Where to send an official invitation

An invitation to a dignitary goes to them as the holder of an office, not as a private individual. It sounds like a formality, but in practice it decides whether the invitation reaches the right desk.

The office, not the person

Use the address of the office: the embassy for an ambassador, the mayor’s office for the mayor, the commander’s private office for the commander. There are two advantages. The private office knows how to manage the diary and reply, including by sending a representative. And the address stays valid when the holder changes, which for many posts happens more often than last year’s list would suggest.

A personal address only makes sense for someone invited in a personal capacity: a former office holder, an award winner, a guest of honour.

By hand

Some invitations travel neither by post nor by email: they are delivered by hand, as a courtesy or because time is short. These are the ones most likely to drop out of the count, because no system saw them go. Record them as delivered by hand, with the date, so the list of invitations awaiting a reply stays accurate.

In CerimoniereWeb the invitation address is taken from the person or from the office, invitation by invitation, and a dedicated status records invitations delivered by hand.