no inner envelope--ok to write "and guest" on outer envelope?

cokesjr24

I am trying to save money by dropping the inner envelope. I am allowing people to bring guests. How can I say "and guest." If I know the name of the guest, I know to include the name, but what if I don't know the name?

Beachy730

My invitations didn't come with inner envelopes so we had no choice.  If they were a couple but not married we wrote Mr. John Smith & Miss Sarah Jones.  If it was a single person we wrote Mr. John Smith & Guest. 

I don't know if its proper etiquette, but that was our only option for telling people they could bring a guest.  Plus the only people really that are single are our friends, and they honestly don't know the difference in what proper wedding etiquette is.  Not that it makes it okay, but to me it made it not worth stressing over.

banana468

If you don't have inner envelopes then 'and guest' either goes on the outer or the technically 'more' correct thing is to include an insert card stating, "You are welcome to bring a guest.  Please indicate his/her name on the response card."


Also, remember that "and guest" is acceptable only when you're inviting the person to bring a random date.  If the person is in a relationship, make the effort and get the name of the significant other up front.

aerinpegadrak

We only had a couple of single guests, and we let them know when we called them to get their addresses that the envelope would be addressed to them alone, but they were welcome to bring a guest.  Their RSVP option on our website (since we didn't use cards) also had a spot for a guest.

jessica.faerber

Our invite didn't come with an inner envelope either.  It did come with a list of ways to address the outer envelope to help clear some of the confusion, so maybe yours will too.  We made an effort to find out the names of "plus ones" but there were definitely some envelopes that were addressed to Mr. John Smith and guest. We didn't want a bunch of random people at the wedding, so we limited plus ones to those in relationships. The people that did not get a guest either called and asked if they could bring one or got the idea.  I think it worked out fine, and didn't end up missing the unner envelope at all

tenofcups4me

My invitations for my first wedding didn't come with inner envelopes either (this was almost 10 years ago and they were very expensive invitations so the lack of inner has been evolving for a while now). We put "and Guest" on the outer. I've never received a note stating I could invite a guest and while people here recommend it, I personally think it's overkill and just kind of weird (and to me, would make it seem that the guest is an afterthought).

tintinn85

Thank you for asking this!  I'm getting ready to put my invitations together and have ONLY been able to find guidelines for inner/outer envelopes on how to address them, which was starting to make me think if my stationary was incorrect because there wasn't any inner envelope. 

Now I can just put the '& Guest' and call it a day knowing I'm not the only one to have done it like that.

Thank you again!