When flowers are taken home, the covers leave the chairs naked, and the champagne bubbles start to flatten, you can feel great knowing that you just successfully threw yourself a completely perfect wedding. If you’re like most couples, you’ll rehash the whole day over and over again when you’re alone and you’ll try to piece together the whirlwind of events. Besides your photos and your video, the details will be etched into memories. Another way to revisit these memories is through your guestbook.
A guestbook at your wedding gives your friends and families a chance to mark their territory and let you know they were there and wish you well. But does it have to be a book? Can this concept evolve into out-of-the-box ideas that reflects your style, personality, and practicality? You betcha! Today we’re showing you variations on the theme of all things “guestbook.”
Traditional Guestbook:
A pretty book with crisp, substantial pages will allow guests to express themselves with a sweet message. Make sure to leave out archival acid-free pens! (You can use the same ones you used for your ketubah signing!) Take it a step further and include pictures of yourselves in the guestbook. These can be childhood images, engagement photos, thematic shots from traveling or your favorite hobbies. This is your chance to really personalize your guestbook. Your photographer can make you a beautiful top-of-the-line guestbook from the same company that would provide your wedding album. Guestbooks made by your photographer will include your engagement or bridal session portraits and are designed with layouts perfect for signing! They will also stand the test of time and include the same lifetime guarantee your wedding album should come with! You can make your own, too, through photo book companies like MyPublisher or Shutterfly.
Instant Memories:
Why not go a little retro and incorporate Polaroid fun into your guestbook? Get your hands on a Polaroid camera and film, set up a table where guests can take pictures of themselves, and provide a book for them to slap the Polaroids on and write a message. You’ll have a face next to their name! This is a great way to make sure you have pictures of all your guests on your wedding day. Sometimes, they may not make it into the photographer’s professional shots, so the Polaroid guestbook method is creative, fun, and offers a little throwback to the 80s. And when they’re done, they can join the crowd on the dancefloor and shake it like a Polaroid picture.
Dish it Out:
One of the coolest ideas we’ve seen is a guestbook platter! This can be done one of two ways. Guests can use permanent marker to write a ceramic platter. It’s pretty and practical. Another variation of the same idea is to use a silver platter and an etching pen. This is a more upscale version of the ceramic platter. Both ideas should probably just include signatures of guests as there won’t be room for everyone to write personal messages. Either way, guests can inscribe their heartfelt wishes to you and you will have a beautiful keepsake for your home. Keeping the platter in your china hutch or on a wall is a wonderful way to remember your wedding day.
Make a Wish:
Your guests can write you a wish and then hang it on a tree! At the end of the day, you will have a gorgeous tree with many “leaves” of wishes that you can use as decor in your home. Provide a basket of cards that can be standard shapes or you can cut the into leaf-like shapes. Make sure the cards are pre-tied with a ribbon so guests can hang their wishes on a branch of the tree. Typically, a mini manzanita tree is used because it has many branches that are the right length and width. After you’ve enjoyed your wish tree in its whole form, you can save your wishes separately and plant the tree in your yard for added symbolic meaning as you begin your life together. This is a dazzling look that involves some DIY creativity.
You Rock:
Provide a basket full of smooth pebbles and permanent markers so guests can sign their names and a brief message to let you know that, well, you rock! They can drop their finished pebbles into a dish or vase for you to keep and display in your home. You can also line your yard or patio with these pebbles if you want to incorporate this idea beyond your living room. Take it up a notch and consider using items that are meaningful to you as a couple. Are you wine connoisseurs? Collect corks from bottles you’ve enjoyed (that could be fun!) and ask your guests to sign a cork. Are you beach people? Collect shells that your guests can decorate. Either way, you’ll have nice mementos from your wedding day with the personalization from your favorite people.
