Congratulations, newlyweds! If you’ve landed on this article, your big day has most likely already passed and you’re now beginning the next (read: daunting) task of writing and sending out your wedding thank you cards. Before you begin, here are some key items to keep in mind about your thank you notes:
- Even if you didn’t send physical invitations, handwritten thank you cards are a must. Yes, a thank you email would suffice, but recall that your friends and family took time out of their lives (and possibly work), traveled, AND likely bought you a gift or gave you some cash money to celebrate your marriage. Let’s give them a proper thank you!
- Tradition says you have a year to send out your thank you cards, but realistically shoot for within three months of your wedding day. If you miss that mark by a few weeks it’s ok, but your guests will appreciate the timeliness, and no one really wants to procrastinate this task anyway. Get to it!
- Depending on how many guests you invited, writing your thank you cards can be a large undertaking. To make it a bit easier, set a goal of how many cards you’ll write each week (5 -10, for example) to help stay on track. This way you’ll make progress on a set schedule, and your hand won’t suffer as you attempt to write a hundred cards in a day.
- Don’t forget to send thank you cards to guests that couldn’t attend your wedding, but sent you a gift. Not everyone will, but don’t forget the ones that do!
Just as you should with your wedding invitation wording, break down the thank you card wording into a few different parts. The greeting, the explanation, the reference to the gift, the explanation of why you appreciate it, a final thank you, and a sign-off. For you folks that are writing thank you cards for non-physical gifts, like a donation to a ‘honeyfund’ or a big purchase, we didn’t forget about you! You can use this same formula, with only slight adjustments.
The Greeting: This is as simple as ‘Dear Greg & Becky’. To make this extra simple, just use the same greeting as you used for their invitation.
The Explanation: This is the part where you tell the recipient why you’re writing. Some examples of this could be:
- We’re writing to thank you for celebrating with us, and also for your generous gift.
- Kelly and I would like to say thank you for joining us at our wedding, and for your gift.
- We truly missed your presence at our wedding, but appreciate your thoughtful gift!
The Gift, and Why You Love it: Say what the gift they gave you was here, and try to be as specific as possible. If it was a non-physical gift, just adjust this sentence to speak to what they contributed to.
- We are loving the blue hand towels you gave us! They are the perfect touch for our new kitchen.
- The Ninja blender has made for many delicious treats already, and will come in handy for our upcoming housewarming.
- We’ve been saving up for a [house, honeymoon, couch, etc] and we truly appreciate the [contribution, support, etc] to that [goal, purchase, dream, adventure, etc.].
A Final Thank You: This should be a generic thank you, telling the recipient again that you appreciate their gift.
- Thank you again for helping us get started in our new married life. We are blessed to have been surrounded by wonderful friends & family on our wedding day!
- We appreciate your generosity, and hope to have you over soon in our new home.
- We can’t wait to share photos of our honeymoon with you when we return!
A Sign Off: Again, this is an easy one!
- Sincerely,
- With Heartfelt Thanks,
- With Love & Gratitude,
And there you have it! With this simple template you can easily thank your guests for their physical and financial gifts, as well as their attendance at your wedding. One last word of advice is to make this a team effort! Writing and sending your wedding thank you cards is the perfect way to work on a project together as newlyweds.
Erika focuses on email marketing, copywriting and merchandising at Zazzle, but she has a secret obsession with all things wedding! During the week you can find her writing punny subject lines while also pinning the latest wedding trends, and outside of the 9-5, she is usually cheering on the San Jose Sharks, reading a good murder mystery, or hunting for the best Philly Cheesesteak in the Bay Area.
