Do I or Don’t I

Including a thank-you message in your wedding program is entirely your choice, but by including personal touches, such as a thank-you, your program will become so much more than just a simple list of people and events.

Your Program Can “Come Alive”   

You can make your program livelier by using it as your first opportunity to intimately speak to your guests.

Including a heartfelt thank-message to those who have given you support throughout your relationship, is a wonderful way to express your gratitude.

It’s also a gracious way to end your program.  Your guests will leave the ceremony feeling loved and appreciated. You’ll be amazed as to how many guests will keep your wedding program as a keepsake memento of the day.

Don’t Stress

There’s no need to avoid writing a thank-you message because you just don’t feel that you have a way with words.  Remember that no matter how eloquent your prose may be or how simply your message is worded; everyone will appreciate your effort to express your gratefulness.     

Whom To Thank

You can basically choose to thank anyone who has been an important part of your journey to marriage.

Typically the messages are directed to parents, family members and/or friends & guests.  You may also choose to include a short prayer of thanks; some couples also mention helpful members of their Church ministry.

As you can see the list can be short or very lengthy, but do remember even the Academy Awards sets limitations on the thank-you segment.

Not everyone has to be formally thanked in your program, but if you’re deciding whom to include, make sure Mom & Dad
(if applicable) are your first priority. You would be surprised how many couples totally forget!  

The Location

A thank-you message is placed at the end of your ceremony and is usually printed on the back cover of your program.  If space permits within the pages of your program, you can locate it separately on the last page; however the back page is the most prominent, commonly used area.

How To Set Up The Page

To create impact, your message should have space to “breathe” on the page by leaving areas without type. This will make your message standout and not look crowed.

Limit the length of each message to a few sentences so that the page has room for some white space. If you have a long message, break it up into paragraphs. 

Space is limited so, you can thank everyone in one group message or further personalize your thank-you through individual messages to separate groups, such as parents as one group, family as a group friends as a group. Each group should be separated by at least on line space.

Our templates have pre-set margins & font size to ensure that your message can be easily read. You can left justify your message to create a block form or center your work for a more fluid look, try the different options in our templates to see what you prefer.

If you are not sure of placement or our design team will be happy to make suggestions.

Etiquette Suggestions

The correct etiquette for a thank-you message is to thank people in the order of their importance in your lives.

Parents are thanked first, followed by family and then friends and/or clergy, closing with a faith prayer if you’re including one.
You can thank everyone through one single message or offer separate messages to individual groups.  

If you are writing more than one message, each group’s message is a new paragraph, separated by a space.  To avoid over crowding on the page, the messages should be no more than a couple sentences.

Wording example of thanking everyone as a group (left justified Style)

We would like to thank our family and friends for sharing with us the first day
of our life together and for traveling both near and far to be here. 

We feel especially lucky to have so many special people in our lives.
We hope that you have a wonderful time at our wedding celebration and we
look forward to sharing many happy occasions with you in the years to come.

Wording example of separate thank-you messages (Center Style)

A special thank you to our parents who have shown us every day
what love and marriage are all about. We look forward to
following in you footsteps.

To Our Families:
Thank you for your love, support and encouragement and all
that you have done for us through the years. We love you all very much
and would not be who we are today without you.

To our Friends:
It means a great deal to us to have you with us here today.
Thank you for witnessing our expression of love for
each other as we begin our new life together

Including a thoughtful message in your wedding program is a special way to thank your family and friends for all their help and the sharing of your day.