guest book ideas?

aggiespartan

We will have to fly about 3 hours to our wedding destination.  I know the tree/leaf posters are popular right now, but I'm afraid it would be bent or torn during travel.  Anybody have any other ideas for interesting guest books that would be easier to travel with?

Lauderdale Pink

Roll up the poster and carry it in a cardboard cylinder. You can probably get the tube in any office supply place.

southernbelle0915

You can buy a poster tube to protect it during transit. 

Or just have a normal guest book. You can buy these anywhere and their hard covers mean they don't need as much protection.

ElcaB

I love the idea of a guestbook with fill-ins*, i.e., "What should B&G name their first child? What advice do you have for the B&G? Five years from now, what do you predict for B&G?" etc. 

*Stolen from another knottie. 

atlastmrsg

I like simple.  I used a designer leather notebook with blank pages.  It looks nice on our bookshelf.  We knew we realistically didn't want some sort of frame/mat/poster/fingerprint anything/whatever on our wall in our house.  I also didn't want anything satin/frilly/silly looking that would also get dirty.  Seems like the cheesy white satin books look all dirty and over-handled.

aggiespartan

We are probably only going to have about 20 people, so I don't know about getting a regular guestbook.  I don't want a gazillion empty pages. Even if I got a poster tube, I don't think I would have a way to display it without it rolling up.  I guess I'm looking for something a little different than the traditional ideas. 

peachy13

Could you possibly have the guest booked shipped to your resort so you won't have to travel with it? Or find a store once you're at your destination that might have something like this? (the B & G of the DW I went to a few months ago bought all their reception stuff at a local store at the destination and said it was much easier than trying to travel with everything). GL!

theartistformerlyknownas

Have you considered a photo guest book? They're super cheap (often free) on places like Snapfish, and that way none of the pages are "empty" - even if nobody signs it, you still have a nice photo book.

I'm having about 220 guests so mine will be pretty big, but you could scale this down... I have an album with some photo pages to sign on, and other pages with little envelopes and a number glued on. People can write us notes, seal them in the envelope with washi tape, and we'll open and read them together on that number anniversary. I think we'll have 9 envelopes per page for 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50. You could easily have 3 envelopes per page though. I love the thought of opening a note from his grandparents in 50 years!

atlastmrsg

Is it a tropical destination?  You could put small parchment pieces out, and let people write something, roll it, and put it in a bottle.  Or a winery?  Use a wine bottle so it looks less tropical.

aggiespartan

Las Vegas. 

jenna8984

@lolo883 That is super cute!! We're only having 25 people so I couldn't really figure out what to do. I didn't want a big empty book and I also didn't want something to hang in my house so I was just going to do nothing. But I could totally do like your idea

photokitty

My sister used a base from their favorite baseball team. Do you have any hobbies or interests that you could have people sign an item that you could then display, but that is rugged enough to travel?

aggiespartan

We don't really have any common hobbies that would make sense. Maybe I'll just wait until we get all of our rsvp's back then figure something out.

atlastmrsg

Vegas makes me think of playing cards.  Put your wedding emblem or monogram, leaving plenty of white space, on custom playing cards.  Then guest can write message in white space with a sharpie.

They wouldn't be functional--you'll remember that Aunt Marge wrote her note on the Queen of Hearts--but it'll be a fun little play on Vegas.

http://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-back-standard-index-poker-size.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=Cj0KEQjw1NufBRCx8ayaqY2t6KkBEiQA2nLWm1j3i2HvEi-oMO5NbystbskTy6cM1XxQdTHuZJQm6Q8aArMu8P8HAQ

theartistformerlyknownas

atlastmrsg said:

Vegas makes me think of playing cards.  Put your wedding emblem or monogram, leaving plenty of white space, on custom playing cards.  Then guest can write message in white space with a sharpie.

They wouldn't be functional--you'll remember that Aunt Marge wrote her note on the Queen of Hearts--but it'll be a fun little play on Vegas.

http://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-back-standard-index-poker-size.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=Cj0KEQjw1NufBRCx8ayaqY2t6KkBEiQA2nLWm1j3i2HvEi-oMO5NbystbskTy6cM1XxQdTHuZJQm6Q8aArMu8P8HAQ

Oh that's really cute! If they wrote on the number side they'd still be playable.

vh2014

lolo883 said:

Have you considered a photo guest book? They're super cheap (often free) on places like Snapfish, and that way none of the pages are "empty" - even if nobody signs it, you still have a nice photo book.

I'm having about 220 guests so mine will be pretty big, but you could scale this down... I have an album with some photo pages to sign on, and other pages with little envelopes and a number glued on. People can write us notes, seal them in the envelope with washi tape, and we'll open and read them together on that number anniversary. I think we'll have 9 envelopes per page for 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50. You could easily have 3 envelopes per page though. I love the thought of opening a note from his grandparents in 50 years!

I did the photo album.  I didn't just use pictures of us though... I did it as our "journey".  Pages with wedding pics of parents and grandparents, us with our families as kids, us dating, then my bridal shoot but I also added pics of FI in his tux at a bunch of the formal events we've been to so we'd both be in the whole book.  I also chose a book with white end paper in case we run out of room on the pages.  One thing to be careful of- do NOT UV Coat the pages or choose glossy pages.  It makes them hard to write on.  

msuprincess04

We used a photo frame, and had no problem with packing or the glass on the way there and back.

JennyColada

Since we are having a very small wedding and are having it at a restaurant, we are using a cute cutting board as our guestbook (having everyone sign/write something on it). It's easy to travel with since it's flat and just can lay on the bottom of our suitcase, and we don't have to worry about it getting damaged (since it's thick and hearty).

vulpiepop

We're planning to use a scrapbook as a guestbook so that we can put photos of the wedding in it after it's served its purpose as guestbook but we're also having a very small wedding so I don't know how well that would work for a larger wedding. 

You can always roll up your poster and put it in a tube. I carried all of my projects that way (I was a design major) and never had a problem. 

[Deleted User]

Have each guest write you a letter and open one or two each year on your anniversary 

Give guests disposable cameras and put the photos into a book

Have a photo of you and the FI blown up poster size and let everyone sign it then frame it

donethat

How about a "coffee table" photo book of your wedding destination sight?  Guests could enjoy looking through it, and then sign their names (and possibly wishes) on a page.  In the future, as you look through the book, you'll remember your wedding location along with your guests!  

mollyringwald15

We are thinking of doing a wooden "T" sort of like the picture. I'm not sure I want it hanging on my wall forever, but I like it better than a book. It would be durable for travel, and you could get a smaller version for less guests.

MandyMost

ElcaB said:

I love the idea of a guestbook with fill-ins*, i.e., "What should B&G name their first child? What advice do you have for the B&G? Five years from now, what do you predict for B&G?" etc. 

*Stolen from another knottie. 

We're doing a combination of this and a photo guest book. I took our engagement photos and created a photo book with plenty of white space, and a question as a header on each page, and also 1 or 2 blank pages for people who don't want to participate with the questions. I actually had it printed as separate scrapbook pages so we can lay them on the table and a few people can sign at once, instead of already in a book where it's one person at a time. With only 25 people you probably don't need to do that, though. And you could probably do a smaller book (ours is 12" x 12", we're having 150 guests). 

I figure our engagement photos are essentially "lost" after the wedding if we don't do something with them, so this was a great way to use them. I mean, we framed the best one, but we have about 15 that came out good!

Edited to add: as a scrapbook, we're planning to add other wedding stuff after the wedding is over as well, like the invitations, save the date, the pictures of our parents and grandparents wedding photos we're using as decorations, etc. This also will make it more meaningful even if everyone doesn't sign! (Although, I'm also planning to perhaps bring it to the rehearsal dinner and/or in the getting ready area so the VIPs can be sure to sign). Essentially I plan to have this book and then a book of the professional photos both as mementos from the wedding. 

mollyringwald15

MandyMost said:

ElcaB said:

I love the idea of a guestbook with fill-ins*, i.e., "What should B&G name their first child? What advice do you have for the B&G? Five years from now, what do you predict for B&G?" etc. 

*Stolen from another knottie. 

We're doing a combination of this and a photo guest book. I took our engagement photos and created a photo book with plenty of white space, and a question as a header on each page, and also 1 or 2 blank pages for people who don't want to participate with the questions. I actually had it printed as separate scrapbook pages so we can lay them on the table and a few people can sign at once, instead of already in a book where it's one person at a time. With only 25 people you probably don't need to do that, though. And you could probably do a smaller book (ours is 12" x 12", we're having 150 guests). 

I figure our engagement photos are essentially "lost" after the wedding if we don't do something with them, so this was a great way to use them. I mean, we framed the best one, but we have about 15 that came out good!

Edited to add: as a scrapbook, we're planning to add other wedding stuff after the wedding is over as well, like the invitations, save the date, the pictures of our parents and grandparents wedding photos we're using as decorations, etc. This also will make it more meaningful even if everyone doesn't sign! (Although, I'm also planning to perhaps bring it to the rehearsal dinner and/or in the getting ready area so the VIPs can be sure to sign). Essentially I plan to have this book and then a book of the professional photos both as mementos from the wedding. 

I really like this idea! Especially being able to take the pages out for signing.