Weddings are fun to plan, but they’re also a lot of work. You deal with to-do lists, errands, meetings, purchases, and deadlines – and that’s before the wedding. After you return from your honeymoon, another mountain of work awaits: your wedding thank-you notes. The bad news: You can’t skip this all-important task. The good news: You can make it easier on yourselves. With some planning, organization, and useful tools, you can sincerely express your gratitude without getting hand cramps.

Gather Contact Information

Before you write your first note, you need two things: addresses and supplies. Once you’ve sent out your wedding invitations, you’ll have your guests’ contact information. It’s best to double-check this list for accuracy and obtain new addresses for any who’ve moved. Many office productivity packages allow you to export addresses to labels using a spreadsheet as a data source. There are also online programs to help you with this task. By sending out a link, you can ask your friends and family to complete a short form and update their contact information.

The need to organize doesn’t only apply to the collection of addresses. You also need to keep track of who to thank and why. Gratitude for gifts will take up most of your note-writing efforts, but don’t forget about your wedding party, officiant, vendors, and anyone else who helped you during the process.

Purchase Your Supplies

Your next step is stocking up on stationery, stamps, and pens. Hopefully, you factored these items into your wedding budget. What It Costs estimates that you’ll spend between 50 cents and $3.00 for each card. There are plenty of options on the market, so select a notecard style that reflects you as a couple. Many vendors offer customizable editions that let you add photos and text, but these are pricier than generic boxed cards. As of this writing, postage stamps cost 78 cents each. Assuming that you send 100 cards and you choose moderately priced cards costing about $1.00 each, you’ll spend at least $178 to mail them. That doesn’t include labels or other extras you choose.

Select Your Wording

You’ve collected your addresses, purchased supplies, and now you’re ready to get started. Or are you? Crafting a meaningful message is important, but you don’t have to perform mental gymnastics to convey sincerity. Equally Wed offers thank-you note wording templates to guide your writing. For those who attended but didn’t give a gift, thank them for being there to celebrate with you. You can tweak the wording in these templates as you like, but they should provide basic guidelines on what to write.

Don’t Write Them All at Once

Yes, you read that right. Trying to write all those thank-you notes at once isn’t a great idea. Besides a bad case of writer’s cramp, a marathon writing session may cause you to make careless mistakes. It’s best to write your notes in batches. Dividing this task in bite-sized chunks can make it easier to complete. It’s also perfectly fine to write notes for gifts received before the wedding. Finally, don’t forget to split the writing workload between the two of you.

Writing your wedding thank-you notes may seem overwhelming, but breaking the task into smaller steps can help. Start thinking about your notes early in your wedding planning, and include writing supplies in your budget. Writing your notes in batches and sending cards immediately after receiving gifts are also wise strategies. Follow these tips and you’ll stress less over the note-writing process.