Addressing Invitations

On mine if they are a family with kids i put The Smith Family and people without children i put Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I am totally with you on the husbands 1st name thing. if the entire family is invited i guess you could address it to the Smith Family instead of listing all the names. then have them rsvp with the names of who is attending

Just for the record: I like getting mail addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Nick XXX.

I used only an outer envelope and I addressed

Mr. and Mrs. John Doe and Joey

or

Mr. and Mrs. John Doe and Family if there was more than one child that was invited.

At first I was doing and family, but after some research I see that without and inner envelope it is proper to include children's names to make sure it is clear they are invited.

I'm totally blew etiquette out of the water for my save the dates and addressed them to "John and Jane Smith." There was no Mr. & Mrs. there because the whole "Mr & Mrs. John Smith" really felt weird to me.

I haven't heard the thing about putting the kids' names on the outer envelop, but I don't see anything wrong it.

I think either what you have already or "The Smith Family" is acceptable, but what you have now sounds more formal. I'm going to do what you have. Sometimes putting "The Smith Family" can get confusing. Maybe some of the Smith children are grown and moved away so they will get their own invitation while other Smith children are still at home. Maybe the Smith family is a blended family and some of the children don't have the last name Smith, and would be offended if you called them by that last name. Or maybe Mr. and Mrs. Smith are a blended family and Mrs. Smith has a child that lives in Australia whom you have never met nor seen their face, not talked to, and no one is expecting you to invite them to your wedding. It can get complicated without just using everyone's names.

I am super formal and addressed STD with Mr. & Mrs. John Smith. But if you don't like that, just go with Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I like your idea of writing out the children's names beneath that. I think its important to write their names so they know for sure the children are invited.

That sounds perfect. I'll probably do the same thing. I've read all those tips too saying you shouldn't address to the Smith Family because you never know who they'll think that includes!

Mine were very casual.

Unmarried john doe and jane darling

Married. John and jane doe

Married with kids but kids arent invited: john and jane doe

Married with kids and kids are invited: the doe family.