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Invitation Address List - File Formats

This section discusses the best ways to enter your wedding invitation address list in a computer file and submit it to Bride's Mate. Please note that no faxed, typed or handwritten lists are accepted.

It is important to note that the Bride's Mate calligraphy service will print both the inside and outside envelopes. There has been some confusion about what the inside envelope is and what is printed on it. Click here for some clarification.

Your wedding invitation address list can be entered into one of the following software programs.

  1. Bride's Mate Wedding Planning Software Download Here
  2. Microsoft Word
  3. Microsoft Excel
  4. Microsoft Access
  5. Microsoft Wordpad
  6. Microsoft NotePad
  7. Word Perfect
  8. Lotus 123
  9. Comma Delimited Text File
If you are not using the Bride's Mate software, please allow a maximum of up to six lines for the outside envelope and two lines for the inside envelope. Each line on the inside and outside envelope can have a maximum of 45 characters and spaces.

Bride's Mate can combine fields (such as city, state and zip) without any trouble. So you could have a first name, last name and title (ex: Mr. and Mrs.) fields and we could easily combine them for addressing. The same is true if you have separate city, state and zip code fields.

Using a Word Processor or Text Editor Program

If you put the names and addresses in a word processor (Microsoft Word, Wordpad or Word Perfect) or a text editor (Microsoft Notepad), simply enter all the names in one column only. You should leave one or more blank lines between the outside envelope and inside envelope information. Then leave one or more blank lines between the inside envelope and the outside envelope of the next name and address. For example:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith <-------------- outside envelope, first invitation
123 Main Street
Chicago, Illinois 65345
<------------------------------------------------ blank line
Mr. and Mrs. Smith <--------------------- inside envelope, first invitation
John, Jane and Alison
<------------------------------------------------ blank line
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Johnson <----------- outside envelope, second invitation
234 First Street
Saint Louis, Missouri 63144 (etc...)

If you are going to have a page break in the middle of an address, that is not a problem. However, some customers prefer to continue to press [Enter] until they reach the next page before starting the next address. Either way is OK.

Using a Spreadsheet Program

If you use a spreadsheet for your wedding invitation address list (Microsoft Excel or Lotus 123), create a column for each line in the outside envelope (a maximum of six lines can be used for the outside envelope address). Also create two columns for the two lines on the inside envelope.

In its simplest form, a speadsheet column layout might look like this.

Outside 1
Outside 2
Outside 3
Outside 4
Outside 5
Outside 6
Inside 1
Inside 2

We realize that many customers like to make separate columns for the last name, first name, title, city, state and zip code. That is OK. You might have a spreadsheet column layout like this:

Last name
First name
Title
Outside 2
Outside 3
Outside 4
Outside 5
City
State
Zip Code
Inside 1
Inside 2

Bride's Mate will combine Title, First Name and Last Name to make what we would call Outside Line 1.

Many times the street address will only require one line on the envelope. So you would place that information in Outside 2. This would leave Outside 3, Outside 4, and Outside 5 as blank columns. That is OK. Any blank column will be ignored during the printing process and the city, state and zip code information would be moved up. So no blank lines would show on the printed envelope.

Bride's Mate would like to avoid you having multiple address lines in one column of the spreadsheet. It requires us to determine where to break for the next line of the address and manually move it to the next Outside line column. This is very time consuming.

A Tip/Suggestion

Many times line one of the outside envelope will have most of the same information as on line 1 of the inside envelope. So you may want to copy the column Outside 1 to Inside 1 and edit it as needed. You might want to enter in the entire list of names and addresses and create the Inside 1 and Inside 2 afterwords. You can then copy Outside 1 to the newly created Inside 1 and edit it as needed.

E-Mail: info@bridesmate.com

Bride's Mate
35 Glenhaven Drive
St. Louis, MO 63122
1-800-279-1989
1-800-854-2478 (fax)

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