The point being, I have not had tons of time thus far to think about getting all of these thank you notes written for wedding presents. Technically, etiquette dictates that you have a year to finish them all. Thank God. However, I know that my schedule will get crazy, and I will forget about it, and I will offend people who have been generous and thoughtful enough to send me a present. I've been trying to get these done but truly it is a monstrous undertaking.
Here's the catch: we had the biggest wedding, like, ever. This would not have been my first choice, by any means. However, combine two families who both live in New Orleans, parents of the bride who have entirely too many friends (what can I say, they're fun people), a large family on the bride's side, and the bride being an only daughter... and you get a very large guest list.
I am not in any way complaining, let me be clear: it was an incredibly fun party, and the more the merrier as far as that goes. The only semi-downside is that many guests means many thank you notes, which will take me a long time to get through. I'm going to risk sounding ungrateful I'm sure, but my poor little hands can only hold a pen for so many hours before they risk being frozen in that position. I'm too young for arthritis.
So, for you upcoming brides, graduates, etc. who have lots of notes to write, here are some tips:
1. Your husband should write at least some of them. There is no reason other than old-fashioned convention than the husband can't write some. Especially to people on his side that I don't know. He is neither crippled nor illiterate. I think he can handle it. (Hubs has been great about agreeing to do it, provided I don't rush him or nag him about it.)
2. Address the envelope first. The most annoying part of the process is having to find the people's full name and address within the giant list. For a while, I had a huge stack of fully written notes that I was too lazy/annoyed to address. So, write the address first.
(Note for people sending presents: PLEASE put your full name on the card. "Love Smitty and Poopsie" is not very helpful to me when I need to address the envelope. Just write Mr. and Mrs. John T. Smith or whatever. I mean, your name is Poopsie... why are you advertising that anyway?)
3. Invest in a cute return address stamp. It saves time and looks awesome. It actually gets me excited to write some notes for the first 12 and a half seconds.
4. Forget convention and call people you're really close to. I've done the "verbal thank you note" for a good number of my friends, aunts, uncles, etc. It's good for the environment! Thank you notes get read once, thrown away, and are left to rot in a landfill! I'm shocked there isn't a group of protesters shedding light on this very issue as we speak.
Anyway, I'm slowly working my way through the long list of presents. Our entire dining room is chock full of boxes, and whenever I go in there, I am overwhelmed with the level of generosity we've been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of. I fully believe that each and every person who gave of their time, money, and effort to send us a gift deserves time and effort in return to thank them, and I will succeed in completing every last one!
It's just going to take me a while.
**NOTE: If you read this blog and gave me a wedding present but have not yet received a note, I'll get to you, I promise. If you're willing to forego the note after reading this post, that's like a second present. Email me. I'll email you back a lovely, thoughtful and personalized thank you note. It would help me out a lot. Kthanks.
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