Addressing invitations- calligraphy yes or no?

I had my MIL do them because she has really nice handwriting. If she wouldn't have, I would have done labels because my handwriting is terrible. If you have a couple of friends that have nice handwriting, get a couple nice pens and have them over to help you.

I went to office depot and got address labels. from their page of instructions, you can choose the font, size and alignment in their template on their website. of all the costs for a wedding, labels seem to be the best way to save money, time, and headache.

i don't know anyone who actually cares if the address is in calligraphy or not. i've never heard of my mom, her friends, or my friends ever gossiping about not using a calligrapher. the truth is... those envelopes will be thrown in the trash almost instantly.

unless you have very uptight upper class relatives, i'd go with labels.

I don't know if this is considered tacky or not, however, we are affixing pre-printed labels written in calligraphy font on the outside mailing envelopes and on the RSVP card envelopes. However, I do calligraphy and I writing the guests names on the inside envelope. I don't know if that is the proper way of doing things, but my hands are not what they used to be and doing this amount of calligraphy will kill them.

Okay good to know. That's how I feel. I am thinking of doing them myself (my handwriting is so-so), and having one of my friends with really good handwriting help.

We're doing calligraphy. Mainly because it suits the stlye of our invites/wedding. We went with a more modern take though as the traditional font wouldn't really go with what we're doing.

Andrene, that's beautifiul!

Thank you. The cost was $4/per envelope that had a full address and $1 for names only. We're having FMIL hand-deliver most of ours so we saved money by just having the calligrapher do the names (minus the address) on the envelopes. So, just "Mrs. and Mrs. John Doe". I just got the finsished product back and they are amazing.

@Andrene.....The sample is beautiful! I am telling you, if I weren't going to my own wedding, I would be asking you for an invite to your wedding. At least I know, there will be good booze. ; )

I'm doing labels as well, probably in script font or something. to me the caligraphy is not worth the cost, but it sure does look beautiful!

I am doing labels too

I'm planning on writing mine, but I'm only sending 27 invitations. My envelopes are black, so I will purchase a silver pen. I have nice enough handwriting, so I'm just going to do it myself.

But my original plan (when I had a 150 person guest list) was to do the labels.

Just make sure you buy CLEAR labels! White labels (IMO) are a bit tacky.

FH brought up labels several times and I refuse to allow it; I do think it is tacky. I think even the worse handwriting (as long as it is legible to the Post Office) is better than a computer generated label. Because for the few moments that envelope is being written, that guest is the focus of it and it adds a personal touch and at least that guest can feel that their invitation was from a human and not a machine. Just like Thank You cards should be hand written, and personalized to the gift giver.

I kinda see the point about labels, haven't really decided for sure yet, but my writing is pretty bad and that can be off-putting. I figure if people are gonna judge something like labels, they can stay home :-)

We are on a budget so I am addressing my own invites. I was going to go with the clear address labels, but I have heard so many people say how informal that is. Handwritten is a little more personal, but I am having a very small wedding. I was going to hire someone to do calligraphy, but that is too expensive. If you have the money do the calligraphy

There was a thread on weddingbee about faux calligraphy in December- where you print out the envelopes and then trace over them with a pen/marker to make it look handwritten....

http://www.weddingbee.com/2009/10/23/semi-diy-invitations-first-impressions/

I am going to print mine in a font that matches the return address that is already printed on them using the printer to go directly onto the envelopes, no labels.

What about wrap around labels?

I like the wrap around lables! Where did you find those?

We printed the addresses (and our return address) directly on the envelopes in a script font.

I like the wrap around labels