thank you card timing help

lstruggles

My wedding is in mid August but I have received a few of gifts already - one from someone who is not coming and 2 from people who are coming but who are coming from the UK.  

My fiance and I wanted to make postcard thank you's with a photo of us on our wedding day holding a sign that says "thank you" (saw this idea on Pinterest and liked it a lot) and send them out a couple of weeks after the wedding.

My question is - should I send thank you cards now for gifts I am receiving from non attending and attending guests? Then, should I send another thank you to guests who attended after the wedding and include another thank you for the gift received?

Basically, should i have two sets of thank you's?

Kate61487

send thank yous right away for any and all gifts you receive.  It lets the giver know that it arrived safely (so you should actually open it, like take it out of the box to make sure it's in one piece).  You do not need to send another thank you later.

Photo thank yous are very popular and common, but you still need to write PERSONAL notes on each and send them out asap, so don't let a "couple of weeks after the wedding" turn into a couple of months.  Ask your photographer if he/she can give you the thank you photos right away so you can get them ordered right away. 

RebeccaB88

Thank you notes need to be sent ASAP after receiving a gift.  So for gifts you are getting now, send the thank you now.  After the wedding, get them done as soon as you can afterwards.

You don't need to send someone a thank you note if they did not give you a gift.

lstruggles

I'm always very prompt with sending thank you's so if my photographer were to take too long I would go another route.  We were also planning on writing a personal note on each thank you to thank people for the gift AND for coming to the wedding.

Thanks!

hoffse

Miss Manners gives you 20 minutes after receiving a gift to write a thank you note.  But she says that "more generous souls" will give you up to 2 weeks.  2 weeks is the rule I follow.

Ditto PP's about photo thank yous - they can be sort of cute, but I honestly think the idea is a little overdone.  FI and I are doing a nice but more generic thank you with both of our names on it, so that we can start writing them before the wedding for ones we get immediately beforehand.  I really REALLY want to get them all sent out within two weeks of the wedding.