Sending Thank You Notes to Wedding Guests
After the wedding is over and the hot steamy honey moon is almost done, you will have to pause and think about the people who showed up to your wedding day.
Thinking of those people will never be sufficient. Adhering to wedding etiquette, you should appreciate your guests and show your appreciation through a material token.
That is where thank you notes come into the picture. Wedding experts and society or lifestyle gurus advise married couples to send out tokens of appreciation or simple thank you notes to their wedding guests at least two weeks after the event.
Thank you notes should or must be sent especially for those friends or guests who showed up with wedding gifts. Wedding etiquette will also have you send thank you notes to people who were not able to come to the wedding, but sent in their gifts, or even to people you have invited but did not show up at all and did not even bother to buy you any gift.
It is not against wedding etiquette to buy thank you note templates, but be sure to personalize it by adding your personal hand written notes of appreciation.
Writing The Thank You Notes
There are a few do’s and don’ts to help you write your wedding thank you notes.
Paper choice is important but not as strict as it once was. Used to be the paper used for the notes was written on white or ivory-colored paper. Today you have more choice and can use Thank You cards that match the rest of your wedding stationery. Some couple prefer to have their thank you notes monogrammed, but others feel its just okay if everything is handwritten. It’s completely up to you.
Quick Thank You Note Guidelines:
o Remember to send Thank You notes to relatives and people who coordinated showers and parties for the both of you. It would be okay if you thank them for the efforts within the same card sent to them for their gifts.
o Wedding etiquette suggests that you appreciate each gift you have received. That means each and every gift should be recognized through its own thank you note. Perhaps you can include a personal note about where you’ll display Aunt Kelly’s Fruit Bowl.
o Make sure you send Thank You notes to people that sent gifts that arrived before the wedding. You will get them out of the way and have less of a chance to forget sending out thank you notes for them.
o It might be time and money saving, but it is not advisable to send out preprinted thank you notes. Sending preprinted cards will give the person receiving the thank you note the impression that his or her effort or gift was not totally appreciated. A personal handwritten note relays the depth of your appreciation of the gift.
o Personalize your Thank You note by handwriting the message. Warm but short thank you notes are better than longer but non-personalized or insincere notes.
o Write your thank you note message in blue or black ink. It is for the simple reason that the colors are far more readable.
o It is “proper wedding etiquette” to include your new return address on every thank you note you have sent. The recipients will greatly appreciate the gesture if he or she is informed or posted of your new and correct address.
Sending Thank You note can be an easy process. Just remember to include them on your wedding checklist – you have one, right?
