WeddingThank you

notes

www.southernbride.co.nz

How to word your

Why bother with thank you notes?

Thank you cards are one of the non-negotiable bits of stationery required for a wedding. Your guests have given up their day, dressed to the nines, and probably bought you a generous gift. They may have even paid a lot of money to travel and stay in your wedding spot. The absolute least you can do is send them a thank you note.

Unfortunately, Thank You notes have a little bit of a reputation for being painful. As one of the last bits of wedding admin, the budget and your patience for yet another etiquette must-do can be wearing a little thin.

I remember sitting down to write first wedding thank you card full of excitement and old-fashioned glee. It quickly grew old after the first 6! You’re excited, and grateful, and overwhelmed by your generous friends and family… but after writing the same thing half a dozen times, it all feels very contrived.

To help, I’ve got a template you can use to write personalised thank you notes…

An overviewHere’s an overview of the template which will help you get through your thank you’s quickly. I’ll explain each paragraph shortly

Dear [Name]

Thank you so much for [Attendance Action: i.e. sharing our wedding day with us/travelling so far to attend our wedding/being an incredible bridesmaid and being there for us on our wedding day.]

We really appreciated the [Gift Acknowledgement: i.e. contribution towards our honeymoon/set of wineglasses/toaster/money towards our house deposit].

We are really looking forward to [Gift Use: snorkelling in Rarotonga/catching up for a drink/seeing you at the house warming – or if it doesn’t fit the gift/relationship you have, say something generic like “We are really looking forward to catching up once we’ve settled into married life”]

Much love

[Your names]

Attendance action

The first paragraph thanks your guest for the action they took at your wedding

Thank you so much for [Attendance Action: i.e. sharing our wedding day with

us/travelling so far to attend our wedding/being an incredible bridesmaid and being there for us on our wedding

day.]

Examples:

Thank you so much for travelling so far to attend our wedding day.

Thank you for sharing our wedding day with us.

It was so lovely to see you at our wedding.

Gift acknowledgement

The second paragraph goes into detail about the specific gift your guest got you. If you had a wishing well or they didn’t get you a gift, you

will have to be a little less specific here!

We really appreciated the [Gift Acknowledgement: i.e. moral

support/contribution towards our honeymoon/set of

wineglasses/toaster/money towards our house deposit].

Examples:

We really appreciate the money towards our first home deposit.

We really appreciate everything you did for us, and loved the deluxe toaster!

We love the beautiful set of wine glasses you gave us, rest assured they are already in use!

Gift useThe final paragraph is a brief explanation of how you’ll use their gift, or what it means to

you. If that’s redundant (because you’ve already mentioned that in paragraph 2) then a

simple “Thank you so much” or “Looking forward to catching up” works nicely.

We are really looking forward to [Gift Use: snorkelling in Rarotonga/catching up

for a drink/seeing you at the house warming – or if it doesn’t fit the

gift/relationship you have, say something generic like “We are really looking

forward to catching up once we’ve settled into married life”]

Examples:

We are really looking forward to catching up once we’ve returned from our honeymoon.

We are excited to be able to invite you to our house warming party!

Download a thank you wording template

I hope you are feeling more confident about writing your thank you notes now!

If you would like a Word template of the thank you note structure, to save for later -

visit http://www.southernbride.co.nz/thank-you-card-wording/ to download.

About Southern Bride

I'm Amanda, your fairy god-sister. I believe planning a wedding

doesn't need to be overwhelming!

That's why www.southernbride.co.nz provides practical, down to earth support for brides-to-be. 

Check out the website for a heap of free templates and checklists

for your own wedding - including the thank you notes template:

http://www.southernbride.co.nz/thank-you-card-wording

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