Addressing the invitations by hand?

True, I have my MOH helping..and we have about 50 households so its not too much?

Not tacky, get a good calligraphy black pen and it will look nice, that's what I did!

No but is time consuming if you have multi envelopes.

Where can I get a good calligraphy pen?

Not tacky at all! Etiquette-wise you're actually supposed to address them by hand.

I used a cheat calligraphy/lightbox technique - I typed out all the names/addresses on regular paper in bold ink, in a calligraphy font I liked. I turned the brightness on our Ipad screen all the way up, flipped a clear pyrex dish over on top of it, then used a nice pen to trace the names/addresses onto each envelope. I did the same for our return address and RSVP envelopes. I did over 100 by myself over the course of a few days. It took me a few minutes per envelope once I got the swing of it and people thought we hired a pro. It was a labor of love but so worth it!! Made our invitations look so much more expensive. And tracing would be so easy to do with a helping set of hands. You can TOTALLY do this.

Another bride ran her envelopes through the printer with faint ink in a calligraphy font and then traced right on top with a jelly roll pen. Hers turned out beautifully too.

You can print them out in a pretty (but easy to trace) font.

Put the paper with the address on your I-pad/pyrex or some other back light source and trace. (like kris)

or

If you are good with your printer, print the address REALLY light and then trace. (MrsO)

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/my-cheating-calligraphy/5374572c0fdf94cb.html

Oh and I went through a bunch of trials with calligraphy pens - my advice is, unless you're actually using calligraphy strokes, the calligraphy pen is useless and might make your writing look kind of sloppy. At least that's what happened to me. I had delusions of grandeur that I would take up actual calligraphy and I bought a crapton of fountain pens. Errrr, nope. lol.

I would just go to Michaels/Hobby Lobby and pick up several jelly roll pens. That's what I used and it came out beautifully. Just make sure you get several in the exact same color, the ink will run out every 20-30 envelopes or so.

Ooooh, those are the other bride's envelopes that I was talking about - Hayley you're so good!

According to etiquette there is no other way to do it. Labels are "tacky"

By hand is the only way wedding invitations should be addressed. that said, they should not be chicken scratch just so they are hand addressed... you might want to look into services in your area that will address them for you, and talk to them about the style you are going for etc.

For my Save the Dates, I used clear labels. I printed the names and addresses in a calligraphy script on the clear labels and was done in less than 10 min. Guests are just going to throw the envelope away anyway.

I have 100 invites to go, so that's double the work for rsvp cards! I have tendinitis as well so after writing one address my hand starts to hurt. I'm thinking about getting clear labels and addressing them that way and my handwriting sucks as well!

Edited: Like Candice J said, they are just going to throw the envelope away anyways! Everyone does something different for their invites, do it how you want to.

My return addresses are already done, I ordered them that way so its just the outside envelope that has to be addressed.

I'm addressing mine by hand. We are sending out 80 invites. I have my mom, FH's mom & 2 bridesmaids helping me address them. There will be good food & a lot of wine. Hopefully they turn out ok!

I tried it and failed. And I thought i had nice handwriting. It looked so tacky. I ended up finding a nice "handwritten" font I liked and printed on the envelopes. It looks so much better.

Hand-addressed...pay a calligrapher or bribe a friend who has nice handwriting with bottles of wine if you need to. It really looks much nicer.