Wedding Etiquette Forum

invitations

is it etiquette to have your envelopes hand written with everyone's names/addresses? I was going to use pre-printed labels and was told that's not etiquette? 

Re: invitations

  • Pre-printed labels are not traditionally acceptable. You could print the envelopes on your printer but handwritten is the preferred method.
  • I get that if you make the label look cheap or it's done poorly then the invitation resembles an afterthought - but then so does illegible handwriting.

    This is one of those that is not a big deal IMO.    
  • Agree with all of the above.  It is recommended to handwrite (unless your handwriting is terrible), but is not a big deal at all if you prefer to print out labels.

    If you can, try printing directly onto the envelopes for a nicer look without having to write them all out.

  • My handwriting is terrible, and so are my crafty skills, so placing a label straight on an envelope is also outside of my skill range.  

    We used www.lcipaper.com and ordered the envelopes already addressed for us.  I just had to upload an excel spreadsheet and approve the proof.  That process took about 24 hours and we had everything back within a week (paid extra for 2 day shipping).  In total it cost  about $170 dollars for 120 envelopes and they turned out beautifully.


    image
  • Ideally, you'd print the addresses directly on the envelope using the printer instead of using a label...  It's super easy to do (if you can print labels you can print individual addresses onto the envelope) and ensures accuracy.  I've had it both ways where the label is NBD, then there was the wedding that messed up the labels because they just used a spreadsheet and it cut off names and who the invited guests were. 

    I'd much rather have a label on an outer envelope than something that really matters to your guests at the reception missed...  
  • All traditional etiquette books say that invitations should be hand addressed.

    That being said, this is no longer practical, since handwriting is no longer taught in most public schools.  I would prefer the handwritten addresses, but I think printing directly on the envelope is fine.  I hate sticky labels.  They are for junk mail.
    httpiimgurcomTCCjW0wjpg
  • I received a wedding invitation, once, with matching address and return address labels that complimented the design of invitation. It was a colorful fall theme invitation suite. I saved it for a long time after the wedding because it was so lovely. That wedding was very well hosted, which was the important part.

    You could also run the envelopes through a printer or have Staple or some other printing store do it for you.

    If you are having a black tie wedding, though, you should make the extra effort to hand address the envelopes.
                       
  • We printed the addresses directly on the envelop. We ordered really nice invites through Paperless Post & came out much more cost effective than using a caligriopher. We knew we didn't want to dump a ton of money into the invites. They came with our return address already printed on the back portion of the envelop so that's why we decided to print out the addresses as well. It was pretty simple but I suggest a few practice runs until you get the font/settings/hang of it! 

    That said I have received wedding invites with the printed label. To me, it wasn't really a big deal.
  • This is one of those things going against traditional wedding etiquette that wouldn't really bother me, though I think printing directly on the envelopes looks nicer than a label. That said, either is fine, and is probably better than sloppy handwriting on a wedding invite (I was lucky, my mom has beautiful handwriting and offered to address our invitations). 


    image
  • I have pretty horrible handwriting, as does DH.  Since I had all our addresses in an Excel spreadsheet, I did a mail merge (it's step-by-step and really easy) and printed directly on our envelopes.  Only took about an hour to do it all and they looked nice and neat, and IMO you couldn't tell that we did it ourselves vs. paying for where we got our invites to do it for us. 
    Anniversary
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards