What You Need To Know About Thank You Notes

Let’s talk about writing thank you cards. You’ll have thank you’s to send out for shower gifts, wedding gifts and at this time of year Christmas gifts. So what are the rules for thank you notes and when should they be written.

The rule you will hear quoted most often is for gifts given before the wedding you have two weeks to get the thank you out and no, you can not wait till after the wedding to open the gift or write the thank you. People want to know that their gift was received. For gifts received after the wedding you have up till two months to send the thank you. My suggestion, don’t put them off. Write them as soon as you open the gift and before you use it or put it away. It doesn’t get used until the thank you note is written.

Now what are the other rules for thank you notes?
1) They must be handwritten. No you can not type an email, no you can not just use a fill in the blanks form. These people took time and money to choose you a gift, the least you can do is write a note.
2) You should always include a reference to the gift in your note and an expression of your appreciation for the gift.
3) You can choose from dozens of different kinds of thank you notes. They can match your wedding stationary, they can be completely different. It doesn’t really matter. The only rule is you can't use your married initials or monogram until after the wedding.

We actually used our engagement picture on the front of the notes, that we ordered through Shutterfly. It was quite the crowd pleaser. People that had never met my husband enjoyed seeing a picture of us.

Thank you notes are not the most fun part of getting married, but they are an important part. It's not such an awful job if you don't put it off.