Etiquette Tips for Wedding Gift Thank You Cards

After the wedding is over, many couples are so relieved that they are finally done with all the details of planning and having a wedding. They take a big breath, enjoy the honeymoon, and get busy settling into a new home and married life together.

Then they remember that they have to write thank you cards for all the gifts they received and are unpacking and using in their new home.

Thankfully, writing thank you cards for wedding gifts can be a fun way to connect with all the people who came to your wedding (or couldn't come) and who you may have not gotten a chance to communicate with much on your big day.

Wedding Thank You Cards Etiquette: The Cards

Many wedding invitations have matching thank you cards that you can purchase at the time of getting your invitations. These are a nice way to tie together all the elements of your wedding in an elegant fashion, and a great option for couples.

Another more traditional thank you card is the monogrammed card, which will symbolize your new oneness together in big print. These are also sold by wedding invitation companies, or you can buy them separately. The idea here is to find a design that fits your personalities, and get a bunch of them, because you can use them for more than just wedding thank you cards.

Wedding Thank You Cards Etiquette: Timing

Although in all official senses, you have a full three months after the receipt of wedding gifts for you to send a thank you to the giver, people will generally appreciate getting a response sooner. A good rule of thumb is to be done mailing thank you cards for wedding gifts a month after returning from the honeymoon. That way the event is still fresh in their minds and they won't be receiving the card and thinking "that was ages ago," which might make you look bad.

Wedding Thank You Cards Etiquette: Envelopes

Your wedding thank you cards are a great place to draw attention to your new address, if you have moved to a new home since getting married, and pre-printed return address labels are perfectly acceptable for this purpose. If your envelopes are colored, consider getting clear labels so they will not stand out too much.

It is good practice to hand-address the envelopes, and it probably won't take much longer than making labels would. If you don't know somebody's address, do the work to find it, whether from your parents, the envelope that came with their card, or their check (if that is the gift they gave you).

Wedding Thank You Cards Etiquette: The Note

Your notes inside your thank you cards can be generic if you want, and it is considered perfectly proper etiquette. This is because people understand how busy you are, and how many of these cards you have to send.

However, people put a lot of time, money, and effort into being at your wedding and getting you a gift, and writing a few lines to them personally will help you show your genuine appreciation. For more information on meaningful thank you card notes, read this article.

Wedding Thank You Cards Etiquette: The Signature

For thank you cards being sent before the wedding, the bride should still use her maiden name, but with cards after the wedding, she can use her married name. Traditionally, the card comes from the bride, and she mentions the groom's name in the body of the note, but these days, either the bride or groom can write the note and sign it for both.