Wedding Wednesday

Someone's got to say it.  Who decided we should have proper ways to address envelopes?  I mean is it really necessary?  Couldn't we just politely address them however we want?  After looking up some etiquette rules, I found that most sites* say you should adddress a female doctor and her husband with the woman first, like this:

Dr. Ann Smith and Mr. John Smith

123 Sesame St.

Bigtown, NC 23456

A couple sites say female first, but not completely separate, like this:

Dr. Ann and Mr. John Smith

123 Sesame St.

Bigtown, NC 23456

The obvious point is that occupational title trumps gender in etiquette.  Maybe I'm a bit traditional in that I think the husband should be first, despite occupational title, like this:

Mr. and Dr. John Smith

123 Sesame St.

Bigtown, NC 23456

What do you think?  That's the question for the week.

Other interesting finds:

• Guests over the age of 18 should receive their own invitation, even if they live with their parents.  (Um... I don't think so - one invitation per home is good, in my opinion.  I'd include their names on the inner envelope of course.)
• A divorced woman who kept her married name should be addressed as a Mrs. (Does anyone else think that's weird?)
• You should not abbreviate state names. (Seriously?)
• In fact, you should not abbreviate anything except: Mr, Mrs, Ms, Jr, Sr, D.C. (as in District of Columbia), St. (as in Saint), and Mt. (as in Mount).  (I think someone just pulled the last 3 out of a hat and said "I think these should be abbreviated.")

I don't anticipate having a lot of trouble addressing these bad boys, nor do I think it'll take that much time.  What I'd really like to do is just pop those suckers in the printer and have nice, neat, uniform, spell-checked addressed envelopes, but I'm pretty sure that would break all kinds of etiquette laws.  Sigh.

*Sources: Southworth, The Knot, Frugal Bride (Thanks Kimberly!)

I am pleasantly suprised with the votes this week!  It is quite obvious that most of y'all prefer black suits.  As of 11 pm last night, the totals were: 1st place Black (13 votes), 2nd place Khaki (5 votes), and 3rd place Gray (4 votes).  Rock on!  Of course, I'll let you know when we decide!