Invitation wording... "and guest"

You would but their SO's name on it. If they've been in these relationships long term, hopefully you know the SO's names or can easily find them out.

If they're living together, I would put both of their names. I did same line because of space

for some that I knew with bf/gf but they don't live together, I just put "and guest" on the second line

I'm not doing inner envelopes either.

You could put a belly band on the invite that says Susan and Guest.

Thanks ladies... address etiquette is ridiculous!

It's a lot, too many rules. I used etiquette as a guideline, but didn't follow it to the t. Sometimes situations are weird, and you gotta make it up as you go.

We didn't have an inner envelope, we did pocketfolds. We only gave "free" and guests to wedding party members (some of them opted not to bring anyone, which was nice!) Other than that we ONLY did it for couples who were married (obviously), engaged, or long term. We wrote both names on the outer envelope. If we just gave them a plus one, we didn't put "and guest" on the outer envelope, I think that looks bad. We just put on their RSVP that we had "2" seats reserved for them at the reception.

I'm not having inner envelopes either. What would/did you do if you invited for example a family of 4 (with high school to college aged kids)? Would you send 3 separate invitations, one addressed to Mr. & Mrs. XXX for the parents, and then one to each kid addressed separately?

Or just put all 4 names on the envelope?

Good question @Ren! I think i've heard that it is proper to send a separate for college aged kids... however I'm thinking i'll just send one invitation and write the number of seats reserved like RayRay said (so they know their kids are invited too). No sense on spending extra money on stamps to go to the same damn place!!!

All adults (over 18) are supposed to get their own invitation, but we had plenty of families that had various people under one roof, so all names just went on the outside of the invite. Our families aren't formal enough to know the difference, so I wasn't going to waste the stamp, etiquette be damned.

Haha I did the same thing, with the same attitude as Reenski!

This may be dumb, but what if the person wants to bring someone other than their SO? I was wondering how to address mine because I am giving my guests a plus one and dont wont to assume they will bring a certain person. I want everyone to know they have the option to bring someone and I have no inner envelope so I thought I would just write the persons name and guest on each outer envelope. Is that bad etiquette??

You're right, this etiquette just gets ridiculous! That's a good idea- it would be nice to not have to send so many extras for situations like that.

So will you hand-write the # of seats reserved onto the RSVP cards? I'm guessing you will order (or already ordered) them with the right wording in mind?

So would I word them "The Jones Family" Or "Mr. and Mrs. George Jones and family"... if there's kids?

UGH, i'll be happy when this part is OVER!!!

Good question @Jessica D.

Like Reenski said, I think it all depends on how YOU want to word it. I have a few people who won't even take notice how it's addressed and yet some people who i'm sure knows proper "etiquette" and would take notice.

Me...? I could care less!!!

Reenski & RayRay, I feel like I may end up doing that too lol. Our wedding is not very formal anyways so that makes me feel like it's not a huge deal.

Can I just say, that ultimately it doesn't matter how much thought you put into wording the invitation and hand writing the number of seats reserved you'll still have people who can't figure it out. We've had more than our fair share of people calling to see if we "forgot" their girlfriend/flavor of the week, just flat out say that they're bringing two, etc................

SO ANNOYED.

I did

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Pickles

and Family

123 Rugrats Lane.

Awesome, NK 12345

@Ren, if they are in a long term relationship, I would still make it out to those two -- so Jane Smith and John Doe. If they break up in that time, then you can address it. But if our friends that knew both me and my H invited one of us and referred to the other as "and guest," that would be weird. I think it'd be easier to say, "Hey, actually I broke up with John, can I bring my sister instead?" than think "They don't even know my long term boyfriend's name?!"

Does that make sense? I mean, in the end, it's whatever, but that's just my thoughts on your specific question...

That and who else would they bring, assuming they ARE still in that relationship? Awkward... :/