I want to begin by saying there's a 99.9% chance I'm going to send this thank you card, but I wanted to see if anyone else felt WEIRD about it as well.
To make a long story short(er), my husband's cousin and her long-term partner had a HUGE falling out with my husband's family. The falling out was originally between her and her brother (who was a groomsman) but quickly spread to the rest of the family, as these things do. Cousin and her husband cut off all communication with the family for several months, but when they realized they had not received a wedding invitation (at the request of my husband's family, we did not invite them) they quickly called everyone to try to make amends. The decision about whether to invite them was ultimately left up to my husband, and he chose to do so, which I supported. Including an extra two people with only a few weeks to go until the big day was not the easiest thing in the world but it was also not a crisis or anything.
To this day I am still not entirely sure what happened because no one wanted to stress out the bride, but from what I can gather, no one warned Cousin's father that she was going to be there. When they met face-to-face the day before the wedding, there was a screaming match that led to him leaving and not attending the wedding. This added additional stress for my husband's family, obviously.
I had a semi-destination wedding. We have already sent Cousin and her husband a thank you card for the wedding gifts they sent prior to the wedding, but I am sending thank you cards to all the guests who traveled as well (and of course thanking the guests for any gifts we received at the reception). Again, PROBABLY going to send Cousin a thank you for coming. My husband decided he wanted them there and they did put in the effort. I'm not sure how much of the drama that accompanied their presence was really their fault, because I don't know what happened. But part of me feels like it's weird to send a "thanks for coming" given what all went down and the lingering bad feelings.
Not really looking for anyone to tell me not to send it. I know I ought to. I basically just wanted to vent about the fact that I think it's an awkward thing to send.