Charcoal grey envelope HELP!!!

I'm sorry you're having problems with your daughter's invites! I'm going to link you to a couple of posts from brides that used "cheating calligraphy" which is to print directly on the envelope itself and then trace over it with a gel pen. I know that you said you had issues with the printer but at least you'll have an idea of what the darker envelope/lighter writing looks like and hopefully it'll help! Good luck!

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/my-cheating-calligraphy/5374572c0fdf94cb.html

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/so-excited-to-share-my-diy-invitations-with-you-guys-pic-heavy/ff121f6a6a6c7a04.html

Is it in the budget to get wrap around address labels?

Google to find a seller or try to DIY?

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/225310/wraparound-address-label-how

The wrap around labels look nice, however, the return address labels were embossed on the back flap so do you just leave the back part of the label plain? So I guess you design or purchase a template (like Etsy) and them just fill in the labels?

Maybe try something like http://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Marker-Extra-fine-Silver-Single/dp/B003JJMW8C

I was looking for the silver sharpie in super fine point (as in my experience sharpie works on everything). If the envelopes have no shimmer and are fairly flat textured paper you could look into gel pens, which look nice, but I wouldn't know if they would work without seeing the paper.

It does have a metallic shimmer. We have learned so much after the fact! Would have gone with different envelopes if I had known this!

Based on finding markers for my shimmery paper, I would try the sharpie. But, I don't really know what it means by oil based paint, so I would only get one to try it out.

What about silver mailing labels, Avery makes them and they are fairly inexpensive.

That's terrible about the printer. Maybe you could borrow a friends? I used an HP 6200 for mine and they did fine. The envelopes were fairly thick. I printed mine in dark gray ink in a nice font and traced over that in a gold pen (mine were dark purple). They turned out better than I expected and I received lots of compliments.

I did the fake calligraphy and wrote over with a teal gel pen (jelliroll brand) also on charcoal grey. They turned out amazing.

Jelliroll pens (and honestly, other gel pens, including white, silver, and gold) all work really well on dark papers, but only if they aren't a coated paper (metallic papers or those with a plasticy-feeling finish won't dry properly and may smear/smudge) and are actually made to show up well on dark papers.

There are lots of options that can be purchased at Michael's, and I think you can even buy and try individual pens while you're there, so you might take a sample of the paper or a sample envelope and test different ones until you find one you like, then do the fake calligraphy option. Since you'll be so close to it, you should be able to see the printer ink well enough to trace it, and still have it show up well with the pen ink.

Good luck!!