Delayed Thank you notes

elizabeth121985

My husband and I had a rather large wedding (715 invited) 2 weeks ago, and we received a huge influx of gifts right around the time of the wedding.  I wrote thank you notes for all of my shower gifts within a reasonable amount of time, and those are all done thank goodness.

But now I have several hundred TY notes to write for wedding gifts.  Even if I worked on them for a few hours every day it's still going to take me a while to get them done.

I want to get them out asap, but considering the circumstances, how long is acceptable for a guest to wait to receive a note?  Will a delay of 2-3 weeks be frowned upon?

*FWIW I realized 715 is an insane guest list.  That's a whole other issue.  But we received gifts from pretty much everyone and now I'm trying to figure out how to get thank you's out within a reasonable amount of time

Mrs.B6302007

Several weeks is fine.  Kudos that you're even setting that as a goal with that many to do.  =-)

elizabeth121985

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_delayed-thank-you-notes?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:af407b77-f9b0-450e-a207-797b498eff1fPost:1f51e6a8-fb83-4870-86f6-9a73f6e272a3">Re: Delayed Thank you notes</a>:
[QUOTE]Several weeks is fine.  Kudos that you're even setting that as a goal with that many to do.  =-)
Posted by Mrs.B6302007[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Whew.  Good to hear.  </div><div>
</div><div>I know I get a bit peeved when it takes a bride a super long time to send a thank you note, and I don't want to do that to my guests.  </div><div>*When I say a "super long time" I mean over a year, which has happened before believe it or not.  Yes, it took 13 months to get a note.

</div>

AMYM312

I can't believe you had that many people at your wedding. That's just crazy.

Mrs.B6302007

You and I, both. A couple of months is considered acceptable.

 I just don't think there's any excuse for 3 months (or more) to go by with no TY note.  I recently went to a baby shower that was held 8 weeks before the baby was born.  TY notes weren't sent out until after the birth and understandably so, a long time after the birth. If she had done the shower notes right away, it would have been much easier on her.   If brides/moms will do just as you've done, shower gifts right away and then wedding or baby gifts as a second set later, then it makes the load lighter.

jessicabessica

I think that kind of delay is fine.  Send them out as you do them, though.  Also, is your H helping you write them?  My H wrote thank you notes to his side, and I wrote them for mine.  

elizabeth121985

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_delayed-thank-you-notes?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:af407b77-f9b0-450e-a207-797b498eff1fPost:eb2d5121-3f54-4a63-8812-8877f5863322">Re: Delayed Thank you notes</a>:
[QUOTE]I think that kind of delay is fine.  Send them out as you do them, though.  Also, is your H helping you write them?  My H wrote thank you notes to his side, and I wrote them for mine.  
Posted by jessicabessica[/QUOTE]

<div>He was so sweet and has offered several times, but his handwriting isn't legible :(  I mean, at all.  Otherwise I would certainly take him up on the offer!</div>

jessicabessica

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_delayed-thank-you-notes?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:af407b77-f9b0-450e-a207-797b498eff1fPost:b7620a8f-e2f7-49c3-9e51-9317efb32beb">Re: Delayed Thank you notes</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Delayed Thank you notes : He was so sweet and has offered several times, but his handwriting isn't legible :(  I mean, at all.  Otherwise I would certainly take him up on the offer!
Posted by elizabeth121985[/QUOTE]

<div>Even if he writes slowly and deliberately writes more clearly?  It doesn't need to be perfect, just legible.  My H has pretty bad handwriting, too, but we had to handwrite the bar exam, and he made it through.  </div>

Lobsters25

That's more than fine.  Your guests know how big the party was, so I'm sure they're expecting a little bit of delay.

hoffse

2-3 weeks is perfectly fine.  And since you have so many, I'd shoot for 3 weeks because that's a more reasonable time frame for you and you're more likely to finish the if you're not going completely crazy about it.  Generally thank yous should go out within 1-2 months after the honeymoon, and the closer to the 1 month mark than the 2 month mark the better.  Since your guest list was so huge I think it would actually surprise people to get a thank you that quickly.

The longest I've had to wait was never - I never got a thank you for either a shower or wedding gift that I sent several years ago.  2 years ago FI's older brother got married and it took them 4 months to send them out with a guest list of about 150.  FI and I are delaying our honeymoon for a 6 weeks, so my goal is to get them all done for us within 2 weeks, so that we can really enjoy our honeymoon.  But we're looking at 300-400 people.  3 weeks for 700+ is more than acceptable.

Loopyseven

Holy cow 715 is huge.  I was in a Greek wedding a few years back - they invited 550 and I thought that was huge.  Ditto Mrs B. - kudo's to you if you get them all done in 2-3 weeks, that's amazing.

MrsGandthebeag

You said 715 invited.  How many actually came?  Just my own curiosity.

tenofcups4me

2 months or so is the normal timeframe for thank yous, so you're doing fine. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to get them out in a couple of weeks.

Though I would absolutely have your DH do his half. You say he wants to so why be a martyr about this?

gananoque

Wow, you are super diligent. Nobody even expects a TY note that quickly! You're all good.

But you're straight up insane if you don't ask your husband to write half of them!!!

AMYM312

Can I be the nosey one to ask what the budget was for 700+ people?

litlred99

My sister just received a thank you from a wedding 2 years ago.  These are her close friends that she sees probaly every week.  2-3 weeks for your guest list is pretty acceptable and admirable.  I would also try to get you H involved in any way he can, especially since he's offered.  Could he stuff envelopes, input info for labels, label envelopes, stamp envelopes, etc.?  Anything to take some of the time committment from you.  I'm newly engaged and anticipating anything I can to get my FI involved.  These boards help a bunch.