It’s not likely you regularly send formal correspondence by mail. Your wedding invitations provide a unique opportunity to be fancy, and set the stage for your important occasion. Seize the chance to pull out all the stops and get more formal than you ordinarily would in the way that you initially correspond with your wedding guests. Below are some of the most common envelope formats.

Traditional Formal Married Couple:

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Engaged couple:

The Future Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Married couple with kids under 18:

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Smith
Elliot and Jane
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Husband is a doctor:

Doctor and Mrs. Benjamin Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Both Husband and Wife are doctors:

The Doctors Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Husband is a judge:

The Honorable Benjamin Smith and Mrs. Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Husband is an officer:

Colonel and Mrs. Smith
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

Married Couple, different last names:

Mr. Benjamin Smith and Mrs. Cory Lane
625 Highland Drive
Apartment 103B
Chicago, Illinois
60574

A few things of note:

Completely spell out street and state names, as well as words like “Apartment,” “Suite,” or “Post Office Box”
Apartment numbers should be written on a separate line below the street number and name. If they are numbered less than 10, they should be spelled out (ie: “Apartment Nine”)
If you’d like to invite your guests to bring someone with them, either add “and Guest” after their names or elect to do inner envelopes, where you can be more specific about who you intend to invite.
Adults who are not romantically involved but who live together should get their own invitation (ie: roommates).
Some titles (Doctor, The Honorable, and Captain) should be spelled out, but Mr. and Mrs. are abbreviated.
The title “Miss” applies to unmarried women under the age of 18.
Keep married people on the same line, but if guests are unmarried, but live together, they should be listed on two separate lines.
When addressing, I personally like putting the zip code separately on the last line.
If you elect to follow all the rules, great! If you’re wedding is more informal and you want to convey that through your invitations, feel free to tweak as needed.
Still need help? Plug your actual names and details into this handy calculator to generate each address.
Don’t see what you need? Drop me a line and I can help figure it out!

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