Addressing Invitations - State Abbreviations?

Tami87 · May 2012

So I am getting ready to address and mail all of my invitations in the next few weeks. I am planning to hand address invitations in cursive and I was wondering what to do about the state abbreviations. I know that you really are supposed to spell out all abbreviations on formal invitations, but I have heard some people on the knot say they had issues with the postal service and their invitations getting pulled and hand sorted if they did not use the state abbreviation codes. Not sure what is best to do. I think it looks a little silly with the state abbreviation in print when the rest is in cursive, but I don't want any issues with the post office. What did everyone else do? If you spelled out state names did you have any issues?

AllAboutTheBenjamin · May 2012

...You can't abbreviate the states in cursive?

ootmother2 · May 2012

Spell out all state names

Tami87 · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_addressing-invitations-state-abbreviations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:db5814d9-8e48-45f1-a353-3007c88233eePost:452dd88b-8bb0-498c-bd4c-d022ac80311b">Re: Addressing Invitations - State Abbreviations?</a>:
[QUOTE]...You can't abbreviate the states in cursive?
Posted by AllAboutTheBenjamin[/QUOTE]

Yea I thought about doing this too, but then wondered if there would be a similar problem for the scanner. Not really sure how the post office sorts mail or how good it is.

Meegles4 · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_addressing-invitations-state-abbreviations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:db5814d9-8e48-45f1-a353-3007c88233eePost:9c9770d0-ba35-4ef2-9e56-1c38291ce14e">Re: Addressing Invitations - State Abbreviations?</a>:
[QUOTE]Spell out all state names
Posted by ootmother2[/QUOTE]

Really? I totally didn't, but I guess that wouldn't be the worst thing I screwed up when addressing mine.

I think you should use the abbreviations. Like AATB said, you can still write the letters in cursive, or you know, not, and still be fine and have it look formal enough.

krizzo17 · May 2012

I always write in cursive, and my mail always gets delivered. I wrote out full state names on invitiations, and as far as I know, they all got delivered, too.

ccarrion77 · May 2012

I'd go to your post office and ask if they even accept it if the state is spelled out. Then worry if you should for etiquette of not later. I've heard of to many people get there's back over far smaller issues.

lyndausvi · May 2012

cursive abbreviation is fine.

The post office prefers abbreviation over writing the whole state out.

Spelling out the state/terrority takes up a lot of room. I use to lives in Wrightsville Beach,North Carolina and St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Both of those places take up the entire envelope when all spelled out.

MyUserName1 · May 2012

I think you're overthinking this (:

midgetthemighty · May 2012

I think the scanner mainly looks at the zip code but I could be wrong. I have never seen an invitation with the state spelled out.

StephBeanWed61502 · May 2012

I always thought the post office sorted by zip code, primarily. I don't know why it would matter how you write the state name out as long as the zip code is correct and readable. FWIW, I often write out complete state names in formal correspondence (and whenever I send stuff to my friends who live in Maryland, because I have a weird mental block that prevents me from remembering Maryland's abbreviation), and all my mail's always gotten delivered just fine.

MattsPenguin · May 2012

Yeah, I think that the zip code is the most important thing on the envelope after someone's name.

mica178 · May 2012

I definitely have received invitations with the spelled-out state, and that is the correct thing to do from a stationery etiquette standpoint.

That being said, if I remember correctly, I did not spell out the states. The city names of the bulk of my guests were so long, they took up the whole darned line.

SarahPLiz · May 2012

Do people really care?

specialk84 · May 2012

I spelled out all of my state names on my invitations. Many of them were sent to Colorado, which is a fairly long state name, and they were all delivered.

aragx6 · May 2012

Unless there's something wrong with the ZIP code they won't even look at the state. You should spell them out.

Maggie0829 · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_addressing-invitations-state-abbreviations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:db5814d9-8e48-45f1-a353-3007c88233eePost:573dd897-4d74-4fe6-9b52-cc4be00e74a4">Re: Addressing Invitations - State Abbreviations?</a>:
[QUOTE]I always thought the post office sorted by zip code, primarily. I don't know why it would matter how you write the state name out as long as the zip code is correct and readable. FWIW, I often write out complete state names in formal correspondence (and whenever I send stuff to my friends who live in Maryland, because I have a <strong>weird mental block that prevents me from remembering Maryland's abbreviation</strong>), and all my mail's always gotten delivered just fine.
Posted by StephBeanWed61502[/QUOTE]

It is MD <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" />

OP, for our wedding invites we wrote out the state name and had no problems with our invites not getting to their destinations. Honestly, I don't think it really matters. As long as the zipcode is correct and readable your invite should get to the address without any problems. Please don't overthink this...once the person receiving the invite reads their name they will look no further and remember, it is just an envelope that is going to thrown in the trash.

LDYGTR13 · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_addressing-invitations-state-abbreviations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:db5814d9-8e48-45f1-a353-3007c88233eePost:31fce634-f215-4379-ad12-566155c41a86">Re: Addressing Invitations - State Abbreviations?</a>:
[QUOTE]I spelled out all of my state names on my invitations. <strong>Many of them were sent to Colorado, which is a fairly long state name</strong>, and they were all delivered.
Posted by specialk84[/QUOTE]
HUSH IT. 75% of my guests were in MISSISSIPPI

dawnie204 · May 2012

I address things at work all the time in cursive, and I use abbreviations which I also write in cursive. I think you should do what you are comfortable doing. People probably are not going to look that hard at how you address the envelope.

LeiselEB · May 2012

Spell them out.

TaraMc728 · May 2012

As long as the zip codes are correct you should not have any problems. When we took our invites to the post office, they did not even look at the state, just the zip.

Tami87 · May 2012

Thanks ladies! You are right I am probably over thinking this. I think I will probably just spell them out unless I am short on space.

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