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Addresssing Invites: Special Circumstances

posted 3 years ago in Beehive
  •  
    1.
    Hostess
    1,542 posts
    Bumble bee
    HumarockBride    January 2, 2010   Boston, MA

    Hi Bees,

    I'm going through my guest list and attempting to write the "formal" names for each of the guests -- we need to print them for our save the dates ASAP.

    Clearly there are the easy ones: Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  But I have a question about a few special circumstances. 

    What do I do about a woman being invited alone because she is currnetly going through a bad divorce?  Is she Mrs. Susan Smith?  Or is she still Mrs. Edward Smith?

    What do I do about a woman who is a widow?  Again -- Mrs. Betty Miller? or is she still Mrs. Thomas Miller?

    And just to be sure -- my single girlfriends are Ms. and not Miss. -- right??

    Thanks for your help!

     
    2.
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    68 posts
    Worker bee
    musingsfromhere    12 July 2008   Canada

    I think you should use what they would feel comfortable with!  That was my approach to invites--women who I knew wouldn't want to be Mrs and Mrs Thomas Smith were Mrs. Susan and Mrs. Thomas Smith, etc.

    Most divorced women I know would rather be Mrs Susan Smith (or even Ms. Susan Maidenname, if she's going by that now) than Mrs. Edward Smith.  Some widows (esp. very senior ones) would go by Mrs. Thomas Miller, but probably wouldn't mind if you called them "Mrs. Better Miller".

    I would never call my single/unmarried friends Miss, but because they would probably kill me--and I wouldn't have used Miss for myself either.

    A lot of that is regional/cultural/family specific, so maybe the best bet is to ask your mother or FMIL what those specific women are going by.

    Good luck!

     
    3.
    Hostess
    8,491 posts
    Bumble
    Beekeeper
    Mrs. DG    July 18, 2009   Seattle/Tahoe

    It gets tough too, with all my girlfriends that are married or partnered doctors where the partner doesn't have a title.  I'm not looking forward to this part!

     
    4.
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    68 posts
    Worker bee
    musingsfromhere    12 July 2008   Canada

    Doctor Girl:
    Dr. and Mr. Smith (or Dr. Susan and Mr. David Smith or Dr. Susan Smith and Mr. David Jones)

    We went through all sorts of title-ettiquette issues for ours (including people with WAAAAY too many titles!), and no one complained (except a recently graduated MD who joked that our reply cards with M__________ weren't very helpful for Drs, Revs, etc.--so she crossed out M and wrote DR in BIG letters).  I think, as long as you are respectful and do your best, people will appreciate the invite. :-)

     
    5.
    Hostess
    2,252 posts
    Buzzing bee
    chelseamorning    November 1, 2008   Washington, DC/Atlanta

    The proper address for a widow is Mrs. Betty Miller.

    If a woman is going through a divorce (and is therefore presumably separated, i.e., not living with her (ex)husband), then she should be treated as either Mrs. Susan Smith or Ms. Susan Smith (depending on what you think she would prefer). If she were already divorced it would be Ms. Susan Smith.

    Young girls (under 18) should be Miss (no period after Miss). Unmarried women (i.e., grown up, out of the house) are Ms.

     
    6.
    Hostess
    1,542 posts
    Bumble bee
    HumarockBride    January 2, 2010   Boston, MA

    Thanks so much!!  I appreciate the help.

     
    7.
    Member
    276 posts
    Helper bee
    amy77jc    03/06/2010   Washington DC

    I actually blogged about this myself.. Here's the link, hope it helps!

     

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