paper, designed your invitation, and have printed it. Now it’s time to mail these lovely master pieces out! But how exactly do you do that? Well not to worry, it is quite simple despite the fuss everyone makes over it.
There is one suggestion I would like to make before jumping into addressing your invitations. If it is a small get together, then I highly suggest hand addressing your invitations in clear and pretty handwriting. If it is a large get together, then I suggest investing in address labels. Avery has nice ones that are clear and you can print almost anything on them you want.
Now when actually doing the addressing they should be written in the following style when addressing to a singular person:
First & Last Name
Street Address
City and Postal Code
Now depending on the function, you can optionally put Mr., Mrs., or Miss in front of it. My personal preference? I do it even if it is just a birthday card or condolence card. Basically, I do that type of addressing with anything when I’m sending them to a singular person.
Now when addressing to a couple it depends on if they are married or not. There are a million variations of how you should do this but I have always done it safely as address to the male in the house first and then the wife like so:
Mr. & Mrs. + Last Name
Now if they’re a couple but not married, you simply put the male’s name and then the female’s. Now I like to play with this a little because with me, I always address to the person I know best in the relationship. So sometimes I address to the female in the relationship.
If it’s a party where the couple area allowed to bring their families or you’re sending a condolence card to the whole family, then you simply just put “and family” at the end. The same goes for wedding invitations.
These are the rules I follow with addressing my own envelopes because this is the way I learned living here in the south, so I highly doubt my style is going to change any time soon!
Next installment will be about when to mail them and when to cut off your RSVP!
