All About Return Addresses for your Wedding Invites and Other Special Mail

While the guest address is the star of your calligraphy envelope, your return address is still a key component! Even though my calligraphy style promotes legibility to ensure your envelopes make it to their recipient, things happen during the transit process, and you need a way for your envelopes to get back to you should something arise.

Today’s blog post will outline different considerations and options for including your return address on your wedding invite envelopes, holiday cards, thank you cards, and more!

RETURN ADDRESS PLACEMENT

To start things off, where should you place your return address? When you address an envelope for perhaps a bill or just sending a card to a friend, you likely put the return address on the top left corner of the envelope. When addressing envelopes for weddings, events, or even special holiday cards, it’s preferred to put the return address on the back flap of the envelope.

You may have heard stories of post office machine confusing the return address on the back flap as the guest address – resulting in the sender getting their invites or cards sent back to them! While this does occasionally happen, us calligraphers have different tricks to make sure it doesn’t happen to YOU, such as using different size text or design. So have no fear!

Handwritten calligraphy return address

RETURN ADDRESS ETIQUETTE

In my humble opinion, there are no hard and fast rules on how to address anything these days. Yes, there is tradition, but don’t feel forced to follow tradition if it doesn’t fit your personality!

For weddings, traditionally speaking, whoever is hosting the wedding would be noted as the return address – so that may be a parent or the couple themselves.

Other options are first names only (Alex and John), first and last names (Alex Jones and John Smith) last names plus wedding (Jones and Smith Wedding), or even no name at all and just the address! If you do decide to use last names, the one consensus no-no is to combine last names (Alex and John Smith) as you aren’t married yet.

For non-weddings, I say do whatever the heck you want! On these holiday cards, I did first initials and thought it was a really classy and elegant look.

RETURN ADDRESS OPTIONS

Now the fun part – all the different options for getting your return address onto the envelope.

RETURN ADDRESS LABELS

Perhaps the simplest, most well-known option is creating return address labels to stick on the envelope. These can be printed at places like VistaPrint and Shutterfly or even designed on your own computer and printed at home on label paper and be used long after your event.

Pro: affordable, simple
Con: white labels on a color envelope can look inelegant, inconsistent style with guest address

PRE-PRINTED RETURN ADDRESS ON ENVELOPE

If you are ordering envelopes online, often times you can have your return address pre-printed for a small fee. This is a huge time saver, as no one needs to stick, stamp, or write the address. It’s also provides for a clean look.

The only downside? If you run out of envelopes or need more for any reason, you can’t just use extra envelopes you have in a pinch. Well, I mean you can but then you need some other option for the return address since it won’t be pre-printed!

Pro: no assembly time
Con: extra cost, lead time for printing, inconsistent style with guest address

Don’t forget, if you’re working with a calligrapher be sure to order 20% extra envelopes upfront in case of errors! We’re human after all and ink has a mind of its own.

Custom return address stamp

RETURN ADDRESS STAMP

Similar to labels, you can order your return address a stamp you can use over and over again. A service I offer is to actually design your return address stamp for you for a cohesive envelope look! I will hand calligraphy your name and write your return address in block letters, digitize it, and turn it into a stamp. This means the calligraphy of your guest addresses matches the calligraphy of your return address, since it was all written by me.

There’s also a variety of ink colors available, so if you use colored ink for the guest address, chances are we can find a similar color ink for the stamp.

Pro: cohesive style with guest address, stamp is yours to keep
Con: time to apply the stamp, slightly more cost

CALLIGRAPHY RETURN ADDRESS

The crème de la crème option? Have a calligrapher also calligraphy your return address! Given the small real estate, your names would be in calligraphy and the address in block letters. This is the one route to ensure a 100% match in writing style and ink color. The tradeoff is this is the most expensive as it takes the most time for the calligrapher…but no time at all for the client!

Pro: most cohesive style with guest address, hands off for client
Con: most expensive option

Well, there you have it. Did you ever think there was this much to consider when it came to return addresses? The devil is always in the details and working with a calligrapher like me can help make the entire process simple. Inquire today for your own calligraphy addressed envelope!

Do You Need Inner Envelopes for Wedding Invitations?

You are faced with a lot of questions as you plan your wedding. There are plenty of obvious ones, like “how many guests?” “What flowers should be in the bouquet?” “What will we eat?”

But there are lots of unexpected questions that will arise as you plan, such as “do I need inner envelopes for my wedding invitations?” or even, “what the heck are wedding inner envelopes?”

What are Wedding Inner Envelopes?

To answer that second question first, inner envelopes are, you guessed it, an envelope inside your mailing envelope. The full invitation suite (invite, RSVP card, extra details) is placed inside the inner envelope. The inner envelope lists the guests’ names on the front and then is placed into an outer, mailing envelope with the guests’ address, stamps, and your return address (and maybe sealed with a wax seal!).

Benefits to using Inner Envelopes

What’s the point of inner envelopes for wedding invitations? Well, inner envelopes for wedding invitations date back to olden days when mail was delivered via horse and carriage. Mail got really beat up in those days and the inner envelope protected the invite from the damages seen on the outer envelope.

In today’s modern age, mail is treated more nicely so many forgo the inner envelope. But we have all received damaged mail, so using an inner envelope still adds an extra level of protection to your beautiful invitation suite - especially if you don’t plan on hand-cancelling your envelopes (more on that later!).

On top of that, though, inner envelopes provide clarity as to who is actually invited to your wedding. We all know forming the guest list is one of the hardest parts of wedding planning. The inner envelope helps alleviate that stress by making it clear to the recipients exactly who from that household is invited to the wedding in a non-confrontational way.

Outer envelopes are typically addressed to the heads of the household (in a more formal manner, such as “Mr. and Mrs. Wagner”), whereas the inner envelope lists everyone from that household is invited (in a more informal manner, such as “Justin, Maxine, Rob, & Faye”).

As an example, say you are having an adult-only wedding and one family you are inviting has both teenagers and young kids. While the outer envelope would be addressed to the heads of the household, the inner envelope can then specify which of the kids are invited to the wedding.

On the flip side, say you are inviting a single friend to your wedding and want them to know they can bring a guest. The more the merrier! The outer envelope would be addressed to your single friend (“Catherine Sims”) and the inner envelope would state “Catherine and guest” so your friend knows to crack open that address book!

Outer envelope addressed to head of households and inner envelope addressed to the specific family members who are invited to the event

Outer envelope addressed to single person and inner envelope addressed to indicate a guest is also invited to the event.

That all being said, back to the original question - do you need inner envelopes for your wedding invitations? Of course not! There are many ways to address an outer envelope to make it clear who is invited or this can be dealt with on the invite itself. Working with a calligrapher (like me!) to address your wedding envelopes can help make this process easier. I’ll help guide you every step of the way so you can be confident your envelopes are addressed appropriately and make it to their destination safely.

Like with all aspects of wedding planning, whether or not you use inner envelopes comes down to your preference and your budget. Interested in calligraphy envelope addressing me? Visit my Envelope services page and fill out the quick form to begin the inquiry process. While I’m a Southern California calligrapher, I love working with couples and individuals all over the country!