Thank You Notes

The wedding is two months past, the bridal party has moved on with their lives, activity at my parent's home has settled and while I'm not busy planning the big event, now I'm busy getting all the thank you notes sent out. It has felt like an overwhelming project to me (guess that's a given when you invite 300+ people to your wedding!) so instead of looking at it as the total number notes I need to write, I've been trying to do a few at a time but I still have a ways to go. Which brings me to a very important question... Is there a deadline for sending wedding thank you cards?
I started worrying that I've missed the proper time slot to thank our guests so I looked on a few websites to see what the etiquette is for sending thank yous following the wedding. According to the websites, it looks like I have about two more weeks to get them out. While we all would agree that the notes should be sent out as quickly as possible, About.com advises that the "notes should be sent within three months of receipt of gifts on formal stationary." As for The Pink Book, it states that thank you notes should be handwritten and sent within two months of the date that the gift is received. Lastly, Thank You Note Samples explains that wedding gifts "should be acknowledged within two months of your return from your honeymoon."
I actually like writing the thank you notes because it gives me a chance to reflect on the memories I have of each guest at our wedding and how they have shown their support and love. Now that I have answered this question of etiquette, I better find some pens and get writing!

Ultimately, my final advice on sending wedding thank you notes is:
1. Use the list you created when opening your gifts and remember to keep track of who you've sent cards to so that you don't forget any guests
2. Hand write your notes and keep them personal
3. Mail them within 3 months of the wedding date
4. Send Thank You Notes to all guests that attended (whether you received a gift or not)
5. Try to keep the stationary formal... but I really like the picture cards too!

A few more words on the Thank You cards we chose... I ordered the thank you cards before the wedding from Sealed with a Kiss, the same company we ordered our invitations from. We chose a simple, monogrammed white card that will be great stationary once we're done using them as wedding thank yous. I also ordered return address labels to use on the envelopes... the first thing I bought with our new name :)

A little more scrapbook therapy

--getting MY WISDOM TEETH pulled--

For the most part, my scrapbooking is usually done in chronological order. I'm finally out of the high school days and almost into college stuff... which will be a fun change since h.s. collages mostly consisted of newspaper clippings while college days provided me with lots of interesting pics and crazy stories. Featured today is a two page layout of when I got my wisdom teeth extracted during the summer of 2003. It was actually an ok experience for me... I'm sure the drugs had something to do with it. I also have an amazingly hilarious video of me after I woke up from the surgery.

As for the layout, I wanted to make it amusing but still use a clean way to display the pics. I found inspiration for this layout in my September 2008 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine (p. 40). The orange banner in the middle with white lettering keeps the page fun while the small embellishments around the border give it a touch of sophistication. Best of all, I saved my teeth and attached them to the layout.

See you next week for some more layout therapy...

Janell's Bridal Shower Invitations

My fav cuz is getting married in September and next month her bridesmaids are throwing her a very royal bridal shower. She loves pink and zebra so it's only fitting that's what I put on the 75 invitations I made for this very special party.

How It's Made: The backing is a pre-cut 5x7" black cardstock which fits nicely in an A7 envelope. I printed two columns of text on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of pink of cardstock which I cut to fit the black background. I then added some star embellishments which I cut from pink and zebra print paper using my sizzix (yes, I'm old school and still have a sizzix). The final touches are the pink brads on the star cut-outs. As for the registry card, I also printed this on pink cardstock and attached to the invitation with a pink paper clip which I had tied a black polka dot ribbon (I had wanted to use zebra ribbon but couldn't find the right size).

Interested in ordering handmade invitations? Just email me with the type of event, quantity needed and any special requests. Email: somethingpurpleplanning@gmail.com