October 10, 2014
I’m not great at writing. I struggled with it through school and cringed whenever I heard a paper was due. Maybe that’s why I went into a more visual-based field. So when it came to writing the thank you’s after our wedding, I avoided it like the plague. I enjoyed designing the cards and I was beyond thankful for all the love, support and gifts from our guests, but I had no idea what to write, how much to write and I felt like I was writing the same thing over and over again.
So I’m not going to give you any tips on what to write in wedding thank you’s, but I can offer some advice on how to make it a little easier.
- To start, keep track of the gifts that you receive. I’ve said this before, but we created a big spreadsheet (Spreadsheets make me feel organized!) so we could track our guests, their addresses, what they chose for dinner, their gifts and if we had sent them a thank you. If you receive gifts in the mail, make sure to make a note. When you’re opening all the gifts and cards, make a note or have someone do it for you.
- If you know you’ll forget, keep track of how people helped with the wedding so you can properly thank them.
- Think about postage. Your postage will vary depending on the size and determine the overall cost. Because let’s be honest, after a wedding you’re pretty tapped out and postage adds up surprisingly fast.
Small Postcard: 34 cents
Large Postcard & Letter: 49 cents
Square Letter: 70 cents
- Divide and conquer! Make a plan ahead of time so you know how many you need to do and on each day. For instance, Ben and I each wrote our own families’ thank you’s and we divided the thank you’s that went to our friends.
- Thank you’s should go out no later than 3 months after the wedding and probably 1-2 months after a shower. Ideally, it’s best to write the thank you notes right away when you receive wedding gifts in the mail.
Don’t forget, you can do a standard thank you card or get creative! (Photo Credit: Target)
This takes some planning, but I love the thank you “banners”. We did one for our save the date. (Photo Credit: Joyfuljoyful on Etsy)
I also love the custom thank you cards that show off the pictures from the wedding. (Photo Credit: Shutterfly)
Postcards are a great way to save on postage, but you don’t have as much space to write… this would have been beneficial for me. (Photo Credit: DesignedbyBrenda on Etsy)
Make sure to check out past “After the Wedding” posts: