a question on British etiquette

[SiorX]

it isn't.

+1

No-one much cares these days.

However, if the OP wants to be ultra-traditional, I was taught at school that the correct format for a married couple is:

Mr & Mrs <man's christian name> <surname>

If he has an honorific:

Dr & Mrs <man's christian name> <surname>

If they both have honorifics:

Dr <man's full name> & Dr <woman's full name>

If they're an unmarried couple, I believe you follow the rule for honorifics, but place the woman's name first, but I don't think I was ever actually taught that at school (Unmarried couples? Shocking! Not for tender young children to know about! )

Tbh, if I were the OP the traditional style is the one thing I'd definitely avoid. Year after year, the only time anyone in my family ever seems to even notice the address on the envelope is to roll their eyes in annoyance at the obnoxiousness of "Mrs <his name>". That complaint is now a tradition, and Christmas wouldn't be the same without it. But it can lead to a less prestigious position in the card display.

 

[BlazePin]

I urgently need help with one of my Christmas cards:

How does one properly address a letter to a whole British family? Let's call them Miller.
Would it be "the Miller family, x-road, y-town" or "the Millers" or something totally different?

They are very nice people and I would like to leave a good impression and not make a faux pas.
This is exactly the stuff you don't learn at school or find in dictionaries, so that as a foreigner you're practically bound to do it wrong.

Please help!
(I'm also curious if there are differences in letter-adressing etiquette between GB and USA)

I always think addressing the whole family rather than just "Mr and Mrs" is better since I know when I was a kid, I always used to open the ones addressed to the family, it was always exciting for me

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm a mister, she's a doctor, and we have two different names. If the mail gets there I don't care if they address us as Captain Pooface and Lady Cockgoblin.

With your appropriate titles, and making a few assumptions on the initials, that should probably read: Mr I. M. A. Pooface & Dr I. L. V. Cockgoblin...

Am I related to Sir I.P. Freeley?

 

[Mary Ann]

I've personally found Brits that I've encountered in my life to be very sensitive when it comes to addressing proper titles and such to the point of smirking agitation if you are even off by a period.

You may just be a jerk magnet then, because nobody I know could give a shit, and I bet I know a lot more Brits than you.

Same here, but that may be because I'm common as muck and don't know anyone with a title, thank heavens.

 

[Mike Farley]

Consult a Protocol Droid. Some are fluent in up to 6 million forms of communication, I hear.

 

[spooky spice]

Mrs & Mrs Miller and family
The Millers
or
The Miller Family

Are all perfectly acceptable.

you could even put "the family who live at..."

 

[scotpens]

I'm a mister, she's a doctor, and we have two different names. If the mail gets there I don't care if they address us as Captain Pooface and Lady Cockgoblin.

With your appropriate titles, and making a few assumptions on the initials, that should probably read: Mr I. M. A. Pooface & Dr I. L. V. Cockgoblin...

Am I related to Sir I.P. Freeley?

Then who’s Dick Hertz?