Video:When to Send Wedding Thank You

Transcript:When to Send Wedding Thank You

Hi! I'm Meghan Lynn Allen for About.com. It's never too late to say thank you, but you should think about getting those wedding thank you notes in the mail, sooner than later.

Thank You Notes for Gifts Received Before the Wedding

First, there are those gifts you receive before the wedding - maybe someone that can't attend, or someone who missed your shower. You should send out the wedding thank-you note for those gifts within about one to two week timeframe. If you receive gifts by mail, you should acknowledge that as soon as possible. A phone call is always nice, just to let someone know you received it, and then send that thank you note as soon as you can.

Time Frame to Send a Wedding Thank You Note

After the wedding, you have one to two months to send that thank you note for gifts received. Be sure to keep a checklist of gifts received, with the gift giver. And when you send out the notes, check them off as you go down the list. You can use the wedding invitation guest list as a starting point. Check off names and gifts received. But you may need to add names to that list of people who were not at that wedding. Make sure as those gifts come in, you jot those names down on that list right away.

Tips for Sending Wedding Thank You Notes

Always handwrite your wedding thank you note - and in the case of a monetary gift, it's appropriate to let the giver know how you plan on using it. Maybe for a down payment on your first house, or maybe to complete that china set.

If 400 people came to your wedding, this might be a fairly large task. So break it down into manageable chunks of time for you to get this done. You've got eight weeks, so if you promise to send out fifty a week, you'll know you'll get it done in time. Or maybe you'd like to do ten or fifteen a day. And don't wait to send them out all at once - send them as you go. It'll feel good to get ten or fifteen in the mail, twenty of thirty in the mail as you go. Before you know it, you'll hit that 400.

Now what happens if you forget to send a thank you note in that one to two month time frame? It's okay. The important thing is to thank someone, to show gratitude. So even if it's three, four, five months down the line, make sure you put that thank you note in the mail.

Your family and friends all got to smile on your wedding day. Now make them smile again by sending that thoughtful, timely wedding thank you note.

Thanks for watching! For more information, visit us on the web at About.com.