Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Thank You Note Therapy

Nurse A and I have been married more than a month and let me tell you, we've been living up the non-wedding-planning life. Half-price sushi has replaced trips to the florist, and Instant Netflix has taken the time slot usually allotted for phone calls to the event rentals company about weird sized table cloths. It is a beautiful thing.

But we have one big wedding cloud hanging over our heads that we just can't shake because, well, we haven't done it yet: the thank-you notes. I am ashamed to admit that I have only sent out like 10 notes and Andrew has only written to his groomsmen. We had a big shower earlier on in the engagement and I did get those out in a timely manner, but following my lingerie shower in July I really dropped the ball. I wrote notes to all of the wonderful ladies who came and/or had a hand in putting it together, but writing the card is just half the battle. I never mailed them and then they were out of date. So I've been putting off writing thank-you notes because I need to write one to the lingerie shower guests and then another to said lingerie shower guest and wedding date for the wedding gift. Excuses, excuses, right? Because you all love to come home from a day at work and write thank you notes and I'm the only person in the world who would rather watch TV. But I'm seriously thankful  for everyone who came to the wedding and/or sent a gift, which is another reason it takes me so long to get through thank-you notes--I don't want them to sound formulaic. But no more excuses.

Actually just one more excuse (because he's so darn cute. And so damn bad. He has eaten more than one thank-you note.)

Please note the pupster is leisurely enjoying a pizzle stick.

But everything changed today. I was making my usual blog stalking rounds, and two bloggers in a row had posted about finishing their thank-you notes! Laura, at Luckiest in Love, finished hers before her three-month anniversary date (at the rate I'm going it would be six months for us) and Katie at Spirals and Spatulas finished hers within 17 days. Seventeen days, people. I was inspired. And slightly ashamed. But for the most part inspired! I can't thank the ladies enough (maybe I should send a note?) for getting me into gear.

I didn't keep a spreadsheet with gifts and names like Katie did (what a great idea, by the way), but I did have a finalized guest list and this:


Alas, it is the Basket of Everything Thank-You Note. This is horrible, right? Inside you will find gift cards with quickly scrawled descriptions of the gifts and names of people who gave them, a variety of thank-you notes (I love these Target ones) and some cat stickers. (Don't be a hata--I used them tonight on the note to my sweet little flower girl!) And I apologize that everything I photograph is sitting on this table outside (also a thank-you-less wedding gift); I can only take decent pictures in natural light.

So yesterday night I organized the Basket of Everything Thank-You Note, wrote about 12 notes and am already feeling much more on top of things. I have a goal to get them all out before our two month anniversary on October 14. No more excuses. Although I do firmly believe that if I had a desk like this, I would not have a Father's Day card sitting in the door of my car.

How long did it take you to get your notes out? Did you think ahead and have a super-organized process or did you just hope everything would work out for the best? And did your dog ever eat any of your thank-yous?

11 comments:

  1. I never sent notes. I told everyone that they were lucky I even invited them to my super tiny wedding on the lawn, and we went to a great party together, and that was that. I didnt want to write thank you notes, and we sent emils to everyone who came, thanking them for the few gifts we got. Notes seemed like a waste of time and paper to me!
    Kate
    www.idreamloudly.com

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  2. I kept a spreadsheet tracking who gave us what, and when I sent them a thank-you card (thanks to the highly organized Mrs. S for that suggestion). I send the shower thank-you's right away, and then sent the wedding gift thank-you's as they arrived. I did have trouble getting all the thank-you's out for the gifts we received at the wedding becasue I was exhausted forever after the wedding. But I ended up doing them somewhat timely, and all but three people got them (whose cards I still have because somehow I ended up not having their addresses...)

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  3. I am with you on watching tv instead of doing thank you notes. Our wedding was over a year ago, but I got mine done by the 3-month mark. I just tried to stay motivated by the actual gifts. People were so nice and generous that I felt I had to get them done since people spent so much money on gifts. I also had cute little picture thank you cards so I wanted to show people our pretty wedding photos (whatever it takes for motivation right?).

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  4. I have 2 thank you notes left to write (for gifts I just got), but I got mine done rather quickly because my gifts trickled in little by little (because we sent announcements). Plus I had a super tiny wedding (as you know), so I didn't have that many to write. I probably only wrote about 50 thank you notes, which I don't think is very many. Don't feel bad. You'll get done!! Make Sawyer write some.

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  5. You can do it! :) We designated a couple of evenings and wrote them together while watching movies. Splitting them up made it go much faster. Good luck!

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  6. Wow, I'm planning on getting married in 2012 and this is making me reluctant....so much work!

    Best of luck to you!

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  7. Getting married is fun Jessi! I'm just extremely unorganized. If you write your notes as you receive gifts (lots of people will mail them beforehand) then you'll be fine!

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  8. We did ultra generic notes. For one thing, we'd been living together for 3 years already, and didn't need a lot of stuff, so most people gave us money for the honeymoon. The physical gifts that we got did get a little shout out, but as lame as it sounds, everyone got almost the same message. That meant we were able to get them all mailed out before the 2 month mark.

    I don't think people worry too much, they're just happy to be acknowledged. And, breathe a sigh of relief, because I think etiquette says you have 6 months. And I've been to weddings that the thank you notes didn't come until almost a year later - sometimes post honeymoon baby!

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  9. Sure tricked me! I got mine like before your honeymoon was over or something — probably before my gift arrived! Thanks!

    I agree with Betty that Andrew should do half. He gets to enjoy those gifts too ...

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  10. Pizzle stickssss gahhhhh! I almost gagged when I found out what they were!!!!

    We have some thank yous to do still... ugh... I hate them!

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  11. Awww... what a cute/bad doggie! My hubby & I did the thank you notes on the plane to and from my honeymoon and swore none would be done during the actual honeymoon. We finished 98% of them that way. It was awesome.

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