How to address invites

If you’re inviting both parents and their children, I would say “The Doe Family.” If they’re not married, John Smith and Jane Doe is fine. It’s not
tacky to list everyone by name, it’s recommended.

View Quoted Comment Thanks! But if they are married should i write
Mr and Mrs John and Jane Doe?

To my knowledge when you write Mr and Mrs its just the mans name:
Mr. and Mrs. John Doe

???

I did mine Mr. and Mrs John Smith and if they had kids I listed them each individually underneath

Mr. & Mrs. John Doe and Family is ok. I have a weird situation where I want to invite two married gay PhDs who do not share a last name, though, so it makes me question whether I want to use that formula for all of my guests - because it breaks down when you hit the exceptions. So you can do that, but for the cohabitating couples, you will still need to do Mr. John Doe & Ms. Jane Brown. This is true also for anyone who doesn't share a last name but lives in the same house, like Mr. John Doe & Mrs. Jane Smith-Doe. Adult children get their own invitation, even if they still live at home. I legitimately do not know what the formula is for same-sex couples, so I'm just going to do Dr. John Doe & Dr. John Smith, in my example, because they are a couple living in the same house. I think you have to split up the names if the wife has a title other than Mrs., too. For example, FH and I will be Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Carrier, or more correctly, Mr. Thomas Carrier and Dr. Cyndi Carrier.

Also, remember that these people are your family. They are not going to judge you or be petty about how you invite them on the envelopes as long as you use their actual names.

There isn't a good answer to this. Traditionally, it was Mr. and Mrs. John Doe for a married couple. She was known as Mrs. Jane Doe only if she was divorced. So some people will be offended if you use her first name, thinking it implies she's divorced.

More recently, women have objected to having their entire name disappear, and have started using Mr. John and Mrs. Jane Doe. So some people will be offended if you use Mr. and Mrs. John Doe.

Mr. John and Ms. Jane Doe (or Ms. Jane and Mr. John Doe) is clearly correct. (Ms. was invented precisely to be a title that applied to a woman regardless of her marital status.) But some people think Ms. is just for a single or divorced woman, so they would object to that.

A lot of people end up just going with Jane and John Doe. But if you choose to go with formal titles, you're just going to have to pick one and know it will offend someone.

Mr & Mrs John Doe & Family

Mr. John Doe- Single Man

Miss. Jane Buck- Single Women

Ms. Jane Buck- Widowed or you are unsure of marriage status women.

Mr. John Doe & Miss. Jane Buck- Not Married but living together couple

View Quoted Comment When you list two separate names, for married people you use the word and, or an ampersand & which says these two are connected by marriage, whether you do it on one line, or two. Separate names for unmarried people, whether different last names or the same (relatives) , list each person on a separate line, with no use of and or &. So Dr. James Smith and
Dr. Alan Doe, are married. Dr. James Smith (next line) Dr. Alan Doe live in same household, not married. If they live in separate places, whether married or not, they get separately addressed invitations in the mail. Or the invitation is addressed to just the person you know, but an inner envelope may list the name of that person, and the SO you do not know but are inviting by name as half a couple. A lot of people choose outer and inner envelopes if there are lots of households with kids, in-laws, boyfriends and girlfriends in residence, and only list all people invited on the inner envelope. Easier, when you intend to invite a couple and the 2 high school age children, but not the toddlers or MIL, to give the list of 4 names, which may even be 4 different surnames, only inside where there is no room needed for the address. Better than " and family" or just naming adults who are heads of household on the outer envelope. Which often leads to bringing of everyone in the household, when you do not want them. I only bought slightly larger envelopes for 10 invitations, so we could clearly list those individuals invited and no others on an inner envelope, so no one could possibly think they could bring their whole household. Since people never see each other's invitations, it does not matter if you use 1 envelope for some, and outer and inner envelopes for others. No need to be consistent, one invitation to another.

View Quoted Comment The couple not married but living together, each name on separate line with no 'and' is usual.