Having a wedding will mostly be all about you and your special love, yet you need to remember some etiquette rules that apply to your guests. The better you treat your guests, the more likely they are to enjoy your wedding and think of you in a positive light.

Wedding invitations should be mailed out six weeks prior to the wedding day, unless friends or relatives need to fly in from out of town. Then the invitation should be mailed eight to ten weeks in advance to give your guests time to make travel and hotel arrangements. Custom also has it that invitations need to be mailed from the bride's home, even if guests are friends of the groom. The envelope should have the full names of the family or persons you are inviting, and the inside card should just have first names. When you are inviting a single person, it is polite to write "and Guest" next to their name.

Wedding invitation wording should reflect the formality of your wedding. The more formal, the closer to tradition you want to be. Invitations should tell your guests exactly what they need to know. The wording you use is also important. Although there are many varieties to choose from. Consuld a wedding invitation magazine or guide before you order your invitations to know which wording will suit you best.

For destination weddings, make sure you mail the "Save the Date" cards well in advance so guests can begin making travel plans.

It used to be that if you said thank you to someone in person for his or her gift, a thank-you note was not required. But these days, when couples are inviting more guests to the wedding, and more people send gifts through mail, thank-you notes are the only way to express your sincere appreciation.

When should you send out thank-you notes for your shower and wedding? ASAP!!! The sooner, the better. Everyone appreciates a thank-you note, especially if it comes soon after the event. For the shower, notes should be sent out 10 to 14 days after the shower. Thank-you notes for wedding gifts received before the wedding should go out two weeks after receiving the gift so a prolonged period of time does not go between receiving the gift and sending the note. The excuse of "I'm waiting on pictures" will not wash.

Proper wedding etiquette says that notes should be sent out two weeks to a month after you return from the honeymoon. If time starts racing and you've put notes on teh back burner for too long, send them anyway. People expect thank-you notes for their gifts and they will still appreciate one even if it is late.

Handwritten notes are the only way to go. If a guest receives a pre-printed thank-you note, he or she will feel unappreciated and think you are not thankful of their time and effort to get you something. No matter how short your handwritten note is, it expresses your appreciation so much better, and your guest will know you are truly thankful.

Along with sending notes for gifts, be sure to send thank-you notes to friends and family who planned showers or parties for you; they worked hard to celebrate for you. If you receive more than one present from someone, write a thank-you note for each gift. If someone gives you a gift for your shower and then three weeks later for your wedding, it is not polite to write one note for both gifts. Get the shower thank-you note out before the wedding.

Colored ink is getting more popular these days, but for thank-you notes, black or dark blue ink should still be used. These colors are easier to read and they just look better.

These tips will help your guests appreciate your politeness and the time you spent thinking of them. Some of your guests will spend a good amount of money or time on you, and they want to know you appreciated that.


*** Just a friendly reminder on Wedding Etiquette from your Vibride Sister and house Coordinator ~ Ginoue!!!

Ginoue wrote:

Handwritten notes are the only way to go. If a guest receives a pre-printed thank-you note, he or she will feel unappreciated and think you are not thankful of their time and effort to get you something. No matter how short your handwritten note is, it expresses your appreciation so much better, and your guest will know you are truly thankful


*** Just a friendly reminder on Wedding Etiquette from your Vibride Sister and house Coordinator ~ Ginoue!!!

Hi House Coordinator ~ Ginoue ...

I've received thank you notes/cards that were not hand written ..and felt very apprecitated. My thank you cards were not hand written, and I wouldn't have dared touched that with a pen. Also you have some, that have chicken stratch for handwritting, and I would perfer them not to hand write me anything ...for easy reading; I wouldn't want to call them and say "Thanks for the card, btw and can you tell me what it says" ...I think THAT would be rude.

I just don't want anyone thinking that "Handwritten notes are the only way to go" because that's not true. However you choose to send a Thank You card is fine, as long as you send it in good time

Though I agree that handwritten notes are not the only way to go, but I didn't write the book on Etiquettes,just sharing some things.

I do agree, however, that if you're sending Thank-You pictures like Diva T.s, there's no way you would have space to write anything on them, for to do so would ruin the picture effect. But if you bought some pre-made Thank-you cards, and your guest bought you a gift, wouldn't it be nice, as a guest to look on the left side of the note and see a few words on the side acknowledging the gift that you gave? It just showed appreciation, that's all. (I would rather see "thank you so much for the coffee pot, DH and I will have lots of uses for it and thinking of you as we do"). See, that didn't take long at all.

I'm not saying that it's the only way to go, it's just nice and showed that you're not sending out generic cards that says the same thing to everyone.

That's all I'm saying.

I wasn't even talking about the time of writing of them ...heck as long as it takes to plan a wedding, writing a Thank You couldn't compare. I just didn't want anyone to think Handwritten notes were the only way to go, regardless of what "the book" says. It's so many ways to extend a Thank You note that can be just a personal as handwriting one ...speaking of which that's why we are all on Vibride, creating and sharing new ideas.

Your Day, Your Way ...including everything that goes with it. =)

I agree Turiya! Etiquette and I went our separate ways about 2 months in planning! You know what's best for your circle or family and friends. In my circle, I barely ever receive a thank you note at all, so I'd take one period - handwritten, pre-typed, whatever! It'd just be nice to know your time/gift was appreciated!

FutureMrsKeepUp wrote:

I agree Turiya! Etiquette and I went our separate ways about 2 months in planning! You know what's best for your circle or family and friends. In my circle, I barely ever receive a thank you note at all, so I'd take one period - handwritten, pre-typed, whatever! It'd just be nice to know your time/gift was appreciated!

I hear ya future...a whole bunch of "tradition" this and "etiquette" that went out the window for me! Again like you said, you basically know your circle of family and friends, so I think you should judge on that, not soley what "etiquette" or "tradition" says. Of course if you do want to go that route, there is absolutley nothing wrong with that either...again...your day....your way....

I'm going against etiquette and will print out my envelope labels. However, I will take the time to write out my thank you notes. I know that it will take a lot of concentration to make my chickenscratch legible, but the people in my family are more likely to keep my handwritten letters than something that could have been made by anyone while Im off enjoying their gifts.

Hubby and I took pics with the guests at each table, so I'm sending handwritten thank you notes with a 4" X 6" photo of the guest at his/her table and a slip with info. about the other photos on walmart.com and shutterfly.com

Walmart.com has these ready-made slips but they don't print right. I made mine using Microsoft Publisher's "gift certificate" template. Family members are also getting larger photos of us. We had less than 50 guests so we can afford to spoil them a bit.

i used Walmart for my thank you's. it was a 4x6 picture with the thank you message under it. everyone gave money so i really didnt feel the need to have to write each one... the guest loved the thank you cards. for my closer family members and a few other that helped out, i gave them a different thank you card that had a collage of pictures some including them and then one bigger one of me and DH.

My thank yous were a wedding photo of DH, my son & I from walmart.I did write a personal note to each person that gave a gift, my wedding party and anyone else who played a part in making our day special and a success. I also included pics from the wedding of the person if we had any and everyone loved it. It is weird to walk into the minister of music's office and see our family front and center on his desk though! LOL

For my thank you notes I purchased stationary that matched our wedding colors and printed 2 sheets of wallets and enclosed each thank you card with our picture. For the vendors I selected pictures that were related to them (i.e.-wedding cake- pic of us cutting the cake, etc.) because all of the vendors gave me no problems and were fantastic.

AKitten wrote:

.... For the vendors I selected pictures that were related to them (i.e.-wedding cake- pic of us cutting the cake, etc.) because all of the vendors gave me no problems and were fantastic.

I did this also but only for my florist and the bridal shop where my girls got their dresses from. They both had me smiling and laughing each time I visited their shops. They were so great to work with.

I love Kitten and Soon's ideas.