Invite/Table card how to properly address.

I know this has been posted before but now I'm not exactly sure what to do. What is the proper order to address a couple on an invite or table card if they are living together or engaged? Lady first always, your friend first or alphabetically. Thanks!

Another question on that topic...

What do you do if a couple is married, but have different last names, Mrs. Jane Doe and Mr. John Smith, or Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, or something else?

Another question on that topic...

does the hall generally supply these cards and you fill them out? I see them in the catalogs and figured it was in case you wanted somehthing other than what the hall offered.

Another question on that topic...

I asked the hall when we booked and they provide them, but we are doing something different, so we are making our own.

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But how do you address a couple living together but not married? our hall supplied them but I ordered my own anyway. I wanted them to match my invitation.

RE: Another question on that topic...

I am engaged to Chuck and we live together right now.. usually what my family does for card or invites is like this: Mr. Charles McCrickard and Tami It does not bother me.. or sometimes my family will do.. Ms. Tami Rojas and Charles.. i guess what ever they feel like, I don't know if there is a proper way, but I can tell you that either way works for me..:-)

RE: Another question on that topic...

I did mine like this: Ms. Sharon Jones Mr. Bob Smith (inside envelope the same, omitting the first name, although some go for a more casual way of just saying Sharon & Bob - not proper etiquitte but prefered by some) You would use that format whether they are married or not, as long as it is one invite going to the same address. In my case, I knew one person of the couple better and longer than the other, so their name went first. If I knew them equally as well I would have put the names alphabettically.

Recently done with us....

We have been invited to numerous weddings this summer and fall and the way the invitations are addressed is different depending on who invited us. If it was his family or friend it always reads 'Mr. James Smith and Ms. Michelle Jones' and my friend or family member 'Ms. Michelle Jones and Mr. James Smith'. Placecards will read Mr. Jones and Ms. Fountain and vise versa.