Addressing envelopes

First impressions are so important! Setting the tone for your wedding starts with the invitation, and the envelope is the first part of the invitation that your guests will see!  In this post, I’ll share some ideas and tips for making your envelope calligraphy just gorgeous. 

Traditionally, the addresses on wedding invitation envelopes are written by hand. Receiving a hand addressed envelope in the mail these days is so rare — but it’s a welcome change from the piles of junk mail and bills that we normally get! It really adds a personal element, as well as a touch of class, to the experience of being invited to someone’s wedding. 

Play around with calligraphy! You can use an ornate script with lots of flourishes for a beautiful, traditional look. 

Or choose a fun, brush-inspired, dancing-baseline script for a modern, casual wedding!

Combining different styles of calligraphy, using color, or putting the text on an angle are other great ways to play with your addressing and make your invitations really special. 

There are a few tricks you can use to help with your hand addressing. Unless you have a stylistic reason, usually you’ll want your writing to be straight — this can be a little challenging!

  • Stick to your baselines by making a lined template and placing it inside your envelopes on a light table. As you write, just stay on the lines!
  • Don’t have a light table? Are your envelopes dark colored or too opaque for the light table? No problem — make a cutout template instead. Using an exacto knife, cut blocks out of a bit of cardstock corresponding to the lines of the address. Lay it across your envelope when writing. 

As a professional calligrapher, these tricks are invaluable to me!

What if you don’t have time to hand address everything? Or maybe despite hours of practice, your handwriting just seems irreparably bad? There’s another option out there for you — having your stationer print the addresses directly on the envelopes. While this option is a little less personal, it’s still a very nice choice. Often, you can add custom graphics, mix fonts, and choose from a variety of colors to get just the look you want. 

You'll also need to put your return address your RSVP card envelopes and on the back flap of your main envelopes. A popular option is to have these addresses digitally printed, while hand writing the guests' addresses!

One more choice that some people propose is sticky address labels — while I think these can potentially be a nice option for back-flap return addresses if done well, they aren’t appropriate for your guests' addresses. Stick with hand addressing or printing directly on your envelopes!

Finally, my favorite option — hire Proton Paperie & Press to address your envelopes! I love doing calligraphy, and I will work with you to choose the most beautiful and coordinating style for your invitations! If you’re interested in either hand addressed or digitally printed envelopes, get in contact with me today.