The Best Way to Write "Thank You" Cards After Your Wedding
Writing Thank You cards to all of the people who supported you on your wedding day can be overwhelming! But don’t worry! There’s a fun way to get them done FAST!
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I love this tradition because after the honeymoon and the wedding, its a pretty abrupt transition to real life from all the celebrating, preparation and excitement. This little gathering is not only productive, it also gives you one last hoorah before you preserve your gown and go back to the daily grind of non-bride life.
It’s called….
“THE AFTER PARTY”
or
“THE THANK YOU NOTE PARTY”
or
“THE WEDDING PRESENTS PARTY”
I’ll be calling it “the after party” throughout this post, but whatever you want to call it… just remember — ITS A PARTY.
and here’s how the party works:
After your honeymoon you will come home to a whole bunch of presents waiting to be opened, and a whole lot of “Thank You” cards that need to be written. What better way to conclude the wedding festivities than getting together with your loved ones and opening the gifts together.
This can be extremely low key, with a group text invite, its meant to be relaxed and fun, no added stress to you or anyone in your family/bridal party!
You can invite people to your place, or have your parents take the gifts to their home after the wedding and then open them there.
PRO TIP: Consider where you want to do the “After Party” when you are planning for who will take the presents home after your wedding reception. You want the presents to end up where you will open them to avoid multiple times of loading and un-loading presents for transport. You may even want to put that address as the delivery destination on your registries, so if people mail you gifts, they end up at the party instead of spread between your house, your grooms house, his parents, your parents etc. (Some spreading of gift delivery is bound to happen, but anyone that has any errant gifts can bring them to the after party).
Make the party as small or big as you want!
It can be just your family, or your family and his family, or your parents and his parents, or just your parents, or you can open it up and include grandparents, bridesmaids, and groomsman! (I do think in most cases, your parents and immediate family would love some undivided wedding attention time to spend with you, so while you can make it a big group if you want, my recommendation would be to keep it more intimate. Most of your friends and extended family members have attended showers and watched you open gifts at this point, so a nice personal family night is a great option, but you know your group best! So you-do-you-boo)! Whatever you choose, just make it a fun, laid back time for everyone. Have good snacks, and good people and enjoy your last event as the bride and groom.
Depending on how many days you’re gone on your honeymoon, there may be leftover wedding food or cake that can be pulled out to eat while you open your gifts with your family and friends. If leftovers aren’t available, order a chick-fil-a nuggets platter, or make some cookies, or pop some popcorn for easy refreshments.
PRO TIP: If the timing works out, and you want to serve your cake at the after party, have your family freeze your wedding cake to keep it fresh, and get it out to thaw the morning of the party
Now here’s the most important part.
As you’re opening gifts, your family can help you write the thank you cards. You can even make an assembly line, some people helping you write, some people looking up addresses and adding stamps, whatever works for you and your team! At the end of the night you’ll have enjoyed one last closing celebration and your thank you notes will be ready to drop into the mailbox!
check list:
You do NOT need to decorate, at all, you just need a few items you can pick up at the store on the way there, or order on amazon before your wedding day.
Pens
Stamps
Thank You Cards
Envelopes
enough seating for everyone
If you want to get really fancy you could have clip boards for people writing thank you notes, but some hard cover books, baking sheets, etc. will also do the trick!
Keep it simple, and enjoy your last moments as a bride with the people you love most!