Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Thank You Notes: Much Ado?





If you've been following this blog for a while now, you know that I've got the stereotypical "thing" for paper, which most brides develop during their wedding planning process.  And even though the wedding is over, J. and I need to send thank you notes to our generous, generous guests.  Amazingly generous guests.  And of course, I've obsessed over all the other details so why not obsess about some thank you notes?  J. says that I need a new hobby (and he's right) but until the Snowflake Run gets here in February, I'll still be thinking about paper!







Here's some of the contenders that I pondered (images link to their source):

(1) The trusty photo thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1864" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Super sweet, no?"]Super sweet, no?[/caption]

I love getting a photo of a bride and groom as part of their wedding thank you.  But lately, I've gotten quite a few thank you notes sans photos, often times really strikingly simple or elegant ones.  And J. and I used photos all over so many other wedding elements (the website, the save-the-date, the rehearsal dinner invitations, the guest book, even our first Christmas card) that another photo of us might be overkill.   So although we both love a solid photo thank-you note, we decided against them this time.

(2) The budget-friendly thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1865" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="These are from David's Bridal, but you get the idea."]These are from David's, but you get the idea.[/caption]

I've seen basic, pretty sets of thank you notes running about $1 per package at Michael's.  There is nothing wrong with them, and they certainly do the trick for a bride on a budget.  After all, saying thank you is the most important part.  But with such generous gift givers to thank, something about these made me feel, well, cheap.  Used.  Dirty.  I refused to go there.

 (3) The hand-embossed thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1866" align="aligncenter" width="275" caption="Hello trusty monogram!"]Hello trusty monogram![/caption]

Remember how J. and I embossed our new monogram all over various wedding elements?  Well, I thought maybe we could emboss some cardstock and make our own, personalized stationary.  One problem: it is really, ridiculously tough to get the embossed image onto cardstock in a way that looks properly aligned.  And I'm a perfectionist.  Fail.

(4) The coordinate-with-the-invitation thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1867" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sigh, love."]Sigh, love.[/caption]

I surely did love our wedding invitations so I considered revisiting My Gatsby for the thank you notes- but their online design tool kept malfunctioning so I couldn't get a good preview of the note in action, and they actually weren't terribly cost effective either- it would have been about $100 with shipping for 100 notes, and for that amount you can get higher quality.  Furthermore, while green and gold on cream cardstock were fun and festive for a Mid-October invitation to a December wedding, I questioned whether the same could be said if we sent these in February.   Naaah.

(5) The random "because I like it" thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1868" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="They go, but they weren't quite right."]They go, but they weren't quite right.[/caption]

Next I considered just choosing something random and green that spoke to me.  But after pursuing this angle, even looking on etsy, I realized I had a problem: nothing spoke to me.  Everything was too boring, too modern, too theme-focused, or too expensive.  There's a lot out there, but I'm picky.  And the prices weren't great- it was going to be $186 + shipping or so for 100 of the above.  Meh. 

(6) The brilliant "ah ha" thank you note

[caption id="attachment_1869" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hello my thank you note friend!"]Hello my thank you note friend![/caption]

I made one final web-stop at one of my favorite stationers, The White Aisle, and to my surprise they were having a sale.  My bridesmaid H. used them for her own wedding so I'd seen the quality of the inks and papers already and knew them to be excellent.  Plus, I had desperately wanted letterpress for our invites but with the prices, it was out of the question at the time.  However, letterpressed thank you notes (on sale!!) were very much in our budget!  And when I saw this pretty palm tree, I was totally sold!  It has a vintage botanical feel (vintage vibe, check!), is in shades of soft brown and cream (goes with wedding colors, check!), reminds me of where we're going on our honeymoon (Hawaiian reference, check!), and it is a high quality, beautiful card (something I can feel proud of, check!).  And for $1.25 per card, it was only a little bit pricier than My Gatsby's option, but at a significantly higher quality (affordable, check!).  Even J. liked them- and if J. likes paper, you know its right.  The plan is to write these on our honeymoon airplane ride, slap some tropical looking stamps on them and send them when we get to Lihui for a totally Hawaiian thank you!!  

What kind of thank you notes do you like best?

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