With formal invitations, guests names are handwritten in the top left corner or the space provided in the wording of the invitation, and full titles are used. If you're sending an invitation to a married couple, the correct form of address on the envelope is 'Mr and Mrs Joseph Bloggs'.
It is good etiquette to send an invitation to the groom's parents and to the minister if you're having a church wedding.
If your reception includes a formal dinner and dance, and you want guests to wear black tie and evening dress, Black Tie should be printed in the bottom right corner of your invitations.
If you're having an evening party to which you're inviting extra guests, there should be a separate invitation for this. It's not considered appropriate to stipulate morning dress on invitations since this could put your guests to inconvenience and expense.
Send invitations out two or three months before the day to be safe, and certainly no later than six weeks before.
Traditional invitations are printed in black, on white or cream card and may be hand engraved (the most expensive option), thermographed (looks like hand engraving, but cheaper) or flat printed (the cheapest method). Traditional wordings are most common but there is no reason why you shouldn't have something less formal if it suits the mood of your wedding.
