Addressing Our Guests

Addressing Our Guests

December 30th, 2010 @ 4:58 pm by Ms Cheetah
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Do you hear that?

Is that the sound of wedding fairies singing?

Because we finally have an invitation design! I still need to add the finishing touches and get it to the printers ASAP, but at least now we have a plan.

Now that the design plan is in place, I’ve been thinking up ways to address these bad boys.

Option 1: Calligraphy

I have a thing for slanted formal calligraphy. Too bad my handwriting mimics that of a 10 year old and there isn’t room in the invitation budget for a pro.

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Option 2: DIY or Faux Calligraphy

I don’t have the courage to teach myself calligraphy, but many a bee have outlined how to fake your way to gorgeous calligraphy by first printing the addresses from your printer, then going over them with ink.

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Option 3: Home Printer

Hardcore traditionalists will tell you that the only proper way to address a wedding invitation is to handwrite it, but I’m not buying it. I’ve received many invitations that were printed via a home printer and they looked great. With all the great fonts out there, this can be a cheap, easy, and stylish option.

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Option 4: Wraparound Labels

I love the way the wraparound labels on our Save the Dates turned out, but I think I may be looking for something different for our invitation suite-or as I like to call it, our invitation sweet!

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Option 5: Mailing Labels

Simple square or rectangular mailing labels look great on envelopes of all shapes and sizes.

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Circular labels, paired with handwritten or home-printed addresses are high on my list. Mrs. Seashell made up some amazing round labels when she ran out of her gorgeous wraparound labels.

Can you believe that these were a last minute save by Mrs. Seashell?

Or I could go the route of Miss Panther, and use an awesome custom shape to address the invites.

Panther’s fabulous save the date envelope

Am I missing any other addressing options? How did you address your invitations?

Tags: calligraphy, invitations, palm-springs, stationery |

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19 Responses to “Addressing Our Guests”

Bee

Miss French Toast (message) 288 posts, Helper bee

My invites are at the printers as I type (eeek!)… I plan on doing the wrap around label since we did a rather simple STD. Can’t wait to see how yours turn out!

12/30/10 @ 5:16 pm (reply)

Member

kimmylyn (message) 194 posts, Blushing bee

I used my trusty home printer to print on the envelopes. I gave the faux-calligraphy a whirl by writing over it with ink, but it never ended up looking quite right… so I just stuck with printing the addresses. I think they ended up looking great!

12/30/10 @ 5:20 pm (reply)

Member

Miss OBG (message) 1,272 posts, Bumble bee

I’m excited to see what you end up with, as invitations are our next big project, and I have no idea what we’ll do!

12/30/10 @ 5:26 pm (reply)

Member

Lexsy (message) 537 posts, Busy bee

I think we’ll go with the wraparound, as for the SDTs we went for the faux calligraphy. If you don’t want to use the wraparounds again, I think your best bets are either the faux calligraphy (we were very happy with how it turned out), or a custom shaped label, as Miss Panther’s looks great!

12/30/10 @ 5:34 pm (reply)

Member

smyley (message) 4,275 posts, Honey bee

I handwrote them in calligraphy. It’s really pretty easy once you have the different tips with which to practice. Mine is a nicer version of my regular writing, so for me it was a breeze.

12/30/10 @ 5:35 pm (reply)

Member

Nickers2 (message) 34 posts, Newbee

I, too, didn’t want to pay for a calligrapher, but my ink jet printer wouldn’t make friends with the envelopes I had. So I bought some Avery 4×2 clear mailing labels & stuck them on. Unless you were right on top of them, you didn’t even notice that it wasn’t printed on the envelope itself. I was weary about it looking tacky, but then I realized that people are just going to throw the envelope away. There was no need to stress any further about something that was going to end up in the trash.

I do love the wrap around, though.. And Mrs. Seashell & Miss Panther’s invites are gorgeous! Just depends on how much energy you want to spend on them. Good luck!

12/30/10 @ 5:40 pm (reply)

Member

jindc (message) 676 posts, Busy bee

I had the Etsy shop who did my invites make wrap around labels and they are great. I’m not formal, our wedding is not formal, and they were a perfect way to finish off our look.

12/30/10 @ 6:00 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Glasses (message) 2,741 posts, Sugar bee

These are all great options! You pulled some great inspiration here. We did wrap-around labels with the addressed printed right on them, then went over them with a fancy black pen to look like they were handwritten. While I would’ve loved to afford calligraphy it just wasn’t in the cards.

12/30/10 @ 6:12 pm (reply)

Member

txin1 (message) 86 posts, Worker bee

Where do you get the wrap around labels?

12/30/10 @ 7:28 pm (reply)

10.

Member

kgsaea2011 (message) 88 posts, Worker bee

I am in love with the wrap around labels. but I also like the circular ones too.
Calligraphy is definitely not in our budget so I will either hand write them or print them. Havent decided on which yet though..

Good luck!

12/30/10 @ 9:20 pm (reply)

11.

Member

missbiscuit (message) 1,050 posts, Bumble bee

As someone who is literally currently taking a break from addressing her invites (handcramps are a bitch!) this post is quite timely! I’m doing a modification of Option 2- I couldn’t figure out how to feed the envelopes through our printer so I just printed out everyone’s addresses in the font & size I liked, pencil transferred the writing over (a la what Mrs. Trail mix did for her album), and then have been going over that with a calligraphy pen. It’s been tedious, but the results have been very nice!

12/31/10 @ 2:08 am (reply)

12.

Member

Hard Hat Purple Boots (message) 67 posts, Worker bee

Yea, my handwriting is also pretty shoddy. Home printers all the way!

12/31/10 @ 4:34 am (reply)

13.

Member

nmsoonerbride (message) 1,202 posts, Bumble bee

I did my own version of fauxligraphy:
I printed everyone’s address in my favorite font on avery index cards (they go through the printer just like normal paper, so I avoided the problem of having to run envelopes through my printer).

I then put the index cards in the envelopes, and used a light box to trace the addresses with an ultrafine sharpie. The process was idiot-proof, which is important if you are me….
And even FMIL asked for addresses for the rehearsal dinner, I was able to throw the index cards in an envelope and mail them to her.

12/31/10 @ 8:20 am (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Waffle (message) 1,121 posts, Bumble bee

I’m going to have to make a mental note of that first inspiration pic. Love that slanted calligraphy!
@nmsoonerbride: Genius! I love multi-purposing!

12/31/10 @ 10:24 am (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Cinnamon Bun (message) 1,100 posts, Bumble bee

I love those round labels! I think we’ll either do a cool label like that, or run them through the printer. I don’t think I’ll bother to go over the printed envelope with a pen either.

12/31/10 @ 10:30 am (reply)

16.

Bee

Miss Ostrich (message) 1,948 posts, Buzzing bee

I’m soooo excited to see your invites, Cheetah! The slanted calligraphy is super gorgeous, i would melt if i ever received one of those beauties in the mail.

as for us, i hand wrote ours with metallic gold ink. and to the dismay of miss emily post, i didn’t do calligraphy….but it turned out cute and legible for mister postman…

12/31/10 @ 10:32 am (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Giraffe (message) 4,216 posts, Honey bee

I’m totally going to do wrap around. Addressing by hand just seems like too much work!

1/1/11 @ 3:43 am (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Panther (message) 1,046 posts, Bumble bee

Ooh, thanks for the shout-out! I’m sure you’ve looked into more calligraphy than just Love, Jenna, who I am also crazy-obsessed with, but I wanted to share the two cheapest ones I’ve found:
Penned and Pretty only charges $0.90 per outer envelope: http://pennedandpretty.blogspot.com/
And Michele Clark charges $1.15 per outer envelope: http://calligraphybymichele.blogspot.com/
We’re using Michele, and she’s been amazing so far! Obviously, it still adds up quickly, but it’s worlds away from Jenna’s $4/envelope pricing. Sigh.

1/1/11 @ 11:28 am (reply)

19.

Bee

Ms Cheetah (message) 1,188 posts, Bumble bee

@txin1: I made mine, designed in illustrator, printed them, cute them, then ran them through my xyron to make them sticky. You can also find places to buy or custom make wrap-arounds.

@nmsoonerbride: Love that idea!

@Miss Panther: Oh, if I only had more time….

1/4/11 @ 3:28 pm (reply)