SAYING THANK YOU AFTER YOUR WEDDING

From a young age, it’s been embedded in our minds to say please and thank you. It’s a simple matter of good manners, and the latter becomes hugely important in something as extravagant as your wedding day. Throughout the months you’ve spent planning your wedding, you’ve likely been in contact with dozens of friends, family members and vendors – all of whom have provided their help or support in one way or another. Then there’s the guests who actually attended your wedding, supporting you and celebrating your joy on the happiest day of your life. They probably gave you a substantial gift in honor of your big day, too. How do you handle thanking all of these people who have been involved with your wedding in one way or another? Sending out so many thank you notes may seem like a daunting task, so it’s easy to want to send out generic messages. But remember: a personal touch shows you truly care and appreciate these people. Here’s how to say thank you after your wedding.
PREPARE BEFOREHAND
Staying organized throughout the wedding planning process will save you loads of stress and headaches. One great example of this is with your thank you cards – if you keep a spreadsheet or document of all your guests and their contact information, you can easily access this information when you’re ready to send out thank you notes. When you gather all this information for your wedding invitations, keep it handy for when you’re writing your thank you. As you open gifts from the bridal shower, bachelorette party and wedding, make a note of who got you each gift. This will expedite the thank you process immensely.
THANK YOU CARD IDEAS
The standard wedding thank you note is a handwritten message inside a nice card or piece of stationary. One popular trend is to make cards out of your favorite wedding photo or a special photo you took on your wedding day just for the purpose of the thank you card. You can also purchase fancy stationary and have it monogrammed with your new initials as a way to embrace your newly-married status. Whichever route you choose, make sure you write out each individual note with a unique message with a nice pen that will make your words stand out.
For those who were more involved in your wedding, such as bridesmaids, groomsmen, your maid of honor, your best man and your parents, you’ll want to thank them properly with an appropriate gift or gesture. You and your partner know your wedding party the best, so choosing a gift for each member of the party will be a fun activity where you’ll get to exercise your creativity. Travel bags, bottles of wine, cufflinks and jewelry are all great gift ideas to start.
HOW TO WRITE A HEARTFELT THANK YOU
The most important thing when it comes to writing a thank you card is being genuine and sincere. You want to include heartfelt, emotional comments and express your gratitude for their support or gift when choosing the wording of a thank you card. Regardless of what you are thanking them for, make sure that your words are gracious and personal. Make sure to always include the name of the gift, how much you appreciate it and how you plan to use it. If you received cash, never mention the dollar amount that was given; rather, mention that you are grateful for their generous monetary gift and how you might use it. Here are a couple examples of thank you card wording:
DEAR AUNT JENNIFER,
Thank you so much for the blender! John and I have wanted one and are so excited to start using it and try out new recipes. We’re so happy that you were able to come to our wedding and hope to see you soon.
Love,
Jane
Dear Uncle IFE,
Thank you so much for your generous gift. John and I have been saving up and thanks to your thoughtful gift, we’ll be able to shop for our dream home soon. Thank you for sharing our special day with us and looking forward to seeing you over the holidays!
Love,
Jane
WEDDING THANK YOU ETIQUETTE
Now that you know how to write your thank you notes, you’ll be able to take care of them as needed. It’s proper etiquette to send out thank-you within 2 to 3 weeks after the engagement party and the bridal shower. Even if an attendee didn’t bring a gift, you should still send out a brief thank you message thanking them for coming and their love and support. For any gifts that you receive before the actual wedding day, you should send out thank yous as soon as possible when you receive them. If you’re totally swamped with other wedding planning tasks, just make sure that those thank you notes go out before the wedding takes place.
Wedding gifts that you receive at the wedding should receive thank you cards within 3 months after the big day. This should be plenty of time for you and your spouse to respond to each gift individually. If you receive any additional gifts after the wedding has already taken place, proper etiquette is to send out thank you within 2 to 3 weeks of receipt. Remember that although sending out all of these thank you cards seems daunting, you and your spouse can split up the responsibility to alleviate some of the pressure. If you fall behind schedule, feel free to mention the time that’s passed in your message rather than pretending like you’ve just received the gift. For example, you can say something like “Apologies for the tardiness of our card! We are settling into married life and are really enjoying the blender you gave us.”
Thank you cards are a must for all attendees of your wedding, but they aren’t a requirement for your vendors. If you feel that any of your wedding vendors provided exceptional service, feel free to send them a thank you card. They’ll certainly appreciate it.
When it comes to your wedding thank you, make sure you prepare yourself for this task beforehand by keeping an organized list of your guests and their contact information. Being organized will expedite the process significantly when it comes time to write out each individual message. Including a personal and appreciative note will show your guests that you truly care and are grateful for their gifts, love and support. And remember – you’re both capable of writing thank you notes so be sure to split the work fairly.