Card Contemplation

Writing thank you cards is really an interesting process. Here's some observations I've had recently:

1) It is really, really hard to get out of the "I" mode. I'll start writing, "We really appreciate..blah blah..." and then as I continue on, eventually I'll accidentally write an "I" statement. "I can't wait.." or "I hope you can join us". This whole "we" thinking is really a bigger transition than I thought. Or should that be a "we" thought?

2) I write really small. And I hate blank spaces. Which is why gift cards and cash gifts are the bane of my writing-existence. I have about three cards which I refuse to sign and seal because of this wide gap of blank space. What else do you write? Sak says I should just draw something in the space. Maybe I should.

3) I was really big on the whole equal-division-of-labor thing. Until I realized Sak's idea of thank you cards is the same two sentences over and over. "Thank you for the generous gift. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness". Absolutely no variety whatsoever. And his handwriting is atrocious. He and I are both content in his position as just a name-signer.

4) The longer I write, the sillier the cards seem to become. I actually wrote "We really like cheese!" in one of them. I've restricted myself to no more than 3 cards a day because of this.

5) Group gifts are kind of confusing. I write one thank you card to each person in the group, but do I keep the messages all the same?

6) Make sure you like your thank you card design. It helps motivate me to write in a card I like for some reason. Or maybe it's just because I'm older now? In any case, I didn't find writing boring-design graduation cards this interesting.

What have you noticed about yourself, your SO, or the world in general while writing thank you cards?

p.s. We're now officially in the wedding month! How...frightful? exciting? relieving? I'm not quite sure how I feel. Or "we" feel.

Mahalo!

Originally, I was going to wait until after the wedding to make our thank you cards. Maybe I could use a nice picture of us in wedding garb, or something.

However, with the advent of the humongous-second-reception and the fact that we've already started receiving a few gifts, I don't think it's something that should wait.

I played around with a couple different ideas - one of my favorites included a three panel comic with Sak yelling at the end, "No, we do not intend on having kids yet!". But ultimately I drew up this option instead:

Get it? Leveling? Passing the stage, powering up, etc.? I liked it, and wanted to write "thanks for helping us defeat the final boss!" inside. Except I'm not exactly sure what the final boss would be, and Sak wasn't too enthused about the whole idea. So while I may print a couple out just to use for our gamer friends, I ended up with a completely different design for the final print. (And for the record - very reminiscent of Hannah's super-awesome thank you cards!)

I ordered 100 cards with free envelopes from Vistaprint, using an awesome 50% off coupon I found. And just like magic, they arrived a week or so later.

Much more versatile now, right?


I liked that you could also print on the inside for free (in black and white), but since we couldn't think of anything good to say, I left it blank with just a simple design.
With a happy face of course.

Since we have so much leftover red wrapping paper from the invites, given the time(yeah, right), I might line the envelopes again. I really love the look of a good liner, but it's definitely not critical!

I told Sak that since I made the thank you cards, he's responsible for writing them all. I like to watch his eyes bug out every now and then.

Did you prepare your thank you notes before your wedding? Or did you save it for one of those coveted post-wedding projects?

Miss Manners

I never really thought the marriage process would change me much as a person. Sak and I have been together nearly six years now, what's one day going to change?

A lot.

There's a ton of changes that come with being engaged. There's a whole new vocabulary to learn, a new internet niche to explore, and expectations and relatives I never even knew existed.

One positive change, however, is the introduction of manners. Etiquette, prompt thank you cards - once a nuisance to my spare time, now something I kind of enjoy.

Take these for example:
Way-Cute Hallmark thank you cards! I bought them to send out to the lovely, generous friends and family that have been helping me out with planning bits and pieces so far. And sadly, had the wedding gurus out there not pounded in the importance of plentiful thank you's, this is something I would not have done.

Thank you wedding-gurus, whoever you may be!

But on that note, what would the perfect thank you cards look like? Would they match the invitations? A cute picture of the two of us on our wedding day? Another comic? A pre-made card? Like these pretty cherry blossom cards at Target:
I'm sure there's plenty more out there. Chalk this one up under the "needs more research" category. But even if I haven't had that "a-ha!" moment on this detail yet, it's still fun to think about!

How are you thanking your guests post-wedding? Did you decide on a card beforehand, or leave it as a much-needed post-wedding project?