Hello Newlyweds!

After the Honeymoon

Now that the wedding and honeymoon are over...what else is there to do?

Plenty.

However, if you take one step at a time, and make short-term goals (much like you would do during the process of planning a wedding), then the aftermath of the wedding may not be as overwhelming.

Opening Gifts!

Upon our return from a magical honeymoon in Disney World, me and my husband started opening gifts that our guests brought to our wedding. It took a full week to completely open our presents, and we alternated roles of who had the job of "opening the gifts" and "recording the gifts."

This was so very helpful when we first began writing our Thank-You cards.

Tips on Writing Thank-You Cards

Below are nine tips on how to tackle the plethora of Thank-You cards you may have to write:

* If I can share any tip, please let it be this one... handwritten thank-you's are a must! In the age of technology, you may be tempted to send out multiple thank-you cards that are printed out with the same message. DON'T do it. Your guests spent the money and the time to provide you a gift, so take the time to send them a thank-you card highlighting the gift they provided you. Believe it or not, many guests really appreciate this kind gesture.

* Start early. As soon as gifts begin coming in (especially if it is before wedding day), begin recording: who provided the gift, description of gift, and address of guest that bought the gift.

* Buy your thank-you cards along with the invitations. First, this enables you to have the thank-you cards handy for when gifts do start coming in, and sometimes (not all) the thank-you cards will cost less if chosen and paid for along with the invitations. Make sure to bring this up with the company you want to purchase your wedding invitations/stationary from. I learned the hard way and was told after we purchased our invitations that the thank-you cards would have been reduced. Angrily, I stormed off to Target and bought thank-you cards (that I actually liked much better) there.

* Take turns between you and your spouse in writing the thank-you cards. This can help with managing what I like to call: "Writing thank-you cards burnout."

* Write thank-you cards to parents and your pastor/officiant first.

* Write thank-you cards to the wedding party next.

* Additionally, write thank-you cards to your wedding vendors.

* Write thank-you cards to guests that provided you wedding gifts. Please note, you are not obliged to write a thank-you note to guests that do not provide gifts. However, if you choose to do so, it may be appropriate thanking them for joining the celebration uniting you and your spouse, and that you hope they had a wonderful time. Of course, it is not appropriate to bring up anything about a gift if a gift was not provided.

* Don't wait several months to start sending out thank-you cards. Recent wedding etiquette suggestions advise to send out thank-you cards TWO weeks within receiving the gift (if received before your wedding) and within ONE month if the gift was received after your wedding. However, a TWO month time frame after your wedding can be acceptable depending on certain situations. One to think about though-imagine seeing your Aunt and Uncle during the holidays or a family reunion, and have them ask you if you are enjoying their gift? Enough said.

Happy handwriting!