Weddingbee Blog

(thank you cards bought from Target)

As a bride, showers are great because they don’t involve all that much work. You don’t have to plan anything. Someone else does the inviting, and you simply show up. You basically show up and feel special. That’s how it has been at least… until now! That’s right, the work has begun. For each lovely gift you receive, it is proper etiquette to send a thank you card.

Etiquette what?

I’ve written a ton of thank you cards in my days, but weddings have a way of putting an extra layer of pressure and scrutiny on the bride. Just to make sure I had my etiquette rules straight, I searched around to check my knowledge. You, too, can check them out here, here, and here. For simplicity, I’ve compiled this list for you. Most of you know the gist of this. I’ve added some rules and tips I’ve picked up along my research.

• Have thank you cards ready to go so you can start right away (a la Mrs Lamb)
• Address the thank you card to the people who signed the card (thread here). If the card is signed Jane and Joe, you send the thank you card to “Jane and Joe” even if Joe wasn’t invited to the shower.
• Express appreciation for the gift, describe it in a positive and descriptive way (I really like the fluffy yellow towel set).
• Note how you plan to use it. (Showers will be very luxurious because of these towels)
• Show interest in the person you’re thanking, not just the gift you received. (I can’t wait to see you in San Diego for our wedding)
• Make it personal. If you don’t have the gift giver all that way, make sure to say something about yourself. (I haven’t exactly learned the art of doing this. Teach me a thing or three in the comments please)

And on a total side note, I wanted to point your attention to this pretty awesome template that Mrs Green Tea posted in February that is so so pretty!

Other rules that blew my mind:

• If you get 2 gifts (one for shower, one for wedding), you should send 2 thank you cards.  So space out the timing or you’ll have a ton of work in front of you. (via thread)
• Etiquette dictates blue or black ink for ease of reading.  I think I prefer colored ink for ease of my sanity! (source)

You know why you learn rules, folks?  So you can break them.  Devilish, right?  Yeah, I follow some and I just break others when they don’t make sense to me.

Based on the photo above, can you tell which rules I broke?