Couples often find themselves overwhelmed by their loved ones’ generosity. Not only do their guests celebrate with them, they also bring gifts to give the couple’s married life together a wonderful start. How is a thank-you note ever going to capture the gratitude couples feel? Some of our favorite industry experts weigh in on how to best express sincere thanks.
Couples should be thinking about saying “thank you” from the beginning of the planning process. Alexa Pulitzer, owner of the eponymous company, advises ordering thank-you notes at the same time as the save-the-date cards, noting that wedding gifts will start arriving sooner than a couple imagines. Building on this advice, Betty Hunley, owner of Betty Hunley Designs, recommends stationery with the couple’s first names for thank you notes for pre-wedding celebrations such as showers and engagement parties. She also points out that couples can get a head start on saying thank you for wedding gifts by ordering wedding stationery in advance. However, should the bride opt to change her name, any note with the married name on it needs to be mailed after the wedding, even if it was written before the big day.
Scriptura | @scriputra_nola, scriptura.com
Margaret Jones, owner of Scriptura, often designs this stationery by drawing on elements from the invitation, selecting certain fonts and colors to accentuate for the thank-you note. Hunley concurs that the thank-you note should complement the invitation, with features such as a monogram or cypher incorporated into both. She observes that couples have recently preferred clean, no-frills fonts, and that navy and white is currently a popular color scheme. These classic colors are often woven into a more modern design, which Jones refers to as “traditional with a twist.” Scritpura’s in-house design and production enables couples to capture elements of places beloved to them; “we often see regional influences coming into play with local landscapes and fauna taking a starring role,” says Jones. Recently, as Pulitzer notes, couples have turned away from petite fold-over notes, preferring instead large, flat cards.
A huge advantage of this larger card is extra design space. To create truly memorable designs that express the couple’s personality, Pulitzer’s signature is hand-drawn illustrations of the bride and groom. These illustrations range from traditional to playful (for example, depicting a bride named Kat with a cat’s head). When commissioning a custom illustration, couples should keep copyright rules in mind. Unless the couple purchases a logo, “I retain full ownership of my work,” explains Pulitzer; “If a couple…would like to be able to use/reproduce my art on other items that I do not manufacture, such as a website, then they may purchase Usage Rights from me, which gives them my permission to reproduce my work. If the couple works with me to manufacture items, then they would not need to purchase Usage Rights.”
Alexa Pulitzer | @alexapulitzer, alexapulitzer.com
All design and permissions should be completed with enough time for couples to receive their thank-you notes quite early in the planning process, as all three experts agree that couples shouldn’t wait to express their gratitude after receiving gifts. “Make sure you thank everyone that sends you a gift as quickly as possible. It is not only the polite thing to do, but it assures the sender that their gift was received,” stresses Hunley. Adding to this advice, Jones points out that the task of writing thank-you notes will seem much less daunting if couples write them as gifts arrive, rather than letting a list of to-be-written notes pile up. Pulitzer advises not only saying thank you for the present, but also including something about the gift giver, letting that person know how truly special they are.
This personalized note also signals that the couple took the time to sit down and think of the right words to express their gratitude. As Jones notes, time is a hot commodity these days, and it may seem extraordinarily more efficient to simply fire off a quick text or e-mail to say thank you. However, these means of communication are not adequate substitutes for a hand-written note. Those who generously gave gifts should get the gift of a couple’s time and attention in return.
Betty Hunley Designs | @bettyhunleydesigns, betty-hunley-designs.myshopify.com
Not only is writing thank-you notes by hand a way to honor the gift giver, it also establishes a practice that couples can carry beyond the wedding and into the marriage. As their married lives progress, there will be many occasions for handwritten notes. These moments could be milestones such as the birth of a child or an anniversary celebration, or as simple as being treated to a lovely lunch by a dear friend. No matter the occasion, the recipient will always treasure a thoughtful note of gratitude on carefully-selected stationery. Whether that stationery design is traditional or trendy, the art of saying thank you will always be in style.
