Wedding invitations are an important aspect of the wedding planning process. They set the tone for the event and provide important information for guests, such as the date, time, and location of the wedding. We find that the most time consuming part of wedding stationery planning is gathering and organizing your guest addresses. At Paper Daisies Stationery, one of the main questions we are asked is how to address your invitations?
When it comes to gathering your guest list, there are a few different scenarios that can arise – here’s our how to guide to addressing wedding invitations!
Inner & outer envelopes
Traditionally, wedding invitations came with both an inner and outer envelope. The outer envelope was addressed to the household, while the inner envelope listed the names of the individuals who were invited.
The purpose of the inner envelope is to provide an extra layer of protection for the invitation and to ensure that each individual knows they are personally invited to the wedding.
Here are the most common instances we see -
Outer envelope | Married couple
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Married couple
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
or
John and Jane
(note: first names only can be seen as more casual)
----
Outer envelope | Married couple when woman kept her maiden name
Mrs. Jane Doe and Mr. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Married couple when woman kept her maiden name
Mrs. Doe and Mr. Smith
----
Outer envelope | Juniors
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, junior
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Juniors
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, junior
----
Outer envelope | Married couple who are both doctors
The Drs. Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
The Drs. John and Jane Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Married couple who are both doctors
The Doctors Smith
----
Outer envelope | A couple where one is a doctor
(the doctor will go first, no matter the gender)
Dr. Jane and Mr. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
Dr. John and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | A couple where one is a doctor
Dr. Jane and Mr. John Smith
----
Outer envelope | Family with children
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Family with children
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
Jane, Samantha and Jack
(children will only go on the inner envelope and children over the age of 18 should receive their own invitation)
----
Outer envelope | Couple who lives together but are not married
Mr. John Smith and Ms. Jane Doe
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
Mr. John Smith
Ms. Jane Doe
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Couple who lives together but are not married
Mr. John Smith and Ms. Jane Doe
or
John and Jane
----
Outer envelope | Single man or woman
Mr. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
Ms. Jane Doe
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Single man or woman
Mr. Smith
or
Ms. Doe
John
or
Jane
----
Outer envelope | Single man or woman with a plus-one
Mr. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
Ms. Jane Doe
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Single man or woman with a plus-one
Mr. Smith and guest
or
Ms. Doe and guest
(guests will only go on the inner envelope)
----
Outer envelope | Single man or woman with a known guest
Mr. John Smith
Ms. Jane Doe
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Single man or woman with a known guest
Mr. Smith
Ms. Doe
(list your friend first, regardless of gender, and their guest on the line below)
----
Outer envelope | Same gender couple
Mr. John & Jacob Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
(if they share the same last name)
or
Mr John Smith & Mr. Jacob Williams
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
(if they share they have different last names)
Inner envelope | Same gender couple
Mr. and Mr. Smith
or
Mr. Smith and Mr. Williams
----
Outer envelope | Non-binary guests
Mx. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Non-binary guests
Mx. Smith
or
John
----
Outer envelope | Couple where one guest is a judge or governor
The Honorable and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Couple where one guest is a judge
Judge and Mrs. Smith
----
Outer envelope | Couple where a guest is a member of the clergy
The Reverend and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Father Simon Peter
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Rabbi and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Couple where a guest is a member of the clergy
The Reverend and Mrs. Smith
Father Peter
Rabbi and Mrs. Smith
----
Outer envelope | Couple where the male is a military officer
Colonel and Mrs. John Smith
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Couple where the male is a military officer
Colonel and Mrs. Smith
----
Outer envelope | Couple where the female is a military officer
General Kimberly Stone, U.S. Army and Mr. Jason Dean
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
Inner envelope | Couple where the female is a military officer
General Stone and Mr. Jason Dean
Outer envelopes
While inner and outer envelopes were traditionally used for wedding invitations, many couples opt to skip the inner envelope for cost.
If you are only using an outer envelope, in some circumstances you will need to address it a bit differently than if you were using both envelopes. Here are those special cases!
Family with children
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
Jane, Samantha and Jack
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
----
Outer envelope | Single man or woman with a plus-one
Mr. John Smith and guest
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
or
Ms. Jane Doe and guest
1234 Paper Daisies Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 12345
At Paper Daisies, we offer computer calligraphy services to print on your envelopes for you! If you select computer calligraphy when building your cart and placing your order, we will send over our guest list templates for you to use to help guide you. When we receive your completed guest list, we will send you a proof of each address so you can check for accuracy and make sure your envelopes are perfect before we send to print!
In the event you have any questions not covered in this blog, reach out to your dedicated designer and we can help!
Happy addressing!
Love,
The Paper Daisies team