Every child is taught to send out thank you cards after their birthday or Christmas to say thank you for their presents. According to @theknot, even Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sent out ‘Sweet Thank You Cards Revealed After Their Wedding’.
However, this isn’t a habit that always lasts into adulthood. There are a few occasions in your adult life where sending out thank you cards is a must, and after your wedding is one of them!
Not sending out thank you cards after getting married is a real faux pas that should be avoided at all costs, particularly if you want to stay in your in-laws’ good books!
But what is the guidance on sending out thank you cards? When should you send them, and can they be too late?
For any gifts you received before the wedding, it’s recommended that you send out your thank your card within two weeks of receiving the item and after the wedding you have three months to get your pen in gear. It’s also a good idea to be organised when you’re opening the presents and to list who gave you what – it’s polite to be specific in a wedding thank you card and to say thank you for exactly what was given to you.
For example, ”Thank you for our miniature egg cups. They will come in very useful when we are next eating quails’ eggs for breakfast.” Although hopefully you won’t receive anything too impractical or hideous! Your message needs to be both personal and handwritten to really tick the box with your guests.
It’s good to put as much effort into writing your wedding thank you cards as you did planning the rest of your wedding, so order attractive and on theme thank you cards.
Alternatively, now that the guests have seen your venue, use a photo of your venue as a postcard and have some printed for you to use. Sending postcards will also save your tongue from drying out after an evening spent licking countless envelopes!
Venues like Essex’s stately former palace, Gosfield Hall, would look perfect gracing the front of any postcard. An even better idea would be to use one of your large group shots (if the weather permitted) of your wedding party outside the venue as the postcard photo. That way you’ll be sending a photo of them at the day alongside a handwritten and carefully considered thank you message.
If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night wondering whether you sent a thank you message to all the right people, then this is where your organisation from the day you unwrapped your presents comes in handy.
As you write your thank you cards, you can tick off the people on your list, making it an easily referable document for future use. Having all those addresses stored will also prove handy for years to come when you’ll be sending out Christmas cards, invitations, congratulations, and birthday cards!
