Buy your Wedding Thank You Cards with your Invitations
The last thing you want to do when you get home from your honeymoon is to have to go looking for wedding thank you cards. Buy the thank you cards along with your invitations so they are already waiting for you after the wedding.
Buy small Thank You Cards
3.5 x 5 envelopes (also known as 4 Bar envelopes) are the smallest size that you can send in the mail. BUY this size! If you buy 5×7 thank you cards, you have twice the area to fill up with text. Trust me, 3.5×5 for almost all of your guests is perfect. Save the 5×7 size to thank your parents and bridal party where you might want to say a little more.
Address the Thank You Envelopes Ahead of Time
If you have your wedding invitation envelopes printed, ask your stationer if they can address your thank you envelopes too. I do this often for my couples. Some clients ask for all of the envelopes to be addressed with the same addresses as the invitations. Other couples wait until after the wedding and send me an edited address list to print. This will save you so much time. If you are really on top of things, stamp your envelopes before the wedding too!
Write out a few different wordings and use these as guides while writing out each thank you card. Here are a few ideas!
Thank you card example- Gift of Money, Guest attended the wedding
Our wedding wouldn’t have been the same without you there. Your generous gift of money is so appreciated. We were able to go to Hawaii for our dream honeymoon. When we remember our wedding and honeymoon, you will be a huge part of why it was so special.
Thank you card example – Gift and Guest attended the wedding
Thank you so much for traveling to share our wedding day with us. It meant so much to the both of us that you were there. And the marble fruit bowl was such a thoughtful gift. We have it proudly displayed right now on the dining room table filled with fresh pears. We can’t wait to see you next month at the reunion.
Thank you card example – Gift of money and Guest wasn’t at the wedding
Thank you for your generous gift Aunt Sally. We are saving for the down payment on our first home and your gift got us a little closer to moving in. We were disappointed that you weren’t able to attend the wedding. But I thought about you often and I’m sending along some pictures. We miss you!
Write the thank you cards in batches
You don’t need to do them all in one sitting and you don’t have to wait to send them out all at one time. Group the thank you cards into batches. People from your work, people from your spouse’s work, cousins on your side, family on your spouse’s side, friends from high school, etc. Breaking any big project into smaller tasks is the key to finishing.
Divide and conquer
This job (and let’s face it, it’s a job) shouldn’t be just your task. Divide the cards up between you and your spouse. It will mean more to your guest to receive the thank you card hand written from their relative/friend.
PLEASE hand write your thank you cards. This comes from someone who doesn’t write anything anymore. But in this day and age of email, texts, Instagram stories, and Facebook Messenger, a handwritten thank you note is almost like a gift in itself. Who doesn’t love getting something besides bills and junk in their mailbox?
Send out within 4 – 6 weeks of the wedding
Don’t be that person who sends out their thank you cards a year after the wedding; or worse yet, never. Make this a priority and do it as soon as you are home from your honeymoon and still reeling in the post-wedding glow. It’ll feel so good to get them out in the mail and finished.
photo credits: Rebecca Marie Photography