As your wedding day comes and goes, you are without a
doubt—going to receive your fair share of gifts. The most important, however,
most forgotten part of a wedding are the thank you notes! It is advised to send
out all thank you notes within 3 months of receiving, but it is said to be
socially acceptable for up to a year following the wedding date.
While you are sure to be thankful for all of the gifts – if
you do not get a head start on thank you notes it can get extremely overwhelming
and stressful. It is highly recommended
to order your thank you note stationary when ordering your invitations- that
way everything is all ready to go when the gifts start coming.The best thing couples (yes, couples-both the husband and wife should partake in writing the thank
you notes) can do is start sending thank you’s out as soon as gifts are
received. In order to tackle the somewhat tedious task it is a good idea to set
a goal to write a certain amount each day.
The Stationary:
As far as the physical card goes- get creative, steer clear
of generic stationary such as fill in the blanks, online website thank you blogs
or pre-typed notes. Spend time on the thank you notes. If there is a general
theme throughout the entire wedding- incorporate that into the stationary (i.e.
if it were nautical incorporate an anchor with rope spelling out thank you,
using the color scheme used in the wedding). Other great ideas include taking
some pictures holding a cute sign saying thank you and having them printed on
to cardstock or using the new monogram of the married couple. Get creative,
have fun, sit down and design something unique to the both of you!
Simple Thank You to go along with the theme of the entire wedding.
Utilize the new monogram of you and yours, nice added touch is to get it embossed!
Use pictures on the front flap of the card, a good idea would be to
have separate thank-you's to use incase you receive gifts before had
(if you don't want your groom to see you in your dress before the big
day)!
Who Should Receive
Thank-You’s:
Anyone who gives you an engagement, shower or wedding gift,
money, attendees, people who hosted parties or showers, vendors and parents
should receive a thank you note in a timely manner.
The Contents:
What to put in the thank you note can be a challenge—as
tempting as it is to type a generic message on the notes, do not do it, your
friends and family put effort in to buying your wonderful gifts to help get you
started out, the least you can do is hand write a thank you note.
Start the thank you note off by greeting the guest (if they
are around your age, it is acceptable to address them by first names). Express that you sincerely are thankful for
the gift-but do not gush over it, remember to be specific about the gift –
including how you will utilize the gift (if it was money, express how it might
be used such as to pay off some of the mortgage). Thank them for attending the wedding (if they
attended or thinking of them if they could not make it). It is important to
promptly acknowledge the guests sending the gifts, but do not stress if you get
behind because you do have a lengthy time frame to respond back. Do not use
being late as an excuse, even if the 1-year anniversary has passed-- keep
writing!
The Envelope:
Addressing the outside of the envelope has always been a
challenge and a somewhat gray area. For families example, address envelopes as
Mr. & Mrs. John Smith. For close friends, it is acceptable to use first
names such as Sarah-Anne Smith. It is still proper to spell out all parts of
address such as Eight King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401, as opposed to, 8 King St. Charleston, SC 29401. It is a nice added touch to put
the new couples return address on the envelope flap instead of on the front in
the upper left hand corner. As far as postage goes, it is seen as tacky to use
pre-paid postage or to use metered postage-the standard book of stamps is the
most popular option, however, many couples are choosing to use specialty stamps
or design their own custom stamps to use. It is up to you ultimately as to what
you do, just define your theme and have fun with in throughout the entire
process!
Custom postage to remember the day.
Return address on the back flap.
Final Thoughts:
Your thank you note is the last impression you will leave on
your family and friends-remember to send out your thank you notes, it is never
too late! You always want to stay on good terms with everyone so do not worry
if you got too behind or stressed out with the entire wedding process. Come up
with a plan and stick to it until each and every gift you received has a thank
you sent! A good idea is to establish a rule stating that you will not let
yourself use the gift until a thank you note is sent out. As you complete your
notes keep a handwritten or spreadsheet list so you know which ones were already
mailed and which ones still need to be sent (it can get really confusing as all
the gifts arrive)! When it gets overwhelming, think of all that your family and
friends have done for you and yours and how thankful you are for them, it makes
it all worthwhile!
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