You’re probably not sending mail to an actual elephant, but there are certainly plenty of unique and sometimes even awkward situations which beg the question: how do I address my invitations?

Emily Post may have written the book on formal etiquette (and you can find the CWD guide to these formal addressing rules here), but being a designer means encouraging creativity in every aspect of the project—including addressing the invitation. So go ahead, toss that book out the window, or follow it to a T! When it comes to your invites, it’s not important whether you “did it correctly” but rather that it feels like you.

There are just three things every invitation address has to include: 

• Start with the name of a recipient

• Followed by a street address or PO Box on the second line

• Lastly include city, state and zip code (and Country if sending internationally)

That’s it! Those are the rules according to the post office; so if you want people to attend your wedding or fawn over your family Christmas card we suggest following them.

The questions we get all the time go something like this...
“Do I have to write just the man’s first name?”
“Should I abbreviate or write out streets, states, etc.?”
“Can I list kids’ names on the invitation or just put ‘Family’?”
“What’s the right way to address it so they know they’re allowed to bring a guest?”

What all these questions have in common is their answer: it’s up to you! A great place to start is to reflect on the vibe of your event+invitation, and carry that theme through to how you address them. If you are mailing invitations to a traditional wedding, Emily Post is a great resource for formal addressing correspondence. If your vibe is more modern and casual, feel free to bend the rules a little and maybe list both full names of the couple on the envelope. Don’t forget how details like calligraphy or printed typefaces play a major role in the overall feel of your invitations as well.

Think of the way you address your invites as the first impression of your event, a tease if you will, building anticipation for what’s inside and what’s to come!

You can flip through the Courtney Winet Designs Mailing lookbook here for more tips and ideas regarding how to address your invitations. Or send us your questions—we’ll do our best to help!