autumn cider mimosa.
lovelies, i need a drink.
for the past few months, we’ve been working our little tails off to design, assemble and mail off our wedding invitations. it’s been a long, exhausting process, and i am so happy to report that we’re finally done. what a relief!
so today, i’m celebrating with a delicious autumn-inspired mimosa, because nothing says ‘celebration’ quite like a champagne cocktail.
also, i’ve been dying to share our invitations with you all for the longest time, and now i finally can! hooray!
so let me preface this post by saying that i am totally, completely 100% crazy. our wedding invitations aren’t normal or traditional or simple. they’re different. they’re unique. they were a lot of work.
but friends, they were so, SO worth all the work and headaches. i’m kind of in love with them!
my fiance and i are both word nerds writers. he’s currently in grad school, pursuing his m.f.a. in creative writing, while i merely have an undergrad degree in the same concentration. we have a giant collection of books (seriously, we’ve got eight bookshelves crammed full o’ books!), and one of our favorite things to do together is scour used book shops. he’s usually on the hunt for first edition Steinbecks, while i fancy vintage cookbooks–naturally. the two of us both collected typewriters prior to meeting one another–charming, right? we were totally meant to be.
it was inevitable that books & literature would be a huge influence on our wedding theme, and our invitations are no exception!
are you familiar with the concept of a book safe? basically, it’s a hollowed-out book that you can hide things in. it’s stored in plain sight, sitting amongst the rest of your books on your shelf. i’ve known people to hide important documents, jewelry and even flasks in book safes!
so i had the totally batshit crazy brilliant idea to make book safes and place our invitations into them, giving our guests a preview of our wedding theme and a fun keepsake they can stick on their bookshelves. yes, i’m aware of how crazy i am.
over the last year we’ve collected 50+ vintage hardcover books, hollowed them out with the help of my amazing bridesmaids and their beaus, inserted our invitations and sent them off to our guests.
has it been an incredible amount of work? yes.
was it stressful? oh yes.
did we contemplate scrapping the whole project halfway through because it seemed impossible to complete? oh hell yes.
but i am SO glad we decided to tough it out and make them happen, because i am so in love with our wedding invitations. they’re so quintessentially us, which is exactly what we wanted!
i designed all of the elements of the invitations myself, using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. we hand-stamped the library card pockets, heart-shaped doilies and rsvp return envelopes, and cut & glued every invitation to vintage book pages.
i modeled the rsvp cards after library loan cards, and included a few cheeky options for guests to check off. we also included a song request card, which i thought would be a really fun way to have our guests help us curate the reception playlist. i stamped our wedding website onto pink heart-shaped doilies, tied the invitation components together with pale gray polka-dotted ribbon, and placed the invitations into the hollowed-out portion of each book.
i was so ridiculously nervous when we finally sent them off to our guests. what if people hated them? what if they looked totally homemade and unprofessional? what if people don’t open the book and just throw it away?
thankfully, none of my fears have been realized. on the contrary, our guests seem to love them! having people e-mail/text/call me to say that our wedding invitations are the most creative they’ve ever received is pretty crazy, and it makes me feel pretty amazing.
so i’m raising my glass and toasting my amazing fiance, my parents, and my incredible friends for all of their help, support, hard work and general awesomeness in making my crazy wedding invitation concept a reality. i truly could never have done any of this without you all, and i love you guys so, so very much!
by the way, the autumn cider mimosa in my glass is totes amazing. apple cider, brandy, brown sugar, blood orange bitters and champagne. so delish! you should definitely make one of these this weekend, it’s pretty much what i’ll be drinking for the remainder of october.
i hope you enjoyed a peek at our wedding invitations, and hopefully you won’t mind me posting a bit about our wedding here and there over the next few months. i’m just so excited about everything, and i love watching our vision unfold and become a reality. i hope you don’t mind me sharing all the juicy details with you!
autumn cider mimosa
Yield: one 8-ounce mimosa
this recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, quadrupled...
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons // 1.5 ounces apple cider, chilled
2 tablespoons // 1 ounce brandy
one teaspoon light brown sugar, packed
2 dashes blood orange bitters (i found these at a liquor store, but regular bitters will be fine here!)
3-4 ounces champagne, chilled (i used a spumante champagne, but brut or cava would be delicious here too!)Directions:
fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
add the apple cider, brandy, light brown sugar and bitters to the cocktail shaker.
place the lid on the shaker and shake vigorously for 10-20 seconds.
strain the mixture into a champagne flute, and top off with champagne.
serve immediately and enjoy!
adapted from big world small kitchen
I'm a food writer, baker, grad student, photographer and perpetual daydreamer who feels most at home in the kitchen...as long as I'm not doing the dishes! I have an amazing husband, two adorable dogs, and a penchant for butter and sugar. I just love sharing my kitchen adventures, silly stories and recipes with you! 
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Subscribe via Email
Follow Me on Twitter
Laura @ A Healthy Jalapeño — October 14, 2011 @ 6:48 pm
You continue to surprise me day in and day out. I love this. Mimosas… of course this would be amazing!!!! Love it. {follower}
Sam — October 14, 2011 @ 7:23 pm
love!
Samantha — October 14, 2011 @ 7:27 pm
These are so beautiful. I love looking at wedding themes and invites, especially when they are as personal and amazingly well done, like these. The bells options made me giggle an the song request form is genius.
DessertForTwo — October 14, 2011 @ 7:53 pm
How adorable! And creative! And original! And beautiful!
Shaina — October 14, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
These are just amazing. As a book nerd myself, I can completely appreciate how “you” this is. Love, love, love. Gorgeous.
Cassie//Bake Your Day — October 14, 2011 @ 8:52 pm
I completely forgot all about the mimosa during this post because I was so engrossed in these absolutely gorgeous and creative invitations. You are amazing and brilliant!
Lindsay — October 14, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
Jaclyn, you are as brilliant as you are beautiful. I love these!
Kathryn — October 15, 2011 @ 4:42 am
Oh my goodness, these are the most beautiful wedding invitations ever. I love how you made them so personal to you. You definitely deserve a drink (or two)!
Katie from Katie's Cucina — October 15, 2011 @ 9:55 am
Jaclyn! These are so darn cute! I too made my own wedding invitations but yours definitely gets most creative award here! And yes… I think I need a drink too!
Julie — October 15, 2011 @ 11:31 am
Jaclyn, they are wonderful & beautiful & creative just like you!!! I love them!!! You deserve a drink!!
Marilyn • Forkful — October 15, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
Wow these wedding invitations are fantastic! Looks like something that would be featured in The Knot.
Diane {Created by Diane} — October 15, 2011 @ 3:30 pm
Everything looks lovely, very creative!
Dawn — October 15, 2011 @ 6:47 pm
It is not often I am rendered speechless by a wedding invitation! I will be married 18 years later this month, and I thought I’ve seen every possible wedding invitation in existence by now. Your invitation is so creative, so lovely, so perfect that I am wishing I could go back in time and create something equally as clever and memorable. I can’t imagine not loving someone who would send such an invitation!
Jeanette — October 15, 2011 @ 10:36 pm
How incredibly unique and creative! I can only imagine how much work went into these amazing wedding invitations, but I know your guests will treasure the vintage books that you so carefully cut out and inserted your invitation into.
jessica lynn — October 16, 2011 @ 7:25 am
These are absolutely amazing, Jaclyn! Seriously fantastic! I can’t wait to see more aspects of your wedding.
Cookin' Canuck — October 16, 2011 @ 9:44 am
Oh my goodness! That is such a wonderful idea, though I can only imagine how long it took you to accomplish. I would definitely need a drink of that mimosa to keep myself going!
By the way, book safes always remind me of Shawshank Redemption, where he had his rock hammer hidden in his bible.
stephanie @ providence handmade — October 16, 2011 @ 9:54 am
Oh, wow. I have never seen such creative, incredible invitations! Having just celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary, I can promise you that you will so appreciate all the hard work you’re putting into this. I love thinking about the little details of our wedding and am so thankful we took the time to be thoughtful about it. I can’t wait to see the rest of your plans! Thanks for sharing with us.
((Oh, and I received my Starbucks package Friday!! THANK YOU!!!))
Binky — October 16, 2011 @ 10:15 am
What lovely invitations! Congrats; they look great! <3
Alison @ ingredients, Inc. — October 16, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
looks fabulous!
naomi — October 17, 2011 @ 1:23 am
Okay, the mimosa-fastastic. The invitation, fan-effing-tastic. These are the coolest invitations-EVER! I should preface. I’m a huge reader,so I love the library theme.
And of course congrats to finishing a labor of love and to your upcoming wedding!
Betty Bake — October 17, 2011 @ 4:20 am
CONGRATULATIONS
well done for sticking to your choice and ideas – it was so worth it!!!
they are so cute and a brilliant idea
I love reading your blog and your photos are so lovely
hugs
Betty Bake x
Rachel @ Not Rachael Ray — October 17, 2011 @ 11:00 am
Oh my gosh. AMAZING! These are THE COOLEST invites I have ever seen! Sounds like you two are a match made in heaven–so great!
Erin — October 17, 2011 @ 11:59 am
Those invites look amazing! Your hard work definitely paid off.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com — October 17, 2011 @ 12:46 pm
Those invites as so creative, so you
Cheers to a very happy beginning!
Robbie — October 17, 2011 @ 2:42 pm
Your invites are awesome!
This drink looks so pretty too. I’m working on our save the dates right now… I’m doing the calligraphy on all the envelopes, which I love doing, but it is certainly time consuming when you have a day job and a house to take care of. Congrats!
Wenderly — October 17, 2011 @ 8:33 pm
I am in *love* with these invites! So clever & full of character & charm. Wishing you a lifetime of love & laughter together!
*Cheers*
Amy @ The Nifty Foodie — October 17, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
OMG…these invitations are AMAZING!! You should totally submit them to wedding blogs! I absolutely love them!
Lauren — October 17, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
I am in love with your invitations! They are so beautiful! The rsvp card is my favorite! I definitely laughed out loud reading it…by myself…in my office.
Heidi @foodiecrush — October 18, 2011 @ 4:28 pm
I must admit the mimosa tease pulled me in from RSS land, but your creative invites have entranced me! So creative, and I see a lot of wedding invites, these are so great, and will be a fond remembrance for you well after the big day. How creative you are little lady. Now sit down and enjoy that drink!
Craving > Short Rib Fettucini and a Fantasy Virtual Dinner Party | foodiecrush — October 21, 2011 @ 2:39 am
[...] our virtual dinner buffet than a toast to Jaclyn’s impending nuptials with Food Plus Words Autumn Cider Mimosa. Clinks all [...]
Katie — October 21, 2011 @ 11:21 am
Oh girl. I remember you stressing out via Twitter over these invites…worrying that people wouldn’t like the DIY aspect. Holy…cow! They are seriously amazing, and you shouldn’t have doubted yourself for a minute on them! I hope your guests appreciate them: you CLEARLY put a ton of effort, time, etc. into them!
Sarah @ Just The Bee's Knees — October 25, 2011 @ 12:38 pm
Cider and champagne got very easily be two of my all-time favourite things! I featured these on my blog today:)
http://www.justthebeesknees.com/2011/10/forget-tricksgimmie-treats.html
ErinsFoodFiles — October 26, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
Those invites are ADORABLE! And the drink looks divine too!
Cookie and Kate — October 26, 2011 @ 9:27 pm
That drink is right up my alley. I have the cider, now I need some bubbly!
Guest Post: Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies by Food + Words | The Spiffy Cookie — November 8, 2011 @ 8:01 am
[...] time. Lately she has shared a lot of unique and amazing fall recipes such as a perfect fall morning autumn cider mimosa, and these crazy awesome fizzy dark chocolate pumpkin truffles. Check out her blog for even more [...]
food + words | recipes. stories. life, from scratch. » wedding wednesday: the rehearsal dinner! — April 4, 2012 @ 2:28 pm
[...] amount of DIY projects for our wedding, and a huge amount of time was spent creating all of the wedding invitations, menus, programs, and other miscellaneous print-outs. I designed everything using Adobe InDesign [...]
Pumpkin Coffee Cake | Julie's Chick Lit — October 3, 2012 @ 11:29 pm
[...] Autumn cider mimosas from Food + Words [...]
Mood Board #100: The Sweetest Fig | Limn & Lovely | Daily Wedding Inspiration — February 10, 2013 @ 2:17 am
[...] CREDITS (from left to right, top to bottom): Bride on sofa > Photo by Elizabeth Messina / Fig and rose centerpiece > Floral design by Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand Flowers / Figs on silver plate > Photo by Jodi Miller, styling by Janie Medley and Sunshowers and Rainshine Designs (via Snippet & Ink) / Rings on fig > Photo by She-N-He / Single flower > Saipua / Toasted fennel and orange morning cakes > Roost / Autumn cider mimosa > Photo and recipe by Food Plus Words [...]
Tyson Freifeld — April 16, 2013 @ 12:17 am
Wedding invitations are an integral part of a wedding’s theme and the “mood” you want to set for your ceremony. After all, if the purpose were to solely inform the guests of the details of the event, then you could just send an email or postcard. However, the invitation also serves as a souvenir of a special occasion, and an announcement of a couple’s love. Like the wedding ceremony itself, it must be beautiful and personal..
Remember to look at our new webpage
http://www.caramoan.ph/caramoan-package/