Did you know that about 90% of Funky Olive couples include Guest + Return addressing as part of their order? Whether it's part of their package (that VIP Posh Package is pretty dang awesome!), the addressing is included because they've hit a certain price point, or it's been added a la carté, letting us take care of your address printing is such a great idea - not only does it look so chic and totally completes the look of your invitations in a polished and professional way, but it's also such a huge time-saver.
BUT, I'm not going to lie.... gathering, sorting and cataloging all of the addresses for your guest list is probably going to be the hardest, and most tedious task for most couples. Your parent's may have the basis for you (if they're like my mom was though, it's in an old-school, handwritten address book!), and you'll most likely have to reach out to more than half of your guest list for mailing addresses, because let's face it - we live in a different era now, one that doesn't rely on traditional correspondence as much as that of generations past. So you'll have the oh-so-fun joy of tracking down addresses - yipee!! (for an easy way to start gathering addresses, you may want to check out https://www.postable.com/address-book)
I'll give you a few minutes to run off and collect everything..... ;)
Got them? Ready? Let's do this! In order to properly print your addressing I must have your addresses set up for me in a specific manner, in an Excel spreadsheet. I do not accept them in any other format than Excel, and I will not be formatting or editing your file before printing, so please be sure to do your best to set it up properly. Please be sure to double check all spelling, use capital letters when appropriate, and use proper punctuation in order to ensure that everything looks beautiful and professional when completed. Because a lot of my couples have never had to do this before, I've broken it down into a couple of explanatory photos to help you along. First thing is to open up the sample file I sent you. If you don't have it, let me know and I will email you another one.
The file should look like this when you open it. Go ahead and leave everything in that first line where it is.
You'll input the names of the guests as you want them to appear in Cell A. I recommend using the word "and" for any first usage of the word, and the "&" for any second usage, as shown above. If you have questions about how to properly name couples in various situations, please see below for a handy-dandy link.
Cell B is where your full mailing address will go. Use only one line to complete this. Be sure to include any apartment, suite, unit number on the same line. DO NOT add the city, state or zipcode to this line.
Cell C can be used for the City, State and Zip code if it is easiest for you. Be sure to include a comma after the city. If you prefer the state be spelled out, be sure to do so. OR......
If you prefer, you can place the city in Cell C, State in Cell D, and Zip code in Cell E. If you like the style of addressing where the zip code is on its own line, you must set up your file this way.
That's it! Simply save the file, and once you've looked it over, made sure that you haven't forgotten about Aunt Sally or Your Mom's Neighbor's Cousin's Pediatrician, and you've double checked everything for spelling and information accuracy you're ready to submit it to me. Pat yourself on the back. Pour yourself a nice glass of Rosé. You freakin' deserve it. ;)
But wait - there's more! One question I see All. The. Time. is "How do I address a single woman with a guest?" "A couple who's not married but lives together?" "A married couple where the woman is a Dr.?"...
This is a list of some of the most common ways to address, for a more complete list, I recommend that you check out Emily Post, who was basically the Martha Stewart of all things etiquette, before Martha Stewart was even Martha Stewart! Here's a link to a helpful post for addressing correspondence: http://emilypost.com/advice/guide-to-addressing-correspondence/
One last thing - if you purchased our super awesome Posh Package and are including "Crowd Control" numbering on your Response Card, be sure to go ahead and add a final cell with the number of guests included for each invitation so that we can take care of that for you.
If there's anything that you still have questions about, please feel free to shoot us an email so we can help you out, we are always happy to assist!