Guest books -- tell me about them, please!

[shertz1981]

Is there anything I can do besides ... well ... a book?

My mom nixed the platter idea, calling it "corny."

 

[CDNinNYC]

For our guestbook, we had a white eraser board and markers, asked guests to write a message, and then snap a photo. We then put the photos in a coffee table book.

This is what we wrote on the sign:

Please Sign Our Guest Book
Have a little fun! We ask that you only use a maximum of five (5) words to either describe us as a couple, share your favourite memory of our wedding day, or simply share words of wisdom. Please make sure to snap a photo before erasing the board and passing it along to the next guest.

 

[shertz1981]

Oh, that''s cool!

 

[CDNinNYC]

^^ It might not work for a more formal wedding, but for our outdoor wedding, our guests really had fun with it.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I had people sign a photo mat, it''s gorgeous! and really fun.

 

[Lekde]

We will be doing a acoustic or electric bass guitar as a guest book. FI is a musician and music is HUGE part of our lives. We will put out sharpies and hang the guitar in our living room after the wedding. The hardest part: keeping FI from playing the guitar after everyone has signed it.

 

[honey22]

As we only had 14 guests, we didn''t want to have a big guest book with heaps of empty pages afterwards.

At my hens night, my darling BMs brought along a box of cards in envelopes and had everyone write me a little message on them, so they could do so privately. It was such a lovely gesture and I cried when I read them.

So we decided to do this at our wedding. Bought these lovely frangipani cards and then left them in my suite instead of taking them to the reception. Anyhoo, they would have been great had I remembered to bring them

 

[jaylex]

this is what we are most likely doing:

We are talking about have a photo booth at our reception. (http://shutterbooth.com/)
It costs about $500 for 3 hours (maybe 4 if we can work out a deal).
The pictures are printed right after the guests take them with our names and wedding date listed at the top or bottom.
Here is a photo strip from their website... it is public so anyone can view it. http://www.shutteryou.com/events/view/photo/247630/?viewstrip=1
What you can't tell from the website shot is that an exact duplicate of 4 pics and the date/monogram is printed on each photo paper sheet so you are getting two copies of the pics on the same piece of paper, side by side.
We're going to have a photo paper cutting board that our guests can use to split the photo sheet down the middle. They can then keep one half as their souvenir and paste the other half in a plain "guestbook" then write out a note or whatever to us.

Pros:
We get a "scrapbook" like guestbook that we will actually keep out and look at
Guests get to take home a favor that they will actually keep and look at lol
220+ favors, a really neat guestbook, and something that will keep younger attendants busy for 4 hours all for $500? Three birds with one stone!
probably more.. but too tired to think of them lol.

This is the idea that Fiance is most excited about so far in our wedding planning! He and I went to a bridal fair last Sunday and his eyes lit up when he saw this thing!

ledke, DF and I love music too and he plays guitar and bass... your idea is so great! I'd consider mentioning it to my DF But there is NO way he would be able to resist playing it

 

[SarahLovesJS]

We did this: S<3JS Guestbook

I worked out well people seemed to enjoy it! I think we''re going to read all of them on our anniversary!

 

[idreamofcushions]

I got the idea for our guestbook from another wedding here on PS (I believe it was Musey''s?) I bookmarked the website ages ago because I loved it so much! Here''s the linky if you want to take a look...

guestbookstore

Each guest completes a page and then you put together the book afterward. I think it''s so much better to have a little memory directly from your guests, rather than just reading their names off a page. There''s also a place to add a picture of the guest, so it doubles over as an album.

I think it comes to about $50, but we''re thinking about making our own using a scrapbook and card stock.

 

[princessplease]

FI and I are doing a ''guest bowl'' where we are having guests write well wishes, words of wisdom, etc on scraps of paper, and then put them into the bowl. We''re then going to make a scrapbook out of the papers.

We''re going to have this poem accompany the bowl so people know what to do with it, lol

As we begin our Journey –
A brand new Mr. and Mrs.
We surely could use
Your Advice and good Wishes.

Share with us your Wisdom
About Marriage, Love, and Life,
The secret to being a good Husband
Or a thoughtful, loving Wife.

Jot down a Memory,
A reminder of the day.
A doodle or picture will do
If you don’t know what to say.

Please don’t forget –
It would be such a shame
Don’t drop your card in the bowl
Without signing your Name.

Weddings are so much more
Then rings and tossed rice.
So grab a pen
And write some Advice!

 

[Amanda.Rx]

We are doing "prescriptions for a great marriage". I''m making up fake-prescriptions on cardstock (very fake-looking so as not to be convicted for forging prescriptions- lol).

Anyways, it''ll say something to the extent of "write your prescription for a great marriage" and then they can sign it "dispense as written" or "substitution permitted". About 1/2 of our guests are pharmacy students, so I think they''ll get really creative with it.

I will probably give an example of "Dispense one hug and kiss twice daily, in the morning and at night" Signed: Dr. John Smith, dispense as written.

 

[taovandel]

we bought a wood and glass box and put up a little card asking guest to write us little notes or words of advice of marriage...we have it kept in the box still--but eventually we will compile into an album.

 

[violet3]

We actually had our photographer put together some photos from our engagement picture session, and we had them compiled into a photobook (i think our photographer uses mac, but you can also do them on shutterfly etc). Most of the pages had some blank space and all the backgrounds were black - then we had a silver sharpie for people to sign right over the pictures and throughout the book. It worked out really well - people got to see how fabulous our photographer was at the wedding, and we got a cool coffee table book!

 

[mayachel]

CDNinNYC-I love your concept!

My SIL had a coffe table photo book, 365 days around the world. Guests signed messages corresponding to random or significant dates, as they felt like it. It worked really well, and I''ve been looking for one for my wedding.

Meanwhile, I''m trying to take photographs every day, of our everyday life. I was photography major in a previous life so I''d like the idea of putting together my own book of our general life with the hope of some flair thrown in for good measure.

 

[mayachel]

I can''t find where I saw it, though I think it was mentioned here a year or so ago, but there is a company that makes a crystal/glass bowl that guests etch their signatures onto. I remember the pictures being much more elegant than a plate that you sign with a sharpie.

 

[charbie]

We didn''t do one. I didn''t find anything creative that fit with our theme and was something I ever saw myself looking at again. Many people I know forgot about even having one.

However, I LOVE some of the ideas here! CD...that I the most creative gb I''ve seen...love it!

 

[caribqueen]

We are doing something similar to princessplease but instead will get little cards and have guest write something and put into one of two big jars at the reception table. We''ll then take the cards and affix to a photo album or something like that.

(I like pp''s poem idea too - I hadn''t thought of that)

 

[chibride10]

CDN, I love that idea!

One of my friends put this together for us as a surprise. We''re big into wine, so she got this wine bottle and had people write messages and stick in the bottle. She also had a label made with our monogram. We''ll probably never be able to read the messages, but it''s nice to know they''re in there

 

[laughwithme]

We are doing a traditional book in the entryway of the church before the ceremony. We wanted to do something fun and unique, however, so we are also doing a "Words of Wisdom"-type thing at the reception, in the foyer, for guests to play with during cocktail hour. Essentially its a big leather-bound book and inside, each page has about 6-8 little cards that you pull out of a slot with a ribbon. The cards will be blank and guests can fill them in, then replace them in the little slot. I will definitely post it on the DIY when I get started on it!!!

 

[shertz1981]

These are all such cool ideas! Thanks!

 

[dcgator]

Date: 1/10/2010 11:35:09 PM
Author: caribqueen
We are doing something similar to princessplease but instead will get little cards and have guest write something and put into one of two big jars at the reception table. We''ll then take the cards and affix to a photo album or something like that.

(I like pp''s poem idea too - I hadn''t thought of that)

We actually bought a book that had little envelopes already attached to the pages. It came with a bunch of note cards where people could write their thoughts/well wishes, etc.

Here is a link to the one we bought (though we bought it off a different site)

http://www.cherishedgiftfavors.com/shopexd.asp?id=908