Envelope addressing

vvega15

Hello!
I'm a little confused in regard to envelope etiquette. I've seen several friends send out their envelopes to have them professionally addressed either in calligraphy or print. I've also heard that you're supposed to hand write the addresses yourself. I have no problem doing this since I'm on a budget but, doesn't that take away from the elegance of the invitation inside? I'm just curious to know what the standard way of doing things is.

Thank you for your time

HeatherSP13

I hand wrote my envelopes.  I didn't have budget to have someone else do it.  I did buy preprinted labels from vistaprint with my address for return labels & rsvp's.  My fiance wanted to print all the envelopes on the computer because he doesn't have good handwriting, thinks everything done on computer is better & doesn't see any need to hand write.  I took the initiative to hand write.  I wouldn't stress out too much about it.

Maggie0829

I usually could careless how an envelope is addressed, whether by hand, by label or by computer because in the end it gets ripped up and thrown in the garbage.

But I will say that when I get the mail and see a nice envelope with a hand written address on it, it grabs my attention and always gets open first.

Hand addressing makes things personal.  Whether it is done by your hand or done by a calligrapher, hand addressing is usually the best way to go.

With that being said, if you do decide to go with pre-printed envelopes make sure that the font is nice and easily readable and different from the normal Arial or Times Roman.

For our invites my Mom generously offered to address them because my handwritting is crappy.  We used clear labels printed off the computer for the return address on the back flap and for the RSVP envelopes.  But the main invite, definitely hand written.

vvega15

Thank you ladies! I think you're right about handwriting them. I'll do that!

Kate61487

keep in mind that back in the day hand addressing WAS calligraphy.

The real issue on this is you don't want to stick a label on your invitations; it makes it look like junk mail / a mass mailing and takes some of the elegance and importance of the invite away.  Having them done professionally by a calligrapher is definitely etiquette OK.  Hand addressing them is also definitely OK.  Printing directly onto the envelope in a nice font is becoming more acceptable but may be side-eyed by some.  Don't stick a label (even clear) on it.