Should invitations be hand addressed

You can submit your wedding etiquette questions via Facebook or tweet them to us HuffPostWedding with the hashtag MannersMondays. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Suggest a correction. Newsletter Sign Up. You may either tuck the flap inside or place a seal on top of the flap to seal it loosely. The inner envelope should be addressed as if you are hand delivering it.

As contemporary invitations and new styles are becoming increasingly popular, many do not include an inner envelope, but rather just one outer envelope. Please make sure to pay close attention to this detail which can be found in the individual product description if having both and outer and inner envelopes , or outer envelopes only, is important to you. More about inner and outer envelopes here. Traditional etiquette says that you should abbreviate absolutely nothing.

It has recently become acceptable to abbreviate titles Dr. It will be up to you how closely you want to adhere to traditional rules as writing everything out can be time consuming and in some cases costly. Writing out street numbers and state names is an elegant touch, but it can also be a daunting task and even delay the delivery of your invitations.

Also provide him or her with a neatly printed guest list, complete with full addresses and social and professional titles Mr. Compiling the list, as well as making phone calls to parents or friends to acquire or confirm addresses and spellings, can take some time, so don't wait until the last minute to get started.

Though etiquette for addressing and assembling wedding invitations has relaxed, there are still some requirements. For example, your guests' names should be written in full on outer envelopes; avoid nicknames or initials. Use the appropriate social titles as well, such as addressing married couples as "Mr. Joseph Morales, Jr. Joseph Morales IV"; "Junior" can be spelled out on a more formal invitation.

Spell out all words in an address on your wedding envelopes. Rather than "St. Box," and "Apt. Write out all words here, too. The preferred place for printing the return address is on the envelope's back flap.

Traditional etiquette called for blind embossing, or colorless raised lettering, for wedding invitations; the idea behind this was that guests would get their first glimpse of the fancy engraving on the invitation itself. Blind embossing is still available, although the United States Postal Service discourages it, as it is difficult to read; today, most couples have the return address printed in the same method as their invitations.

Sending out an invitation in two envelopes ensures that each guest will receive a pristine envelope, even if the outer one has been torn or soiled in the mail.

Still, the two are not necessary; you may omit the inner envelope if you wish. The outer envelope includes all of the information the postal service needs for delivery. The inner envelope should have the names of the invited guests in the household including children, whose names do not appear on the outer envelope. All enclosures should be printed in the same method and on coordinating papers; here's the order in which they should be stacked to go in the outer envelope.

The invitation is on the bottom, print side up. A sheet of tissue paper originally used to prevent smearing can be placed over it. Stack all other inserts, such as a map, reception card, and reply card , on the wedding invitation in order of size smallest on top. The reply card should be under its envelope's flap; this envelope should be preprinted with the mailing address, and should be stamped as well.

Insert everything into the inner envelope with the print side up, so that when guests open the envelopes they will see the lettering. The same rules apply with a single-fold invitation, where the print appears on the front. For a French-fold, or double-fold, invitation, which has the print inside, all enclosures go inside the card.

Slip the unsealed inner envelope into the outer envelope with the names facing the back flap.