Planning a wedding can be enormously stressful. Once you’ve sorted the venue, hired the caterers, booked some decent music (and, naturally, gotten in touch with the best photo-booth hire company in Buckinghamshire), the chances are that you’ll be ready to get on with the business of exchanging vows and walking off into the sunset.

But wait! There are still a few crucial boxes to tick after the big day itself has come and gone. Not least among these are the thank-you cards that you’ll be sending out to your guests. This little touch is a way of showing your appreciation for what was hopefully pleasant company. Ideally, you’ll only send out one round of thank-you cards in your lifetime, so make them count!

Here, we’ll share our top tips that’ll allow you to do exactly that.

1. Keep it short

Brevity, as Shakespeare taught us, is the soul of wit. What this basically means is that there’s no point in wasting time – get right to the point, and don’t mess around with throat-clearing sentences at the start. If you’re going on for more than a hundred words, it generally means that you’re overdoing it. This advice, incidentally, also applies to work-related emails.

2. Write from the Heart

If you’ve ever seen the episode of Friends where Joey tries to compose a letter using a thesaurus, you’ll understand how trying to make things elaborate and showy can backfire. Even if your efforts aren’t quite as inept, you’ll still come across better if you simply write what comes to mind.

3. Include Details

With that said, it can sometimes be tricky to get started. A few key pieces of information should form the basis of your thank-you card. You don’t need to say exactly how much money you received, but you should say what you’re spending it on. If you’ve made a note of every gift, then you’ll be able to mention it when you come to write the person in question a thank-you card. This will suggest that you’ve been paying attention, and it’ll come across as sincere.

4. Include Photos

A photo from the day itself is a great way to personalise your note, and to add visual interest. Our photo-booth service comes with all of the photos taken on the night included – so you’ll be able to run through the snaps and find one that’s appropriate to each guest.

5. Sign by hand

Writing out every single thank-you note by hand is time consuming and impractical. And let’s face it – many of us have atrocious handwriting. But that needn’t prevent us from signing our names at the end to provide a personal touch. Just remember to get both husband and wife to put pen to paper: the easiest way is to set up a two-person production line!