A paper invitation was addressed by hand to one household, and that addressing was the only personal part of it. Five designs here keep that moment: the invitation opens closed, the guest taps to break the seal, and the cover carries their name. Two conditions have to hold. You have to pick one of those five, because the other selectable designs open straight onto the invitation. And the guest has to arrive on their own personal link, because the name is read from the link rather than the page. The rest of this guide is which five, and how to write the names so they read the way you would say them out loud.
What the envelope was actually doing
Think about how it worked on paper. You ordered eighty identical cards. The only part that changed from household to household was the envelope, and you wrote it out by hand, or paid someone with better handwriting to do it. That writing did two jobs at once.
The first is obvious. It said this invitation was meant for this house, and had not been passed along from someone else. The second was quieter and more useful. “Mr and Mrs Silva” is a different invitation from “The Silva Family”, and every adult who read it understood the difference without anyone having to explain. The envelope settled the head count before the card was even out of it.
A link has no envelope. Sent plainly, it arrives as a line of text in a chat window and looks the same whoever received it. A sealed cover is an attempt to give that opening moment back.
Which designs open with a sealed cover
Five: Azure Veil, Emerald Envelope, Eucalyptus Seal, Ruby Seal and Sage Envelope. The rest open straight onto the invitation, with the photograph and the date there the moment the page loads. The sealed opening belongs to the design itself, not to a setting you can switch on somewhere else, so it is settled the moment you choose.
On those five the invitation loads closed. A cover fills the screen, the guest’s name is addressed on it, and there is one thing to tap. Where the name sits is the design’s own decision: written across the flap of a closed envelope on some, set as a line of greeting near your own names on others. The cover then opens and the invitation is behind it. That is the whole interaction. It takes a second, it happens once, and the name keeps working afterwards: when the guest reaches the reply form, their name is already filled in.
Whether that second is worth spending is a matter of taste, not quality. Some couples want the photograph on screen immediately. If that is you, an open design is the better choice, and you can look at both kinds side by side on the designs page.
Write the name the way you would say it
Whatever you type as the guest’s name is what appears on the cover, word for word. It is not tidied up, capitalised or shortened for you. The same name fills the greeting of the WhatsApp message that carries the link, so it is worth a minute of thought rather than a fast import from a spreadsheet somebody else built.
Two questions settle most of it. How formal is your wedding, and how formal are you with this particular person? Those two answers differ more often than you would think, and when they do, follow the second one. An aunt you have called Aunty Malini your whole life should not be reading “Dear Mrs Fernando” on your wedding invitation.
- Aunty Malini - what you actually call her, which is usually the right answer for family.
- Mr and Mrs Silva - for older relatives, for people you know through your parents, and for a formal wedding where they would expect nothing less.
- Nuwan and Amara - a couple your own age. Put the one you are closer to first.
- The Silva Family - a household you are inviting as a household, children included.
- Dr Perera - when the title is genuinely how someone is known. Using it for everyone who has one gets stiff quickly.
Two habits save trouble later. Spell it the way they spell it, including the middle initial they never drop and the double letter you keep getting wrong. And stay consistent inside a family: if one sister reads “Mrs Weerasinghe” and the other reads “Dilini”, one of them will notice, and it will be the one you least wanted to explain it to.
Households, plus ones and the cousin who brings four
The addressed envelope answered a question the card never did: how many of you are invited. A digital invitation has to answer it too, and the name only does half the work. Your guest list also records each guest as invited on their own, as a couple, or as a family, and that setting changes the pronoun in the WhatsApp message carrying their link: you, you both, or your family. Alongside it sits a head count, which is the number their reply is allowed to confirm.
Decide the number before you write the name, not after. If the Silvas are invited as four, address them as a family and set the count to four. If you mean the two parents only, name the two parents. A cover that says “The Silva Family” against a count of two is a difficult phone call with your mother in the week before the wedding.
Plus ones are the same problem in smaller print. If you know the partner’s name, use it. “Kasun and Tharushi” is a clear invitation; “Kasun and Guest” is a cool one, and it leaves the guest guessing whether you actually want the partner there. If you genuinely do not know who it will be, invite your guest by name, leave the extra seat in their count, and let the reply tell you the rest.
When a sealed cover is the wrong choice
There are guest lists where this is not the right pick, and it is better to know that before you build the whole invitation around it.
- Guests who will not tap. Some people open a link, see something they do not recognise, and put the phone down. A cover puts one more step between them and anything familiar. If a real share of your list is like that, take an open design.
- One shared link instead of personal ones. If you are posting a single link into a group rather than sending each guest their own, the cover has nobody to address, and the part that makes it worth having is the part you are not using.
- Invitations doing urgent work. If the date has moved and people need the new time tonight, put the information in front of them. A ceremony belongs to the invitation you send well in advance, not to a correction you send on the Tuesday.
There is also a middle route. Nothing stops you sending personal links to the guests who will enjoy the opening and telling the two or three relatives who struggle with phones over the phone, in your own voice, the way you would have anyway.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if a guest forwards their link to someone else?
The link belongs to the guest you sent it to, so whoever opens it sees that guest's name on the cover and replies against that guest's row. If a second household needs an invitation, add them to your list and send them their own link rather than letting the first one travel.
Can I correct a name after I have already sent the link?
Yes. The link is tied to the guest, not to the spelling, so fixing the name does not change their link and there is nothing to resend. The next time they open it, the corrected name is what they see.
What if a guest cannot work out that they have to tap?
Each of these covers labels the thing to press and puts only one of them on screen, so it is a short puzzle. But if you are picturing one particular person as you read this, that is worth listening to. Choose a design that opens straight onto the invitation and the question does not come up.
Related: Browse the designs · Per-guest links and open tracking