I love the fact that you can pretty much personalize every aspect of your wedding. Guestbooks are probably one of the last details people worry about during the wedding planning process, but there are definitely creative ways to personalize it for your wedding. I’ve gone ahead and put together some ideas I’ve collected.
Here was a wedding I did spring 2009. Jean and Mike brought it when it came to putting personality into their wedding. You can see their style and personality was reflected in pretty much every aspect of their wedding (slideshow here). I thought their guestbook idea was toooo cute, where you could put individual messages into these small envelopes and seal them shut. You can get the small envelopes from PipingHotPapers through Etsy.
Another idea instead of having a standard guestbook is a photobooth where guests can use a chalkboard or a dry erase board to write messages for you. Here’s a recent one I did for Tara and Jamie’s wedding sans the message. The next photo was from a photobooth Jacob did Spring 2009. I’m not a huge fan of the background, but you get the idea. These photos would then go into a custom photo book, so your guests can leave you a fun photo from your wedding along with a message. This chalkboard talk bubble is too cute not to have for a photobooth.
Lastly, this is probably what I will be putting together for my own wedding, but a custom photoart guestbook with engagement photos. These next few photos are from our studio sample. They come in a variety of covers, and you customize it with your name and date in silver or gold. The text also comes in cursive.
The hinged gutter allows for all the pages to lay flat so it’s easier to sign.
This is one of my favorite spreads from the guestbook. We custom design all the spreads and have 1-2 design sessions with our clients to make sure it’s perfect.
Here’s another favorite!
You can get creative with it. Scrapbooks are nice too (but do take a lot of time). I’ve also seen a large gallery print by the entrance that you can sign on, but I find them to be generally messy looking especially if you don’t have a lot of blank space in the photo. You can also have an engravable frame mat.
Something else I saw on theknot that could be helpful is to have fun pre-printed questions for your guests so that you won’t get the congratulatory message over and over again and it will make each message more personal.
- How did you first meet the bride and groom?
- When did you know they were in love?
- What’s the secret to a great marriage?
- No matter what you do, dont _____
- After an argument, always _____
- Can you share a funny memory about the bride and/or the groom?
Also wanted to say a big thank you to those of you who have liked me on facebook. I’ve hit 1000 ppl! :) Thank you, thank you! You all are way awesome. If you haven’t already joined, you can join here for updates on your fb.