You wouldn’t believe the drama and problems caused by these little save the date cards. Or maybe you do understand because you’ve maybe planned a wedding πŸ˜‰ Picking a date was simple for us, we chose a season we love, that would offer: beautiful weather and minimal bugs…. also, we wanted a time that would offer good fruits, vegetables, and flowers… because for us, that makes sense. Easy! April, it is. 
Lindsey of Out Of Alabaster was sweet enough to contact me and offer her talented hand to design custom silhouettes for our cards… well, really, for anything, but I wanted cards πŸ˜‰ Nothing is more romantic to me than personalized cards, made with love, and delivered in the mail. Lindsey offered to do custom silhouettes of our faces, but being me, I asked for a little bit more. I wanted one of the photos taken from our ‘engagement day’ to be used, which Lindsey hadn’t tried before. Amazingly, Lindsey did an incredible job and it came out perfect! (And now this option is available in her shop! Yay! You’re welcome. hehe.)
Printing the cards? Unfortunately a whole different story. A lesson learned: find a good printer (person, not machine) to have now and always. Office Depot was a joke. And my local printshop was terrible (probably maybe even more of a joke). I was left with cards printed on the ugliest, thinnest, white cardstock….BUT luckily due to Michelle and I’s crafty hands we were able to make them a whole lot better than what the printer left us with. Watercolor, glue, scissors, and a prettier cardstock can go a long way (and obviously a good design)! 
Also, thanks to the brilliance of the local printshop I was left with 500 cards instead of 50. I plan on parading up and down the streets, handing them out, yelling “SAVE THE DATEEEE!” No, just kidding, but it would be amusing. πŸ™‚ 
Oh, wedding bumps, mishaps, and problems πŸ™‚
Got stories? I’d love to here them! 
*—————————————————————————–*
And! Thanks to wonderfully kind and talented Lindsey, one of you will receive your very own custom silhouette! 
Here’s what Lindsey has to say:

My name is Lindsey, and I share my life, loves, and handiwork on my blog Out Of Alabaster. Drea was kind enough to invite me over to introduce myself, and I’m super excited to meet you and to offer a couple’s silhouette portrait to you too!

When I’m not chasing down my speed-crawler, little miss Selah, I run an Etsy shop selling custom silhouette portraits. I create classic heirlooms with a modern twist.

Some of the places my portraits have been featured are: Style Me Pretty, Babble’s Top 10 gifts for Baby’s first year, Prudent Baby, and now Ohdeardrea!

I was more than thrilled to create a silhoutte portrait for Alex and Drea’s Save-the-Date. I think it captures the exuberance of their romance in a fun and modern way. (Aaand Drea looks super-cut on her tippy-toes!!)

Each portrait is carefully crafted to showcase the tiniest of details, and to capture the essence of every little (or big, or furry) person! You can print your digital silhouette portrait and use it as art in your home, holiday gifts for loved ones, or even to personalize details of a birthday party or wedding!

I feel honored to create each portrait, and get a special sense of satisfaction knowing that they will be treasured for years to come.

Visit Lindsey’s blog, shop, twitter.

To enter to win a custom individual or couples silhouette: 
Visit Out Of Alabaster and leave a comment stating which item from Lindsey’s shop you would choose if you won!

For bonus entries: 
1. blog about the giveaway and leave a separate comment with a link to the entry.
or
2. tweet about the giveaway and leave a separate comment with a link to the tweet. ( @OutOfAlabaster custom silhouette GIVEAWAY on ohdeardrea! http://t.co/QiTAalI @ohdeardreababy )

Giveaway ends December 6th at midnight (eastern standard time).

What a great way to kick off this December Holiday season, right?! A perfect idea for a new baby, home decor, cards, first (or any) birthday gift, or even on the wall with a felt santa hat added on for that extra christmas cheer! (No seriously, how cute would that be?!) 
Happy December and good luck!

ps. All comments will be published! non giveaway entries will not be counted! 
pps. If you’re family or one of the three friends invited (and happen to read my blog) and are wondering “HEY WHERE IS MY CARD?!” umm yeah, I’m slacking. Cards got mailed out yesterday evening. My bad. 

45 Comments

  1. I love your save the dates! But, sadly, I am not engaged. So, since Julian's first birthday is coming up I'd choose a silhouette of his cute head.

  2. Oh My I have been gone from the blogging world way too long!! Your engaged that is so exciting!! Congratulations!! I am so happy for you and your little family πŸ™‚ Cant wait to see more pictures of the big day and all the preps along the way πŸ™‚

  3. Oh weddings! There are so many bumps along the way. But tenacity and flexibility will get you a lot!

    I love how your Save the Dates turned out!

    We made our own save the date post cards and invitations. You can see them here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/careyleigh/3933781585/in/set-72157615773752288/) – anyways long story short we printed at Kinkos, but were inspired to buy our own laser printer after that experience! It was a headache. They came out just as we had imagined though after a little bit of finesse.

    Good luck with all of the planning Drea! I know it will be so beautiful!

  4. So fun!! I have been wanting to get a Silhouette done of my daughter for awhile now so I would definitely do a Custom Silhouette of her!

    ashleppek @ gmail.com

  5. If I won, I would like the custom family portrait, of my husband, myself, and my newborn son. <3

  6. These are beautiful! I would love a Custom Silhouette Portrait for my daughter's First Birthday in January.

  7. what a sweet idea! your save the dates turned out great! i would get a custom silhouette of my son, finn.

  8. I love your blog, the pictures and things you share with all of us. I'm very happy for you and your little family to be taking the next step! Wish you all the best of luck. I love the save the date cards they are different and beautiful πŸ™‚

    If I won I would choose the custom couple silhouette .. They're are beautiful and ive been looking for something like this for a long time ..

    Thank you for sharing such wonderful things with all of your followers πŸ™‚

    Happy Thursday!

  9. These turned out so great!!! I would love to get a portrait done of my sweet little boy's head – he will be 2 in December! AHH!

  10. liking the little gal/guy with the little curlies starting at the back… almost mullet-like. reminds me of my kiddos when they're curls are first starting. Adorable! (and tweeted!)

  11. I love this idea for save the dates! I am getting married in August and have been searching for great ideas. The couples silhouette would make fantastic place card for our reception!

  12. i love the family portrait! with a little one on the way in a few months – it would be a sweet way to capture our new family! Or a couples silhouette showing my bump before he is born!

  13. those look amazing! sorry for the trouble with them, seems like things always go wrong with wedding planning.

    anyway, i would love a family portrait or one of my son!

  14. My son's wall is looking bare, would love a 'boy' silhouette :)!

    Oh yeah and we ordered TOO much card stock and velum and stuff for our invites which my AMAZING friend made for us and they were the best damn invites I've ever seen…however our over estimation left us with one too many spare cards so yeah ;)!

  15. They are beautiful! I would love to get a custom silhouette of my son Logan who is 15 months to just hang on the wall. Congrats πŸ™‚

  16. love the traditional silhouette. i've been wanting for a get a custom silhouette for my little harper for a while now. congrats on the engagement!

  17. Love how your save the dates turned out! We opted to just email ours to save on paper, stamps, and money. Still haven't heard of anyone else doing that but hey it worked for us. =]

  18. Despite the hassle they came out great! I'm sure this won't be your last crazy wedding confusion. But wedding planning is still fun because at the end of it you're married!

  19. So… the part where you said you would be handing out the 500 cards to random strangers? Yep, totally burst out laughing while eating apple sauce. Not good, Drea, not good!

    I'm NOT entering (still in university/ not engaged) just wanted to say your post made me smile/ spit up apple sauce…

  20. I tweeted. I have had the same problems before when throwing showers. I bought cute designs on Etsy and tried to have them printed at Office Depot etc. And the choices for paper suck! And their actual printers got stuck when i wanted thicker card stock that I bought at Jerry's Art-o-rama. Good times.

  21. Such a great idea to do save-the-dates with a silhouette.

    If I won, I would choose the black/white custom silhouette portrait of my 2-year-old. πŸ™‚

  22. Hi! I've never commented before but always read your blog. I found it through my friend Bridget's blog! We grew up together. Anyway, I'm planning my wedding too and had a graphic designer friend do my save the dates. We ordered 5×7 flat cards (on premium cardstock) from overnightprints.com and they were great!! Very cheap too…I think it was around $45 for 100 of them. Just wanted to let you know incase you're doing this again for your invitations πŸ™‚

  23. I love the traditional sihouette…it'd look great in ANY nursery…especially Huxley's!

    lifewiththehux at gmail.com

  24. They turned out great! So romantic. I think I would choose the minimalist silhouette because it's so different & simple. Perfect to mat, frame & hang.