Our 2020 Christmas Card

Card

On Him:

Chino Pants// Plaid Shirt// Sherpa Vest

Similar Shoes

On Me:

Vest (old)// Cable Cashmere 

Jeans// Nude Flats 

Henry's Bow Collar

I can't believe it is that time again, but today I'm so excited to share our Christmas Card with you all! We shot these back in mid-October so it's funny to be sharing them over a month later! I love love love snail mail and I think this year sending out a holiday card, new year's card, whatever it may be, can really brighten someone's day. I don't know about you, but I get so excited when I get a card in the mail. 

I'm hoping to get all of these sent out by the end of this week! I've learned over the past few years that it is always nice to tick this off my list early on in the season so I'm able to focus on the season and family rather than a to-do list! 

We did our cards with Dogwood Hill, who is doing all of our wedding paper. They are phenomenal to work with and make everything so easy on my end. They gave me a code for all of you to get 10% off holiday cards. Use code CARVERHOLIDAY10. You can upload your image to each card to get an idea of what the card will look like which is really helpful. 

To be honest, I really thought we would have a wedding photo to use as this year's photo. I actually remember stuffing last year's cards into envelopes excitedly thinking about our return address being Mr. and Mrs. Snyder. But alas, a worldwide pandemic. My silver lining is that we still got a great photo of us, my dad took these photos for us (which seems to be the starting of a tradition, ha!), and the card turned out nicely, too! 

I truly couldn't decide on what card to go with this year. You witnessed my indecisiveness in this post, here. I was drowning in options (in the best way). So. Much. Eye. Candy. I ended up choosing a card that wasn't even in my front runners. I saw it doing a last-minute browse and loved how it looked with our photo. You can upload your photo to see what the finished product will look like which is really helpful. I popped our photo into a bunch and then had my fiancé go through each one to figure out which we liked the best. My mom and dad were the tiebreaker on some... it kind of became like a bracket to see which would move on until we got to our final choice. Our photo was bright and airy and the dark green of the card was a nice contrast. Plus, I really loved the tree. To me, it felt festive and classic. 

For our outfits, I was also kind of torn on what to do. At first, I was thinking we would dress up. We haven't gotten all gussied up at all this year and I figured what better excuse than this? I love getting dressed up so much. But then, I thought about our memories looking back on this year and how it was not at all a dressed up year. I thought maybe I should dress us in something more casual, more day-to-day, to represent this year. I also wanted our cards to be very different than last year's and we got dressed up for last year's card. So it was decided- a casual outfit for a casual year. 

We took these photos at The Mellon Institute which is in Oakland and a favorite spot of mine for photos. It's dramatic and beautiful and because it's made of plain limestone, it makes for an easy photo backdrop where the subjects pop. It's also an iconic spot in Pittsburgh so other Pittsburgh friends and family are likely to see the huge columns in the background and know where these were taken. 

It is uncanny how Henry inserts himself into a photo when he knows they are being taken. He seems to always pose, always be camera ready, and always want to be in the shot. SO opposite from Mac who avoided photos at all cost. I'm thinking this spot was not the best for Henry, though, as there were too many cars and noises going on so he kept looking all over the place and wanting to explore (understandably so). It's usually SO easy to get him to look at the camera but this time was not really easy, ha!!! This reminded me that taking photos with just one subject vs. 2, 3, 4, etc. is SO MUCH EASIER.

I shared this Family Christmas Book I ordered in early November and I was so excited to add this year's card to the book. I know we will look back on each year's Christmas card with so many memories, nostalgia, and fondness.