Step 1: Assign Titles
Because of the formality of a wedding invitation, giving each guest the proper title is a must. You cannot assume that every female should be addressed as "Miss" and every male is addressed as "Mr.". You must not only know your guests, but all the common titles they may have .
Titles for guests can be broken down into two types: Professional ("Dr.", "Rev.", etc.) and Personal ("Mr.", "Mrs." etc.). Use the below rule to determine the proper title to use on guests with multiple titles:
A professional title takes precedence over a personal title.
For example, the title "Dr." takes precedence over the title "Mr.". Additionally, if a woman has a professional title, there is no need to find out if "Mrs." or "Miss" is applicable because her proper title will be her professional one. For people with multiple professional titles, use the one that they prefer or the one by which they are more commonly known.
Listed below are the most common professional and personal titles used today. While the lists are not comprehensive, they do provide you with the titles that you will most likely encounter when addressing your invitations.
Professional Titles
These titles reflect a person's career or achievements. Retirement from a profession does not exclude them from use of that title. If someone was once a doctor, judge or any of the other professions that allow a special title, they still receive that title.
There are no gender differences within professional titles, they are applied to a person regardless of gender or marital status. For example, a married female judge would use the title for a judge, not of a married woman.
In alphabetical order, here is a listing of common professional titles:
While not listed individually, unabbreviated military titles are to be used when addressing wedding invitations to those in the military. These titles include "Private", "Private First Class", "Sergeant", "Colonel" and all others. The same goes for people with specific religious titles like "Bishop", "Rabbi", "Cardinal" and all others.
Personal Titles
If a person does not have a professional title, use the personal title that best matches each individual guest. In alphabetical order, the personal titles are:
Again, a professional title takes precedence over a personal title. There will always be confusion about some guests and the best way to resolve it is to find out directly from them or someone who knows them. Don't be shy, it is better to ask and do it correctly than remain silent and improperly complete their invitation.
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