3.10.2010

wedding wednesday: re-thinking the guest BOOK

i'm not saying that i'm not a fan of the guestbook. what i am saying, is that i am not a fan of waiting 15 minutes to drop my john hancock into a duponi silk book with a silly bow, only to have it collect dust in the attic for the next 40+ years.

i propose that we re-think this tradition.
now, i am still in favor of the "book" concept. i've seen those large frames [where everyone signs the mat], the engravable "silver" plate, and these non-traditional ideas, and i just think to myself -- who honestly displays that stuff?! call me vain, but most people's signatures are not pretty enough for me call "art".

with that being said... here are my top three guest BOOK ideas:



1) use a real book. purchase a beautiful coffee table book on a subject that's of interest to you and your fiance. perhaps, one with beautiful photography from your honeymoon location or your new hometown. guests can sign and leave notes directly on the pages. if it's a book you'd normally set out, it won't end up in your attic.

photo from my friends jamie & ryan's wedding.
photography by lauren larsen.

2) create a photo book. plain signatures are boring. are we really going to forget who came to our wedding? and if we do, they probably weren't that important to begin with [aka: your dad's boss]. turn a typical guest book into a photo album -- print out temporary placeholders that will become photographs of your guests next to their message. you can either use your professional photography or pictures from a photobooth. when you've been married for 20 years, i'll be more fun to remember what people wore and who they posed with, rather than a mere "best wishes, aunt sally".


3) create a memory book. this is my personal favorite. create a book by scanning in old ticket stubs and receipts that you've saved over the course of your dating relationship. you can add photos or notes (not too personal -- guest could read them), as well. use a website like blurb or iphoto to create the book, but make sure to leave spaces for guests to sign.

from a modern proposal (originally from snippet & ink)







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5 comments:

  1. Thankfully Thrifty3/10/10, 4:17 PM

    Cute! I saw one like this for a photo booth. It was great!

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  2. Sarah3/10/10, 5:03 PM

    As part of our deal with the ceremony venue, we received a nice coffee table book that featured photos of the venue. I wanted to splurge for the $65 book of Outer Banks photos, but hey, this was free. We have it sitting on our coffee table (seriously) and the funny thing is, a lot of people forgot to sign the book- probably because I forgot to ask someone to be a guest book attendant, whoops! So now, when people come to our house, if they came to the wedding, we pull it out and make sure they sign it! Love coffee table books!

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  3. The Neo-Traditionalist3/11/10, 8:03 AM

    I second your idea to re-think this! Love the memory book idea and the photo book! I wonder what John and I will do...hmmmm... XO Katie

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  4. Lila3/11/10, 8:27 AM

    My friend had a real book with photos on each page. Then on the opposite pages she had mini envelopes and cards. People would right on the tiny cards and put them in the envelope that was already glued into the book. It was kind of fun because we could write something funny and nobody else could see it...or judge us!
    Lila Ferraro
    Queen Bedroom Sets

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  5. Anonymous3/11/10, 12:31 PM

    Sarah, I love that you're still asking people to sign it. I think about that a lot -- some of our now very close friends were not invited to our wedding (we didn't know them then) and it would be fun to continue to ask people to leave messages.

    Lila, that is a wonderful idea! I have seen that before -- great way that guests can go beyond the typical "best wishes"

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