ENVELOPE ADDRESSING ETIQUETTE

Follow the address formatting tips below to ensure clarity and proper etiquette for your guests, and accuracy for the ever-unreliable USPS.

You've picked out your wedding invitations, you've finalized your guest list, and now it's time to think about addressing your envelopes!

I provide calligraphy and envelope printing for my invitation clients, but before they send me their lists, I ask them to double-check every name and address to make sure they are correctly formatted. There are all kinds of rules when it comes to the proper way to address an envelope for a formal invitation, and they vary based a guest's marital status, title, or living situation.

There are also rules about how to format the addresses themselves to give your envelope the formality deserving of a wedding invitation. To avoid offending your guests, and to help clarify who is being invited to your wedding, make sure you adhere to the guidelines below. I've included a list of addressing guidelines, address formatting tips, and finally a list of individual guest addressing guidelines.
*Note: these rules apply mainly to formal invitations, but you can apply them to your Save the Dates if you prefer to convey a more formal tone from the start.*

Addressing Guidelines

INNER AND OUTER ENVELOPES

This guide was designed with the assumption that you will be using both inner and outer envelopes. If you’re using only outer envelopes, then children’s names and the addition of “and Guest” should also be included on the outer envelope

FORMAL VS. INFORMAL

These rules apply to formal invitations, but you can apply them to your Save the Dates if you prefer to convey a more formal tone from the start. For informal invitations, you may simply exclude the titles (i.e. “John and Jane Smith” instead of “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith”)

RECOGNIZING WOMEN & HONORING TRADITION

As a proud feminist, part of me cringes when I recommend to couples that they adhere to these traditional rules, which often means omitting a married woman’s first name altogether from the envelope. For couples who are concerned with this element of the etiquette guidelines, I recommend including the woman’s first name after her husband’s, like so: “Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Gina Smith.”

For a more detailed guide to the correct way to address individual guests, scroll down this page where I break it down by type of guest (married, single, bringing a guest, doctor, etc). For other questions of etiquette, check out my guide on Wedding Etiquette, an extremely useful handbook when it comes to wedding etiquette of all kinds.

And while it is important to make sure envelopes are addressed correctly, it's also important to remember that, at the end of the day, you're really just inviting your most closest friends and family to help you celebrate your love...and that's way more important than whether you remembered to spell out the word "Apartment!"

Address Formatting Tips

INVITEE & GUEST

If an invitee is allowed to bring a guest, make sure you denote this on the envelope by including “and guest” OR the guest’s full name (if you know their name, this is preferred) written on the line before your invitee’s name.

MULTIPLE GUESTS WHO LIVE TOGETHER

Adults who are not romantically involved but who live together (for example, if they are roommates), should each receive their own invitation.

ADDRESSING TO CHILDREN

Children BELOW the age of 18 should receive the same invitation as their parents (but their names should be written on the inner envelope to clarify that they are invited; if the inner envelope is addressed only to the parents, they will assume their children are not invited). Children ABOVE the age of 18 should get their own invitations, even if they are living at home.

NO ABBREVIATIONS

Words such as “Street,” “Drive,” “Apartment,” “Unit,” or “Boulevard” should be spelled out. Cities and states should also be spelled out (i.e. “New York, New York.”)

STREET NUMBERS, APARTMENT NUMBERS & ZIP CODES

Apartment or unit numbers should be written on a separate line than the street address. I also prefer the zip code, spaced out (one space between each number) for aesthetics, on the line after the city and state. Street numbers and apartment numbers under 10 should be spelled out (i.e. “nine” instead of “9”)

WOMENS’ TITLES

“Miss” should be used for girls under the age of 18; “Ms.” should be used for women over the age of 18 who are not married.

SPECIAL TITLES

Titles such as “Doctor” or “Captain” should be spelled out, but courtesy titles such as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” are typically abbreviated.