This year we sent out our first ever Christmas cards to friends and family!
I just love them.
My friend, Jessi, designed them for us {she’s also doing our Save the Dates!} and I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the outcome. I printed these out at Walgreens for cheap, using the matte finish. They are fun!
In regards to wedding planning, we’ve made a bit of progress. We signed the contract and put the deposit down on the venue in Austin that we loved, I sent out all my bridesmaid cards, found a dress that I *think* is the one and we are currently chatting with caterers. Our Save the Date cards will go out a week before Christmas if all goes as planned.
It feels really good to know that we have a definite date and place now….so I know that no matter what, we will get married on May 25th and it will be wonderful. The rest of the details will all work themselves out and I’ll definitely keep you guys posted as I plunge deeper into the wedding planning insanity. Since we are working on a pretty tight budget, we are doing a lot of things ourselves and picking the things that are most important to us to be “worth it”…. i.e. food. Obviously. We’re having a casual, laid-back ranch wedding and one of the most important things to me is that my friends and family walk away at the end of the night still talking about how delicious their dinner was. Maybe that sounds silly but for me, a really great dinner is a priority and I’m willing to save on other things to get that.
And that is the end of this brief public service announcement. I apologize if anyone has seen weird messages on ELR over the past week and has been unable to get on — my server has been experiencing some hiccups and hopefully everything will get back to normal soon.
Anne
December 8, 2012 at 4:05 amOh my goodness, your first of many Christmas Cards, how exciting!!! It is such a lovely card!
Good luck with all of the planning!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More
December 8, 2012 at 4:10 amLove the cards and good luck with the planning. While I’m not married (or engaged or even dating anyone -hah!), one of my good friends recently planned her wedding and she talked about some of the conversations they had with the parents about what was important to them and why and why that was where they wanted the money to go. To me it makes so much sense when working on a tight budget (or even not)!
Jenn
December 8, 2012 at 4:30 amAh maybe that’s the “Bad Gateway” message I kept getting? Love the cards!
Debbi
December 8, 2012 at 4:45 amWhat a lovely card. And you’re getting married on my birthday! You’re totally forgiven if you don’t send a gift, though. Heh. It will be fun following along as you plan your special day.
Maryz
December 8, 2012 at 5:23 amThis is beautiful! Wedding plan is so fun!! Enjoy!
Jenn
December 8, 2012 at 5:59 amAgreed with the food! I miss your normal posting though… I love your recipes but what really makes your blog shine is your personal connection through posts like this- we need more of them:-) “old” Jenna style minus your every meal which I know you did not like.
Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats
December 8, 2012 at 7:05 amGood call on the food! One year later, nobody will remember the flowers, but they WILL remember the great food, cake, and special little touches. You are also so right about nailing down a date and focusing on the fact that, no matter what else happens, you will be married then. It takes so much of the stress and pressure off if you just keep that in mind!
Shanna
December 8, 2012 at 7:11 amLove the wording! What a lovely way to spread cheer this season! (And congrats on the engagement! I’m new here and just catching up!) : )
Maria
December 8, 2012 at 7:12 amThat’s the best weekend to get married! We got married that weekend this year 🙂 love the Xmas card! We too prioritized on food and six months later, people talk about how good the food was so I fully support your decision!
Liz @ Tip Top Shape
December 8, 2012 at 7:20 amWow, you’re really trucking along on the wedding plans! Everything sounds great! A laid-back wedding (with the great food!) seems like the perfect choice for you guys 😀
Love the Christmas card! Too cute!!
deva at deva by definition
December 8, 2012 at 7:26 amI love the Christmas cards – and awesome on the save-the-dates! We are getting married May 25th, too, and we just ordered our invitations! It all goes so fast (planning does) so be sure to savor every moment of your engagement (and squee a lot when you think about being Mrs. Adam next year, because oh my gosh do I do that a lot when I think that in less than six months I’ll be Mrs. C.)
Averie @ Averie Cooks
December 8, 2012 at 7:40 amI keep getting the weird server message and am trying to refresh and maybe this will work…
And your card is awesome! I actually printed my holiday cards out at Walgreens last year, for cheap. This year…holiday cards didn’t happen. Oops.
You two look adorable 🙂
Molly @ RDexposed
December 8, 2012 at 7:56 amMy comment won’t show up! I keep getting the bad gateway error message. Ha! Keep calm, we will keep coming back to your blog. 😉
Denise @ Creative Kitchen
December 8, 2012 at 7:56 amCongratulations Jenna!! As a longtime reader (summer 2009 ~ you were the first food blog I discovered!!), I’m very happy for you. So happy to see all your wedding planning going smoothly. Enjoy your Christmas season!!
Denise
Denise @ Creative Kitchen
December 8, 2012 at 7:56 amP.S. LOVE the cards!!
Becky Henderson
December 8, 2012 at 8:05 amThe card is beautiful! I’m excited to see everything unfold for you. Weddings can be so fun for everyone involved. Food is always a priority so I think you’re doing it the right way! Enjoy every moment of it!
Chelsa
December 8, 2012 at 8:09 amYour Christmas card is adorable. I can’t believe you’re planning the wedding so quick, I’m going slow with mine. How exciting!
Em (Wine and Butter)
December 8, 2012 at 9:42 amThe food – and the booze! – HAVE to be priorities. Plus, you’d look gorgeous in a bin bag so whatever on the dress ;). Exciting!
Kristen @ notsodomesticated
December 8, 2012 at 9:47 amBeautiful Christmas card! You are going to be a gorgeous bride! 🙂
Amy
December 8, 2012 at 10:51 amI think DIY weddings are the ones that are the most fun! They just turn out so much more personalized.
Molly @ Happy&Healthy
December 8, 2012 at 11:11 amThose are adorable! Good luck with all the wedding planning! I am my sisters maid of honor, and am just realizing how much I have to do ha
Marguerite Miller
December 8, 2012 at 11:31 amI love the cards! They are awesome!! As for the save the dates…I would only suggest you wait an extra week to send them out! You wouldn’t want any to get mixed up with everything Christmas and get misplaced! And you will have an amazing wedding on a budget!! My daughter just got married in September and they were on a strict budget, and it was one of the nicest weddings most people there had ever been to! And the food was delicious! The caterer was a friend who didn’t charge them much, but did an amazing job on the food! And you are going to make a beautiful bride!! Good luck, and don’t let all the planning get the best of you! It will all work out!
Sarah @ Yogi in Action
December 8, 2012 at 1:14 pmI am so impressed with how quickly you guys are planning everything! You seem so organized so quickly.
Your Christmas card is beautiful! How far in advance did you have to start thinking about it to get it out in time? I always start thinking about it too late and miss my chance
Bailey @ Full-Flavored Life
December 8, 2012 at 3:38 pmThat card is just too cute!!
Pam K.
December 8, 2012 at 4:38 pmHi Jenna,
I am so happy for you! Beautiful cards for a lovely couple . Wishing you much happiness and a very blessed engagement.
Pam
Joelle (on a pink typewriter)
December 8, 2012 at 7:01 pmCute cards!
That wedding sounds lovely! I went to one near Waco, Texas that was much like that at this gorgeous ranch.. It was such a fun wedding and everyone had a blast.
Claire
December 9, 2012 at 5:57 amWe did our first “together” Christmas cards this year too and it was so much fun! It’s amazing the $cost of a wedding. Just advice from what OTHER people have told me…be sure you get the photographer that you want because, in the end, (other than your marriage obviously) what is left for memories is the pictures. I had one girl tell me her ONLY regret was that she didn’t get the pictures she wanted. I have four months to plan (down to three now!) and I have amazingly gotten most things done already. 🙂 So excited for y’all!
April
December 9, 2012 at 11:42 amJenna, I love the Christmas cards. How cute! Enjoy the planning process. It can be so much fun and a great way to bond with your family and bridesmaids. I’m sure your wedding will be fantastic.
erika
December 9, 2012 at 7:14 pmBe sure to save one of those cards for you two to have for your scrapbook – fun to look back over the years and see how you’ve stayed the same and how you’ve changed…..nice momentos 🙂
Congrats to one newly engaged couple from one newly married couple 🙂 Life is awesome shared with the right one!
luv what you do
December 10, 2012 at 7:20 amTHat is such a cute card!
I love the design of it!
colleen
December 10, 2012 at 8:36 amI am getting married on May 25th too! Happy wedding planning 🙂
Jen
December 10, 2012 at 9:41 amI just LOVE your Christmas cards! Thank you for sharing with us! So very happy for you and Adam 🙂 What a wonderful and exciting time for you both!!
Michelle
December 10, 2012 at 10:52 amSo excited for you! Wedding planning is so much fun! We did ours on a tight budget and I will be posting about how we saved money on my blog in the weeks to come!
xo
Julie B.
December 10, 2012 at 1:10 pmI have a May marriage as well. May 14, 2005! Congratulations and I love the card.
Lizzie
December 10, 2012 at 1:53 pmMy wedding planning priority is the same! 🙂 All about the food and booze!
Adri {Food-N-Thought}
December 10, 2012 at 3:28 pmAdorable! And {belated} congrats on your engagement… wedding planning. so. much. fun!
Megan {Country Cleaver}
December 10, 2012 at 4:22 pmOhhh those cards are adorable! And I reached the point with my wedding planning, that no matter what happened – it was going to be the best day of my life. Chaos, heat, and whatever else happens only adds to the story and memory of the day. 103 degrees on my wedding day, now we laugh about it all. Your day will be stunningly perfect. 🙂
Malinda
December 10, 2012 at 5:50 pmI am also planning a wedding in Austin, TX from Northern California. My wedding is in just 3 weeks and cannot wait to be done planning for it and just get to do it! Let me know if you need any suggestions on Austin vendors, etc. Best of Luck with planning!
Amy Walters, aDESIGNdock
December 10, 2012 at 6:35 pmBeautiful! Congrats on setting the date…how exciting!
Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out
December 10, 2012 at 6:46 pmGirl! I’ve been saying that about my wedding food since I started blogging! How embarrassing would it be for a food blogger to have mediocre or (gasp!) bad food at her wedding??? Not ok. I totally support and understand your quest for delicious dinner. 🙂
Chantelle @ A Tale of Two Pretties
December 10, 2012 at 9:09 pmThis. Is. Adorable. That’s all I can say.
I hope my Christmas cards are as cute, someday 🙂
Charise
December 11, 2012 at 6:19 amOur Christmas card is also chalkboard-style this year, complete with a bit of red. Love them (yours and mine)! 🙂
Diane @ Life of Di.
December 11, 2012 at 7:02 amCute Christmas card 🙂 how exciting that you have set a date. Everything really will come together now. I’m sure it will be beautiful!
Debbie
December 11, 2012 at 7:03 amLove your Christmas card!
Jacquelyn B
December 11, 2012 at 8:53 amLove the holiday card. You mentioned you are on a tight wedding budget and focusing on the important things. Photos are the one thing you have to take away from your wedding (besides your wonderful husband!) and a great photographer should be on your list. Check out claryphoto.com! She is the most special and wonderful photographer.
Amy @ Extracurricular Activities
December 11, 2012 at 11:26 amLove hearing about wedding details! My best friend is getting married outside of Austin in April, and I cannot wait. I have a friend getting married May 25th too (tis the season), except it’s in Dallas. Yee-haw for Texas weddings! Austin is such a fun place to get married for the bride and the guests. If you need any suggestions for Austin activities or rehearsal dinner spots I’d be happy to provide suggestions. I lived there for 5 years and am on a perpetual quest to get me back there someday. Best. City. Ever.
Bonnie
December 11, 2012 at 8:08 pmI must’ve missed that you’re engaged! Congrats! I am as well. I have been wanting to do save the date Christmas cards but just not sure I’ll make the deadline. I empathize with you on setting a date…with so many things to decide and so many of those decisions dependent on one of several more variables, it’s enough to make your head spin. As for the food, I too wanted it to be the main event. I could care less about the dress or about the invitations, but I do care about the food. However, I have finally come to the conclusion that with the number of guests that keep crawling up, and the catering options I have and just by virtue of the fact that I think it’s hard for any caterer to serve the kind of meal I envision, I’m giving up on that one thing. My mother said to me that the food would not meet my expectations and recommended that we choose based on venue instead and make the rehearsal dinner the food affair. Nonetheless I cannot wait to hear about the wedding plans (especially the menu!). And super cute cards!
Kristin @ FoodFash
December 11, 2012 at 11:20 pmTalk of the town food would be at the top of my list as well! Luckily Austin is full of the good stuff 🙂
Aunt Tammie
December 13, 2012 at 9:48 amLovely Christmas Card of the Lovely Couple!!!
Suzanne de Cornelia
December 14, 2012 at 9:58 amSuch a beautiful card!! It’s so smart to do things on a budget. It’s just crazy how couples spend the equivalent of a down payment on a house on a wedding when guests love relaxed, charming weddings that aren’t repeats of the over-the-top mega-productions many have become. A ranch wedding will be so much fun…sounds a bit ‘Little House on the Prarie’. Are you wearing Laura Ingall’s cowgirl boots?! 😉
Kathy
November 23, 2014 at 9:54 amLove the card…. Does your friend jessi still design these??? Would love to each out as I’m newly engaged and love the idea!