One of my clients recently asked my advice about thank you notes. Since, like most event planners, I have a borderline unhealthy relationship with stationary and spent way too many hours agonizing over the font of my website content, I decided to tackle this question as my first blog entry.
To celebrate your engagement and your wedding, your friends and family will shower you with their good wishes and blessings. They’ll give you gifts, throw parties in your honor, and assist you with all the things leading up to the big day. Thank you notes are a must to show your appreciation; it is important that they be personal and from the heart. Thank you notes are also important because they are the last item loved ones receive from you post-wedding, so it is your last chance to formally thank them with a personal touch.
To really give them a unique feeling, think about having custom cards printed with a monogram of some kind – perhaps the first initial of your last name, the monogram of you and your fiance, or your two first names together. Check out these personalized thank you notes from Silhouette Blue on Etsy.com. The cards have sweet designs are are perfect for sending out meaningful thank yous. This one in particular caught my eye and reminded me of the children’s book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
The cards come in all sorts of colored cardstock and inks as well to coordinate with your overall theme.
- No matter what, poor handwriting and all, you must write a handwritten note. The effort speaks volumes to your appreciation of the gift. Make sure you mention the particular gift and why you are appreciative of it.
- I know Emily Post says you have a year to write a thank you note, but try to send them out as soon as possible, ideally within 3 weeks of receiving your gift.
- Have an Excel Spreadsheet of all your wedding guests. Whenever you receive a gift, add it to the spreadsheet along with the date the thank you note was completed. Every month, schedule an evening of thank you note writing. Feel free to drink wine and thank at the same time!
- Ignore the bridal magazines and do not take your thank you notes with you on your honeymoon. 1) You won’t write them. 2) You will have more time and energy to focus on them when you get back home. Also, remember you can always hire a wedding planning service like mine to help you with addressing the envelopes so that you can focus your precious time on penning the thanks!
Happy Thanking and because the French always say it better, “Merci!”
