Congratulations! You made it through the exciting and stressful planning stage. You’ve chosen your guest list and sent wedding RSVP cards and wedding invitations, navigated wishing well etiquette, the nerve-racking lead up to the day followed by a your wonderful wedding day. What a whirlwind!
Then just when you think you’re done and dusted and ready to settle down into married life, it’s time to send out those wedding thank you cards! Here is your guide for everything you need to know about post wedding thank you etiquette, courtesy of The Nonsense Maker.
When to send out wedding thank you cards
We know you’re exhausted, and maybe about to embark on your honeymoon, but the sooner you get these wedding thank you cards out the better. As we touched on in our previous wedding blog, 10 wedding invitation wording and ideas, you can send out your wedding thank you cards anywhere between 2 weeks, and 3 months after the wedding. If you wait any longer than this your guests might start to think you’ve forgotten about them, or worse, that you didn’t receive or appreciate their gift.
The obvious advantage of sending out your wedding thank you cards within a few weeks of the wedding rather than months later is that your guest list is fresh in your mind, and you are less likely to accidentally leave someone out.
What to say in wedding thank you cards
A general thank you
This as an overarching statement to say thank you for joining us, and show your general appreciation for their support for your marriage. Many wedding invitation sets will include a cute little matching wedding thank you card that covers this. Keep it simple and polite, for example:
“Thank you for coming to celebrate our special day. It meant the world to us that you were there”
A special mention to each person
Make an effort to thank each and every person who attended your wedding, regardless of if they gave a wedding gift or not. If they were invited to your wedding and made the decision to attend they probably love and appreciate you and your partners relationship, and wish you well in the future. Anyone who feels that way about you and your partner deserves a big old thanks!
A thank you for the gift
For those loved ones who were generous enough to give a wedding gift, make sure to mention this in the wedding thank you card. Be specific about which gift you received from who, or if they donated to your wishing well be sure to thank them for the money and mention what you might spend it on.
Any special anecdotes from the wedding
Was there anything on your wedding day that really stood out and made it exceptionally wonderful? You can include a special thank you for any unique moments, like speeches that made you laugh or cry, or any extraordinarily good dance moves that caught your eye.
Include a photo
It is common amongst newlyweds to send out a wedding photo of the couple with the wedding thank you cards. This acts as a lovely reminder of the day for guests to look at whilst reading their wedding thank you cards, and reminiscing on the good times.
How long should a wedding thank you card be?
For most guests a few lines is enough to get your thanks across is a meaningful way.
Some guests play a much bigger part in your wedding than others. You might want to send a special thank you to the bridal party, parents, or anyone who was extra important to making your wedding day wonderful. For these special loved ones you can get a little more detailed and send a full sized thank you card and let them know how much you appreciate the extra effort they put in. You could even include a small gift, or a dinner invitation alongside it.
Be organised with your wedding thank you cards
Wedding thank you cards are a very important aspect of your wedding journey, and for big weddings can require a bit (or a lot) of preparation, organising and note taking. When you eventually sit down to open your gifts be sure to take note that it was Aunty Jan who gave you the toaster, and cousin Bob who gave you the wine glasses. Writing a list might seem like a mood killer when you’re excited to rip open those presents, but it will save you much heart ache later down the track!
Take some time to avoid burning out
If your wedding was a big one you could have hundreds of wedding thank you cards to write. Trying to do these all at once will leave you cross-eyed, with hand cramps, and a most likely a bunch of spelling mistakes. Be sure to share the load and delegate half the guests to you and half to your partner, and assign yourselves a few hours or a set number of wedding thank you cards to write each day.
Coordinate your wedding stationery
If you had native floral wedding invitations, use a matching floral thank you card, or if you went for a vintage wedding invitation style, follow through with the same theme!
If your wedding invitations offer a matching wedding thank you card or customisable wedding thank you stationery this can be a cute way to tie in the feel of your wedding day, and round off the whole experience. This might be in the form of a general thank you note, which you can include with a more personalised message written on the back of a wedding photo, or additional card. Alternately you can often order matching blank thank you stationery to hand write a message on and send to guests.
Thank special people who couldn’t attend on the day
Sometimes life happens, and things come up. Sometimes a special person who was integral to your wedding day sadly can’t make it. Perhaps they helped plan or pay for your wedding, or supported you during the stressful planning period. Sending a little thank you to them goes a long way towards making them feel valued for their contribution, and let them know you how much you appreciate them.
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