Your wedding is over and you're kind of exhausted. Ok – SUPER EXHAUSTED. But alas, your job is not done! You have wedding thank you cards to write – and lots of them. After all that work, it might feel easy to put off this task but
How To Streamline
When you have your thank you cards printed, consider adding some printed text on the inside that can take care of generalities – for instance, at the top, maybe start each card off with "Our day was perfect thanks to your love!" or a line from a poem. That saves your hand from writing over and over how special your day was. At the bottom, consider having a sign off printed that you can simple add your signature under. That way, you have the middle of the card to write your two to four sentences about the gift they sent. Need more space? Nothing says you can't add a personal note on stationery to tuck inside the card!
To organize writing your wedding thank you cards, set a goal – write 20 cards per week (which might break down to four per day). That can seem way more manageable than sitting down to write 100 in a single stretch.
How To Make It More Personal
Of course you know you'll be writing a few kind words to every single guest who attended your wedding, but why not ask your other half and your family to add a few kind words as well? For each guest, consider the family member that requested they be invited, (for instance, your father's college roommate), and ask them to write a personal note that you can tuck inside the card as well. Writing 100 notes is daunting, but asking someone to write 10 or 15 is far less daunting. By having everyone chip you, it means you spend fewer hours wracking your brain on what to write in your wedding thank you cards.
If you have photos of certain guests at the wedding, print those off (on real paper, the old fashioned way!) and pop them in the envelopes as a keepsake reminder of your wedding. The extra thought and effort will show much you care (and maybe hide tired your penmanship is).
How To Keep Track
There are a few ways to tackle how to keep track of writing your wedding thank you cards. Some people like to open their wedding gift and write the thank you note right away. Other people like to keep spreadsheets and record who gave what gift, and then write the thank you notes in bulk later. Either way is good, but what we can say is – avoid using sticky notes at all costs. Nothing is worse than opening a gift, making a note about who sent it on a sticky and losing said sticky.
So after you've written the card, we suggest you immediately place it in an envelope and address it to the recipient. If you've had labels printed, this can be a good job to farm out to your new hubs or to do while you're binging on Netflix. It's mindless but you will be seriously thankful you did.
When to Get Them Out
Three months! We can't stress that enough. Not only is it polite, but it also means you get another wedding To-Do off your list! It's ok to send out your cards in batches – if you write 20 cards, then put them in the mail right away, as opposed to letting them sit in a pile on your desk. Once cards are in the mail, the clean space makes the task seem less daunting and you might be motivated to jump back in.
What Happens If A Card Gets Returned
Circling back to the family member who had the connection to the guest, ask that person to give your guest a quick call to confirm their mailing address. They can also use the chance to let the guest know the card is on the way!
