It’s still Monday! :) I have a deep love for built-ins, so you can expect to see more Marvelous Mondays posts focused on them in the future. The kitchen is the heart of most homes, so to me it makes sense to incorporate a cozy spot for eating meals, doing homework, or just lounging while the chef does his thing (definitely a “he” in our house). These are all such beautiful examples!

Top to bottom: Better Homes & Gardens | BHG | Southern Living | Canadian House & Home | BHG

Plus, built-ins usually mean extra storage! Which one would you most like to have in your house?

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to recite both traditional and personal vows. John did not. He was EXTREMELY concerned that if forced to read personal vows out loud, he would dissolve into a soggy mess. Over time, he warmed to the idea, and I’m happy to report that we both made it through with only a few twinges of outward emotion. (Our guests, though, were another story — lots of sniffles.)

Once we had come to an agreement on the vows we would recite, we needed to craft them! We decided to set up some parameters so that they wouldn’t end up wildly different in tone — they would each be about a minute long, and they would generally take the form of promises. From there, we pretty much left each other alone to write.

Photo by Tanja Lippert. Spoiler alert: We had a beautiful day :)

I started jotting down lines, phrases, and ideas in a Google Doc about a year ago, either as things popped into my mind, or when I read a line in another couples’ vows that struck me. (I tend to get my best ideas while going to sleep at night, so I keep a notebook on my bedside table, and it came in handy for brainstorming!) I was also very inspired by some of the beautiful vows I’ve been lucky enough to witness, including those of my friends Amanda and Katharine, and this emotional Inkspot video! What brought things full circle, though, was a weekend afternoon a few weeks before our wedding day, when John and I sat down with a box of old letters we had written to each other. We were actually looking for reading inspiration, but I ended up coming across a line I had written to John that was a perfect opening to my vows. The rest fell into place from there.

I will say that one other thing that united us was our desire to only promise things that, with the grace of God, we could actually KEEP. We didn’t want to promise things like, “I’ll give you a foot massage every night,” or, “I will never be angry with you,” because we didn’t see these as just pretty words, we saw them as promises we were making to each other for the rest of our lives, with God as our witness.

So what did we promise each other? We’ve decided to not share the full text here because, unsurprisingly, our personal vows were very personal. However, when you see our highlights film from Inkspot Crow, you’ll hear about half of mine, and about a quarter of John’s :)

Our traditional vows, though, I don’t mind sharing! Of course, they’ll be pretty familiar to y’all, but we did make a few tweaks. We read our personal vows first (John went before I did), then our pastor lead us in the traditional vows and ring vows. These are the words we used:

I, Emily, take you, John, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, all the days of my life.

and

John, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you in the name of God.

If you’re married, or are planning a wedding, what did you or have you planned for your vows? I would love to hear!

In addition to our photo Christmas cards, I think we’ll be sending a newsletter! Did your families send holiday newsletters when you were younger? Do they still send one? My family always did, and I loved it! In fact, once I was in about sixth grade, I was often recruited to write it — my Dad and I alternated years :) Even in the age of Facebook, I still LOVE reading all the letters we get from other families, families I’ve known my whole life, when I go home for Christmas. My Dad is in the military, so my parents have lots of far-flung friends that I remember from my childhood but haven’t seen in years. My sisters and parents and I have been known to sit at the kitchen table and pass the letters around the circle, discussing the neatly-encapsulated contents as we read!

Our newsletters were always fairly simple affairs, graphically speaking — printed on plain paper, or maybe holiday letterhead, if my Mom was feeling fancy. I’m hoping to step up the game a bit for my and John’s debut, and am taking inspiration from these beauties I found around the internet:

By Amanda Jane Jones. Go here to see more angles!

Also by Amanda. More here!

By Aprile Elcich.

I’ll update you once ours is complete!

First and foremost: If you haven’t already, make sure you VOTE today!! It is an honor and an obligation!

Believe it or not, I’m starting to think about Christmas cards! In the past we’ve sent out handmade cards (which I loved doing — see here, here, and here!), but I’m excited to send out our first photo card this year! Minted was the obvious choice, and today I’m rounding up a few of our favorites for y’all to give your thoughts on! Here are our top five choices:

Yep, there’s another wedding photo peek, this time by Tanja Lippert! Above:

1. A Wonderful Life | 2. Big Joy | 3. Merriest | 4. Joyful Season | 5. Simple Joy

Clearly, I have a prejudice towards typographic designs! I love that Minted’s “filter by style” tool is actually useful, with categories like hand drawn, monogram, modern, etc. – AND they’ve categorized the designs well, too! If you’re into such things, make sure you check out the new die-cut shapes available this year, as well.

Minted is also running a Holiday Inspiration Board Challenge right now (fun!), and since I’ll take any excuse to make an inspiration board, I put this one together:

Contest Board board by Emily. See more Minted.com

Credits:
Blue and green Christmas by Tobi Fairley, pretty ornaments + wrapping from Matchbook Magazine, Minted Rainbow Wish card, ornament wreath by Eddie Ross, sparkly party photo by Jill Thomas, coastal Christmas tree by Martha Stewart Living

You can find details for entering your own inspiration board here!

We’ve still got a bit of tweaking to do, but tell me: which Christmas card design is your favorite? I’d love to hear!

Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my own! I have loved everything about Minted — especially their crowd-sourced designs — for many years, and I love sharing what they’re up to with y’all.