Adressing Outer Envelopes

I only have an outer envelope to my invitation so here are my questions:

1. How do you address when it's to a family do I write Mr. and Mrs. X and Family or
Mr. and Mrs. X
Childrens' names

2. When 2 unmarried people live together does the girl go first, alphabetical order or the person to whom we are closest go first??

I've read etiquette articles, but some of them conflict especially since I don't have an inner envelope.

Please help me

Ok. Here's what I think


1- For a family I think you should go Mr & Mrs X and Family

2- Unmarried people. I think the person you're closest with should go first. Or if you're close with both put the guys name first.

Hope this helps

This is how I am doing it...

1 - for a whole family, I am addressing the outer to 'Mr & Mrs Jones' and then listing all the names of the family members on the inner.

2 - for unmarried couples living together I am putting 'Mr. Ken Smith & Ms. Jane Jones' on the outer.

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Posted by dleeny

This is how I am doing it...

1 - for a whole family, I am addressing the outer to 'Mr & Mrs Jones' and then listing all the names of the family members on the inner.

2 - for unmarried couples living together I am putting 'Mr. Ken Smith & Ms. Jane Jones' on the outer.

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So, are you putting the man first always?

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Posted by lax431

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Posted by dleeny

This is how I am doing it...

1 - for a whole family, I am addressing the outer to 'Mr & Mrs Jones' and then listing all the names of the family members on the inner.

2 - for unmarried couples living together I am putting 'Mr. Ken Smith & Ms. Jane Jones' on the outer.

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So, are you putting the man first always?

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yes, I am. As much as I'm into 'women's lib' it's tradition to address it to the man first.

I don't have an inner envelope, either, and I did the following:

1) Mr. and Mrs. X and Family
2) Whoever we're closest with first, and if we're close to both, we put the girl's name first.

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Posted by lax431

I only have an outer envelope to my invitation so here are my questions:

1. How do you address when it's to a family do I write Mr. and Mrs. X and Family or
Mr. and Mrs. X
Childrens' names

2. When 2 unmarried people live together does the girl go first, alphabetical order or the person to whom we are closest go first??

I've read etiquette articles, but some of them conflict especially since I don't have an inner envelope.

Please help me

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www.verseit.com has the answers to your questions, with that said this is what I did:

1) Family
Outer:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jones

Inner:
Mr. and Mrs. Jones
Elizabeth and Michael (children's names)

If no inner, then on the outer:

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jones
Miss Jones and Mr. Jones

or

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jones
Elizabeth and Michael

(And Family should be avoided, just like And Guest)

2) For an unmarried couple living together I always write the girls name first. ALWAYS!

Miss Jane Smith
Mr. Patrick Jones

That's how invitations are addressed to me, how I addressed all mine and how I will continue to address them. IMO the woman's name should always precede the man's.

I would do the 'and family'

and as for two unmarried people living together, I put whom ever I was closest with. A lot of my girl friends live with their boyfriends who I never met, so I put the girl's name first. Otherwise I would do boy then girl

Thanks for all the input. I know it said to avoid 'and guest' or 'and family' but how do you avoid 'and guest' if you don't have an inner envelope
I looked through all of the invitations I've received and sometimes my name is first and others it's not. I'm going to rule out the alphabetical thing I found on an etiquette website for unmarried couple, but I still don't know whether to put girl first or whomever we're closest to. I really appreciate your opinions-I was driving myself crazy!!!

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Posted by lax431

Thanks for all the input. I know it said to avoid 'and guest' or 'and family' but how do you avoid 'and guest' if you don't have an inner envelope
I looked through all of the invitations I've received and sometimes my name is first and others it's not. I'm going to rule out the alphabetical thing I found on an etiquette website for unmarried couple, but I still don't know whether to put girl first or whomever we're closest to. I really appreciate your opinions-I was driving myself crazy!!!

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you can't avoid guest if you have no inner envelope. I didn't follow 'traditional etiquette' for all my invites. I highly doubt anyone will notice (or care for that matter).

You should definitely consider putting the man's name first though.