Your Invitation questions answered!

'Finicky' is a good word to describe the tedious task of addressing your envelopes and invitations.  Make sure you prepare the guest list, confirm the spelling of their names and their titles as well as their address a few weeks before you're send-out date.   Sometimes it can be time consuming getting Mom to call Auntie Sally for Cousin Lucy's new address or finding out how to address your uncle Chris's (short for Christopher) envelope because he's a doctor AND a lieutenant and is bringing his new 'lady-friend'.

Although etiquette for invitations isn't as uptight as it once was, there are still some guidelines to be followed. 

• Names should be fully written on the outer envelope - no nicknames
• Social and Professional Titles (the trickey part)
• "Mr. and Mrs." for married couples
• "Dr. and Mrs. Brown" or "Doctor and Mrs. Brown" if the husband is a doctor
• "Doctor Allison Brown and Mr. Sean Brown" if the wife is a doctor (yes, full names... don't ask why)
• "The Doctors Browns" if BOTH are doctors
• If both have different professional titles ("Doctor, Lieutenant, Honorable..."), or the wife has kept her maiden name, address the wife first then the husband after (both with appropriate title and full name).
• When addressing the envelopes, for a more formal invitation, avoid abbreviating words such as "Street", "Apartment" and write out numbers less than 20.
• Same applies for return addresses!
• On the INNER envelope/invitation, the name of each invited guest or individual should be written
• For couples with kids (whether invited or not), the kids' names do not need to be written on the outter envelope
• You can choose to just use first names, title-free, on the inner envelope/invitation
• Single Guests:
• "Ms." or "Miss" for addressing single women on the outer envelope
• On the inner envelope, their first name followed by "and Guest" if they are welcome to bring a guest (with space on the RSVP to write their name).  If you know who they are bringing, you can choose to write their name on a separate line

In case you're wondering about "inner" and "outer" envelopes, you can CHOOSE to send the invitations in two so that no matter how long the distance travelled, each guest will receive a pristine envelope (great when you've purchased envelopes to match your stationary).  The outer one is for postal service - and the inner is more decorative with names of all invited guests.  Like I said, you can choose to do this.  Sorry if this post is confusing the heck out of ya!