5 T I P S F O R W R I T I N G Y O U R W E D D I N G T H A N K Y O U C A R D S
When the sun has set on your wedding day and you’ve finally tied the knot, it can feel like you’ve reached the end of your to-do list. Unfortunately, there’s still work to be done! Luckily, though, writing your thank you cards can be a beautiful opportunity to reflect on all the love and support you received from friends and family over the previous months. Still, you usually want to get your thank you cards written as soon as possible to make sure nobody thinks their efforts have been forgotten. Here are our top 5 tips to help make writing your thank yous easy.
Buy your thank you cards when you buy your invitations
The best way to get your thank you cards done quickly is to think about them early. Order them with the rest of your wedding stationery to make sure they are on hand when you need them. It’s all too easy to forget about placing the order until after the wedding is over, and this delay will add to the time it takes for your guests to receive your thanks.
If you want to include a photo from the wedding as part of your thank you cards, it might be best to have the photo cards printed separately from the main thank you cards so that you can get writing while you wait for the wedding photographer to send you the final images.
Keep track of gifts and help you receive
It can seem a little bit strange to keep a list of gifts as you unwrap them, but this is the best way to make sure you don’t forget to thank someone who took the time to wish you well. If you’re having an engagement party then you can thank people for any engagement presents on that set of thank you cards. If not, you should remember to start tracking gifts and help right from the time you announce your engagement.
Hold on to your guest list
Keep a copy of your guest list on hand along with everyone’s postal addresses so you can tick off names as you go. Far too many brides have found themselves home from their honeymoon and scrolling back through texts and emails trying to locate everyone’s details all over again. Prevent this by printing a copy of the list or saving it somewhere you can’t forget! Email a copy to your partner, mum and best friend: you’ll thank yourself later!
Write like you talk
The number one thing that makes writing thank you cards a long and difficult chore is trying to write in a voice that isn’t comfortable for you. When it comes down to it, though, you’re writing notes to your friends and family, not writing a cover letter for a job application! There’s no need to write in overly formal words unless that’s appropriate to your relationship with the guest. If you call your friends ‘babes’ or ‘mate’, or if someone has a funny nickname, it’s totally fine to refer to them that way in your thank you cards. If your running joke is “hate your freaking guts”, write that. There’s no rules! As long as your friends will feel appreciated and will understand your sentiment, you’re doing it right.
Stick to a formula
Make writing your thank you cards easy by putting together a checklist or formula for what you will include on each card. Your formula might look a little something like this:
- Thank them for their attendance if they were at the wedding, and share a memory of them on the day if you have one (were they wearing a stunning red dress? Did they show off some amazing dance moves?)
- Thank them for anything they did to help make the wedding happen (did they put you in touch with your wedding photographer or help seal envelopes?)
- Thank them for any gifts or cards received from them
- Thank them for any significant role they have played in your life (parents, teachers, friends and others can never be thanked enough! Take the opportunity to thank them for always being there for you and for adding so much joy to your life).
If you keep these five tips in mind, getting your thank you cards written within a couple of months of your big day can be achievable - even enjoyable! - and you can finish off the final item on your wedding checklist with ease.
This was a guest post by Maddison Wallace from Paperlust. Maddison is head of content at Paperlust. She is a communications professional, postgrad student, part-time librarian, and occasional wedding photographer. She loves words and drinking cups of tea.
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