Calligraphy for wedding envelope addressing

Since 2005 I have written thousands of beautiful calligraphy envelopes for wedding invitations.

There’s something magical about a wedding invitation landing on the doorstep – and hand calligraphy elevates your guests’ delight to another level!

If you already have your wedding invitations and envelopes, I can address the envelopes for you.

If you’ve yet to buy your invites, please see my wedding invitations page.
All of my designs can incorporate beautiful envelopes which are perfectly suited to modern calligraphy addressing.

A pale blue envelope with calligraphy addressing on a silver plate with a succulent and sea glass, and a wedding ring. The plate is on pebbles, like on a beach
Photography: Lucy Davenport

Etiquette for wedding envelope addressing

Please don’t worry over the ‘rules’ for sending wedding invites! You’ll find all kinds of guides online, but the golden rule is: you do you.
Your guests are your favourite people in the world: if you’ve never addressed your friends as Doctor & Mr J & A Smith before, you don’t have to start now: you can still call them Jenny and Abraham on their envelope!

hand calligraphied grey envelope in white ink in a modern calligraphy style
Photography: Lara Rios

Hand delivering wedding invitations

If you have guests who live close by, consider delivering their wedding invitations by hand. The personal touch is lovely!
You’ll also save on postage costs, and you can be more creative with the invitations.
Hand delivered wedding envelopes can be beautifully written and illustrated with all the swirls and flourishes in the world.
It’s also safe to include wax seals and threads or dried flowers if you’re delivering by hand.
You may even be invited in for a cuppa and a cookie, so – bonus!

Swirly gold calligraphy on a burgundy wedding envelope and invitation. The invite is illustrated with white and gold flowers and leaves. The suite sits on scrunched up silk with hydrangea flowers and hops around it
Photography: Jessica Reeve

Sending calligraphy wedding invitations by post

Doorstep delight is a real thing, and your guests will be thrilled when their invites land!
If your envelopes are beautifully addressed in calligraphy the postie will need to be able to read key information so:

  • I’ll write house numbers and post codes clearly
  • I’ll advise you on inks – a common example is gold ink on white envelopes, which can be hard to read
  • I’ll always leave space for your postage stamps!
A wedding invitation, RSVP and calligraphy envelope in burgundy ink. The calligraphy is very modern and elongated. The invitation has a torn edge and floral illustrations. There are silk ribbons and flower buds scattered around, and a stone floor underneath
Photography: Rebecca Goddard // Styling: Krysta, For the Love of Weddings (featured on English Wedding)

Tips for sending your wedding invitations

  1. Buy your stamps online. There are collections of wild bird stamps, wild flower stamps and other special editions. These are so much prettier than the standard 1st and 2nd class stamp books!
  2. Always weigh your invitations with everything that will go inside: invite, envelope, inserts, rsvp card and envelope etc. If your invitation ‘pack’ weighs more than 100g, standard first and 2nd class stamps won’t be enough
  3. Check the thickness of your invitations. They need to be less than 5mm thick – so any little embellishments could cause problems
Handwritten wedding envelope and invitation with place names. The calligraphy is very modern, in an elongated style in dusky pink. Paper is recycled with flecks. They're on a piece of silk with a pale blue ribbon and a pink rose in one corner
Photography: Agnes Black

Mistakes with wedding envelopes

If your wedding invitation packs aren’t priced properly, or safely packaged, they won’t get there!

  • Wax seals and string get tangled up and ripped off in Royal Mail’s sorting machines. It’s not worth the risk!
  • If you haven’t put the right stamps on, Royal Mail could (and often do) make the recipients pay the extra before they’ll hand over the invites!
  • If you don’t include your own address on the reverse, your invitations could get lost and you’ll never know

Pale rose gold calligraphy on a white envelope, with a delicate floral crown placed above, and a wedding ring on the envelope
Photography: Kathryn Hopkins
A blue handmade paper envelope with a rough texture and gold calligraphy addressing. Dried summer flowers like delphiniums are placed across one corner
Photography: Kathryn Hopkins
A grey calligraphy envelope with white lettering in a modern style sits on top of a scrap of old painted wood. There's a folded sheet of muslin underneath and a discarded deer antler to one side.
Photography: Paper & Primrose
A calligraphy envelope with dusky pink ink on black paper, and a calligraphy love letter to one side. The handwritten wedding items are surrounded by natural objects including a chunk of quartz, some holly leaves and sea coral, and sat on a folded sheet of muslin cloth
Photography: Paper & Primrose

A faux leather envelope with handwritten modern calligraphy. The envelope is shown next to a vintage photo of men in suits lined up next to a plane, and a vintage map of Italy. Sand is scattered across the shot.

 

Chic minimal calligraphy for wedding stationery with an inner envelope and a torn edge invitation, and two calligraphy place names. These are on a stone floor alongside a eucalyptus spring, a handprinted cookie, a glassine bag of confetti and some artisan marshmallows
Photography: Agnes Black