This is a sponsored post written by us on behalf of Snapfish. All opinions are 100% ours.
WOAH. Two things: 1. It’s been a hot second since I’ve we’ve sat down to write a blog post. Oh yeah, we’re tag-teaming this post. 2. We are graduating (!!) and with the help of Snapfish celebrating with our two favorite things: gold foil and canvas.
We also thought it would be fun to pick our top 5 memories from our college experience to share with y’all. So, this is going to be a jam-packed post and to be honest, we’re excited to finally get back into the swing of this blogging thing.
We’ve missed sitting down at the computer—and our planners—to come up with some great content. But, it’s summer and your favorite bloggers will be back to our weekly posting schedule in no time.
Keep reading to see our adorable announcements and to travel back in time with us as we reflect on our favorite college memories.
Fun fact: I, Gabby, used Snapfish way back in the spring of 2014 to create the cutest high school graduation announcements, so I was happy to get the chance to work with them again for college graduation. I have a pretty large extended family and I’ve done a lot of networking over the past four years to forge some great relationships.
Most of them have asked me to send them an announcement and to let them know what my plans are for the future. I decided to order two sets of announcements—one with the cutest Gold Foil Design and one with a simple but fun Confetti design.
If you didn’t know already, I’M MOVING TO NYC for graduate school in the fall! I’m so pumped to be in one of my favorite cities for 5-6 years [Ph.D.s are long, I know!].
One of the things that I love about Snapfish is that they allow you to customize the back of your announcements free of charge. I knew that I wanted a large hero image on the front, but I also wanted to write a blurb about what I was doing post-graduation and to thank the village that helped me get through school and onto my next adventure.
I knew that I needed to get my hands on gold foil announcements, and they turned out more beautiful than I imagined! [Big thanks to my friend Sam for the stellar pictures, too!] Overall, their announcements are such high quality and I know my friends and family will love them just as much as I do!
My Top 5 College Memories
5. My classes.
I have always loved school and learning and class. My favorite classes have been the ones where I’ve learned a lot. Easy A’s are good for the GPA, but I loved jumping outside of my comfort zone. My major classes were all pretty interesting but Metabolism and Organic Chemistry had to be my faves. Shh. I told you I was a nerd!
Political philosophy and Web Development were some of my favorite non-major classes because I was really able to find something that I was passionate about in both of these classes and really dive into it.
I think for a lot of college students, the classes are something that they’d like to forget. But, I can genuinely say that I think I loved the overall college experience so much because I also love what I was studying in the classroom.
4. Starting the blog and photography!
I would have never guessed in a million years that the blog and my photography would have progressed to where they are now. One of the best things to come out of college is this very blog. The crazy thing is people actually read our blog and I’ve run into them in real life! WOAH.
My photography has been a great way to flex my creative side even outside of blogging. It’s crazy that I booked over 12 seniors and groups on my first graduation circuit, but it’s so nice to create work that people love and share! I’ll be posting my favorites from this season in a post soon.
3. Traveling… a lot.
I’ve traveled A LOT since coming to college, both alone and with college friends. I went to the Masters my first year in Augusta, GA. I traveled to Houston and San Diego for summer internships. One fall break was spent in New York City and an Easter Weekend in Washington, D.C.
I’m so thankful that I applied for a travel award for a conference in Phoenix and traveled for interviews to Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville. Formal weekends were a ton of fun with my people in Wilmington and Richmond.
Like I said, I traveled a lot.
2. Rushing Phi Sig.
Phi Sigma Pi gave me the opportunity to learn about people SO different from myself. It gave me the confidence to run for a leadership position. I couldn’t leave out a community of people who accepted me AND my big ideas.
I would not be the confident and sassy person I am today without my sibs. I’m very glad that I took the leap and rushed!
1. THE NATTY.
You enroll in Carolina knowing that sports are a big deal. I can’t tell you how important athletic events were for my general well being my first three years. They were my study breaks and my bonding time with friends.
I saw the Men’s Basketball team survive the dance all the way to the Championship, TWICE. My heart was crushed when we lost it in 2016, but I was out of breath after sprinting to Franklin when we won in 2017. Waiting in freezing cold weather through the night for College GameDay my first year and spending warm nights watching baseball in Boshamer was all worth it. It truly made me believe that I was am a Tar Heel.
Hey y’all, it’s Hannah! For my graduation announcements, I decided to go with the Delicate Border design that highlights my favorite building on Notre Dame’s campus—the dome, of course! 
Snapfish had so many personalization options that I spent hours on their site finding the perfect card, between the designs, card finish, and even the card edges. As you can see, Gabby and I took two different directions with our photos, but all of the cards came out AMAZING! We know that our family and friends will treasure these cards as much as we do!
Also, can we give a shoutout to those campus flowers, both at Notre Dame and North Carolina? Gabby and I didn’t coordinate our card pictures at all, but so it’s funny that we both chose some gorgeous flower backdrops!
I also decided to order a little photo keepsake with some of my favorite memories from college. I have a ton of photos from college on Facebook and Instagram, but I never bothered to get any of them printed because I don’t have a lot of wall space in my dorm room.
When I saw that I could customize a collage photo canvas from Snapfish, I knew it would be the perfect way to display my favorite photos from college in my new apartment in Washington DC, where I’ll have my own room to decorate!
The 11 x 14 canvas was the perfect size for displaying all of the photos I wanted to showcase. Snapfish made it super easy to connect to Facebook and Instagram, where I pulled all of my favorite photos into a single album.
The best part was that Snapfish did the photo layout for me based on the number of pictures I chose! All I had to do was move some photos around and voila! An incredible, gallery-wall style canvas with the best memories and friends I could ask for. I know that this canvas will take front and center in my new DC bedroom.
Looking at my canvas and all of the photos I chose to put in it made me super sentimental about the last four years. Here are some of my favorite college memories! [It’s fine I’m fine I’m not tearing up!!]
5. Football, Football, and more Football
I mean, c’mon y’all. I go to Notre Dame. How could 4 seasons and 25 home games of the best football in the country not be on my list?
From freshman year when we traveled to Indianapolis to see the Irish take on Purdue (first row of the stadium, no less!) to the final home game where all the seniors gathered on the field afterward, Notre Dame football will always hold a special place in my heart.
4. Traveling
Much like Gabby, I love love love to travel! My friends and I took three big trips—to Denver, Colorado after junior year, to Sandpiper Bay, Florida, for senior spring break, and to Louisville, Kentucky just a few weeks ago.
Since all of my friends and I will be in different cities after we graduate, it was nice to explore some new places together before the reality of adult life sets in! Although I love Notre Dame’s campus, the things I experienced outside of the college bubble were truly incredible [not limited to snow hikes, trapeze lessons, and axe throwing!].
3. Photographing Campus
While Gabby really found her passion in shooting portraits, I found a love of shooting still-lifes and flowers around campus! Campus takes on a whole new personality once you start noticing the little details that really make it special.
2. The Chegs
It’s no secret among the senior class that the chegs (Chemical Engineers) are the tightest-knit major. When you spend hours upon hours in the library pouring over engineering homework, you really form a special bond with people!
Even though I’m not really passionate about chemical engineering, I’m so grateful for all of the people I’ve met through the major and how much fun we’ve had when we’re not writing 60+ page lab reports!
1. London
London was truly the turning point in my college career! I went for 6-weeks on a study abroad program with 30 other chegs, and we all became so close! On the weekends, I explored London and traveled to 5 other countries.
It was truly the experience of a lifetime, and I’ve been plotting how to get back to Europe ever since! [Pictured: King Arthur’s Seat, Scotland; The O2 Climb, London; Wimbledon, London]
