Invitations--addressing inner envelopes

Nicremy Moonderson

I'm reading that 'proper' etiquette says if you're addressing the outer envelope to:Mr. and Mrs. John Smiththat the inner envelope should read:Mr. and Mrs. SmithI feel a bit strange doing this for at least my immedate family.  People I call Mom and Dad I don't really want to be that formal.  FI suggested for our immediate family we just put first names and "Mom and Dad" for our parents, and for everyone else do it the Mr. and Mrs. Smith way. How have you gals handled this?

SarahKate31

We did first names on the inner envelope ("John and Jane"). I think using "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is the *most* formal way to go, but you certainly don't have to be that formal. We considered doing "Mom and Dad" or "Aunt Jane and Uncle John" but decided we wanted to be slightly more formal than that. It's a matter of preference

Ragdolls

We did first names and, for close friends and family, nicknames, "Aunt ____", etc.  What you've written above is definitely the proper way to do it - and our approach drove the calligrapher NUTS - but we wanted to keep things light even though the wedding was formal; and this was one of the ways we accomplished that.

cmmesq

Ditto Ragdolls. That's exactly what we did.

Bmore09Bride

ditto ditto!

Nicremy Moonderson

Thanks girls!  This definitely helps me.

cincin35

Since our invites were sent by my parents (who are hosting and paying for the event) and not us, we used first names on all of the inner envelopes.  The one exception was my grandparents, which had Mom and Dad written (because they are my parents' mom and dad).