Your engagement party is a wonderful opportunity for you and your loved ones to celebrate your recent engagement. Family and friends from up and down the country are likely to come, with some generous enough to give you and your new fiance a gift.
You’ll no doubt express your thanks to everyone attending on the day or night itself, but a popular way couples like to show their gratitude is by sending engagement party thank you cards. Thank you cards offer a thoughtful and personal way to show how much you appreciate your guests being with you to celebrate your engagement. But what do you write in them? What tone should you use? And what information should you include?
In this post, we’ll answer common questions surrounding how to write engagement party thank you cards, including where to get them from and how to send them, and offer you examples of what you could write in your own. For more information on planning the perfect celebratory bash, read our post on how to plan an engagement party.
Should you send thank you cards after your engagement party?
If you sent out invitations for your engagement party that were more than a simple text, like an evite or paper invitations, then the usual etiquette would be to send thank you cards to everyone who attended your engagement party.
It isn’t a necessity, but it tells those who came to celebrate that you appreciate them taking the time and spending the money they did to be with you. This counts double for those guests who were generous enough to give you an engagement gift. It’s a lovely gesture that shows how much it means to you that your guests could be there to celebrate your amazing news with you.
Should you send a thank you card to everyone?
If you send one guest a thank you card, then you should seriously consider sending everyone who came to your engagement party a thank you card as well. Don’t just reserve them for guests who gave you a gift – if you only send a thank you card to select guests, then word could spread, which may make those who didn’t receive one feel unappreciated or even a little hurt.
When should you send an engagement party thank you card?
Generally, you’ll want to send your thank you cards around two to four weeks after your engagement party. Thank yous aren’t usually expected by guests but are certainly welcomed, so make for a lovely little reminder of your big night. Leaving it this long also allows any guests who might want to send you a late engagement present time to do so, which you can then thank them for in the note.
How should you send engagement party thank you cards?
Couples will usually choose to send thank you cards through the post, even if the actual invitations were sent via evites. Email thank you cards aren’t quite as personal as a lovely card sent through the post. That being said, if your wedding stationery budget doesn’t quite stretch to engagement party thank you cards, your guests won’t mind if you choose to save money and send a digital thank you note instead. The average couple spends £414 on wedding stationery, so you may have to carefully choose which traditions you do and don’t follow.
Where can you get engagement party thank you cards?
If you choose to send postal thank you cards to your engagement party guests, there are several ways you can do it that suit a range of budgets. Each option will also have varying degrees of personalisations available.
You can pick up a big pack of generic thank you cards from high street party planning shops or card and stationery retailers. Many couples handwrite their thank you cards anyway, so this is an affordable way to do it. You could also handwrite letters, an art that has been lost in the digital age. Everyone loves to receive a handwritten letter through the post because they’re so rare and so special these days!
You could also design your own cards using photographs taken at your engagement party and have them affordably printed on a website such as Vistaprint.
If you do want to keep costs as low as possible and save yourselves the cost of postage, sites like Paperless Post give you the option to send thank you cards in next to no time. You can also personalise them so your guests still know how much you appreciate them coming to your party.
At Bridebook, we work with a wide selection of wedding stationers who can help you design thank you cards that complement your invitations and the theme of your party. It’s also a great way to add personalisations and that extra special touch.
For more information, read our post on ways to save money on wedding stationery, which includes plenty of tips and tricks for cutting costs if you’re keen to show your gratitude to your guests.
What tone should you use when writing engagement party thank you cards?
Choosing the right tone to use when writing your thank you card should strike a balance between warmth, gratitude, matching the formality of your party and being true to how you usually speak. For example, you might want to send a card saying ‘Cheers for partying with us, chaps,’ but this might not reflect the formality of your party if you invited them to a three-course meal at a golf club.
Try to be as genuine as possible while using a tone that will be well received by whoever reads it, whether it’s Grandma or your best mate. Be appreciative and personal, and use positive language throughout. Make sure you also look forward, bearing in mind that anyone who was invited to your engagement party will usually expect an invite to your wedding as well.
What should you include in an engagement party thank you card?
However you choose to word your thank you notes or cards, they’ll usually follow a similar structure. They don’t need to be a long, heartfelt outpouring of gratitude, but they also need to be a little bit more than ‘Thanks for coming.’
When planning what to write, think about the following structure and how your cards or notes include each of these:
- Open with the name of your recipient(s), which could be something like ‘Richard and Kelly’ or a collective like ‘The Harris Family.’
- Express your appreciation for them coming to your engagement party, including if they made any kind of contribution, such as bringing a cake or balloons.
- Touch on something they were involved in, said, or did while at the party and how it contributed towards you having a fabulous time.
- If they gave you an engagement gift, highlight this too, perhaps referencing how it made you feel or how it will be used (especially for monetary gifts).
- Mention the future and how you hope they can also make it to your wedding.
- Include a closing statement that reiterates your love and appreciation, such as ‘With heartfelt thanks and love.’
- Sign off with your names.
Should you handwrite engagement party thank you cards?
When sending thank you cards through the post, most couples choose to write them by hand. Not only does this allow for extra personalisation, but it shows the recipient that you’ve taken the time and effort to thank them for being there. There’s nothing quite like receiving a handwritten note, which is also why it’s not recommended that you send digital thank you cards if your budget and time allow for it.
Engagement party thank you card examples
If you’re looking for some inspiration for what to write in your engagement party thank you cards, or you’re not quite sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Here are a couple of examples you can use to get you started so you can let your guests know just how thankful you are.
Example 1
Dear Walker Family,
Thank you so much for joining us for our engagement party at Markenfield Hall. We felt so lucky to have you there with us to celebrate this next chapter in our lives. Daniel winning the limbo contest was a particular highlight – we hope you enjoyed the bottle of wine, Dan!
We’d also like to thank you for your generous gift. The money will be put to such good use as we plan our honeymoon for a much-needed break after our big day next June. We hope to see you there for even more celebrating (and another limbo contest if we’re lucky!).
Thanks again, we’re so lucky to have you in our lives.
Amber and Chrissy
Example 2
Dear Aaron and Julie,
We’re so grateful you could come to our engagement party at Eric’s parents’ house to celebrate our amazing news. The cupcakes you brought were delicious and very well received – there were lots of pink fingers from the icing, so thank you for giving everyone such a treat!
We’d also like to thank you for the vouchers. We’ve already got our eye on something to use them on which will help make our wedding extra special.
We’re so excited for our big day and we truly hope the two of you can come along to celebrate our wedding with us all over again.
With love and thanks,
Mary and Eric
Do you need to include any kind of RSVP when sending thank you cards?
No, when you send out your engagement party thank you cards, you don’t need to include any kind of RSVP, because you don’t require a response. That is, unless someone attended who doesn’t have your contact details and you want to pass them on.
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