Thoughts on guest book

Kerigirl9

Just wondering.... Is a guest book worth it? I feel like it's something that will get packed up in the wedding stuff and never seen again. I've also heard about alternatives like wishing trees and river rocks. Any experience with any of these items?

Cookie Pusher

I've been to several weddings where the couple had a picture of themselves in a frame with one of those mattes that you can write on. For our wedding, I'm going to make a guestbook that doubles as a scrapbook. I'm asking our photographer to take pictures of all our guests so we can put them on the same page as their well-wishes after the wedding. For day-of, we're going to use pictures of us through our 12-year courtship to show how far we've come!

HisGirlFriday13

We didn't do a traditional guest book. We put copies of our favourite books (from our personal libraries) on each table, and had guests sign those instead. When we pull the books out to read them, we will re-read what people wrote to us on our wedding day.

I figured we were more likely to re-read our favourite books than we were to ever look at a guest book again.

EverAfer

I liked the signed frame idea.  We recently went to visit a friend who lived across the country.  They had hung their frame and it was a nice display of their wedding pictures and to re-read what I had written that day.

bmydesigner

Both of us are really into music,  so we're designing a "poster" of us with our wedding date on it, and will have guests sign that as like their autographs.

audubonbride2013

We made a guestbook on shutterfly using our engagement pictures because we got a really good deal on the photobook.  People signed the guestbook but I doubt we will look at it often.  If we didn't have the deal for shutterfly we would have just skipped the guestbook all together.

doeydo

I was thinking of having some sort of picture for people to sign that we could hang and see everyday. Example: http://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/159315325/guest-book-tree-poster-modern-guest-book?ref=shop_home_active&ga_search_query=wedding%2Btree%2B50 

CrazyCatLady3

I think it depends on you.  Are you the sentimental type that likes keepsakes, old pictures, etc?  If so then you should probably have a guest book.  If not, skip it.  I am skipping it because I am not the sentimental type.

princessleia22

My current idea is to take polaroid photos of everyone and have them put them in a scrapbook, where they sign along with advice for a long, happy marriage.  We also will have enough polaroid film for everyone to get a photo or two to keep for themselves.  We only have about 30 guests, so it shouldn't be difficult to do. We are thinking of having my FSIL take the photos. I definitely want to have somewhere that people write marriage advice, since we are blessed to have a lot of long marriages and very few divorces in both our families, so I figure it would be a good opportunity to draw on their wisdom.  And it will probably sit on a shelf and never get looked at, but it may be useful to look back on when we do hit the rough patches. I may take the scrapbook pages and include them in a larger wedding scrapbook though too.

emmyg65

We did something a lttle different. We had a Quaker wedding, with a Quaker marriage certificate. It's a calligraphy poster with our names, wedding date and vows on it. We signed it to affirm our vows during our ceremony and then all our guests signed it immediately after as witnesses to our marriage. By signing it, they also committed to support our marriage. So it has more meaning than a guest book, but functions a lot in the same way. We framed it and hung it on our wall where we can see it every day.

chibiyui

I'd like to do something like this. I don't care for the signed photo mattes personally. I might commision one of my friends to do the tree/whatever we decide on so that way we're not only displaying those who where present at our wedding, but also some art. 

doeydo

chibiyui said:

I'd like to do something like this. I don't care for the signed photo mattes personally. I might commision one of my friends to do the tree/whatever we decide on so that way we're not only displaying those who where present at our wedding, but also some art. 

I do like those type of "guest books", but I have heard some people complain about having ink on their thumbs for the rest of the night and possibly getting it on their clothes and stuff.

AddieCake

Our guests signed river rocks, which we keep in a vase in our home. It's one of my favorite things.

Mitch617

I went to a wedding where they had a vintage typewriter set up instead of guest book. We typed our messages and names and it was very cute!

jdluvr06

We're still trying to decide if we want to do a guest book or something like that.

CaliMel11

Our photobooth operator makes us a guestbook of the photos, they put them into a book and then everyone signs the book as they get their photos taken.
We thought this was nice because everyone gets keepsake photos with family members/friends, and we get something that's more fun to look at than a bunch of photos of ourselves.

chibiyui

doeydo said:

chibiyui said:

I'd like to do something like this. I don't care for the signed photo mattes personally. I might commision one of my friends to do the tree/whatever we decide on so that way we're not only displaying those who where present at our wedding, but also some art. 

I do like those type of "guest books", but I have heard some people complain about having ink on their thumbs for the rest of the night and possibly getting it on their clothes and stuff.

I've heard that as well. If I decide to do it I will put out wipes/something to clean hands with. I'd hate for people not to sign cause they're afraid of getting dirty.
I

lyndausvi

Cookie Pusher said:

I've been to several weddings where the couple had a picture of themselves in a frame with one of those mattes that you can write on. For our wedding, I'm going to make a guestbook that doubles as a scrapbook. I'm asking our photographer to take pictures of all our guests so we can put them on the same page as their well-wishes after the wedding. For day-of, we're going to use pictures of us through our 12-year courtship to show how far we've come!

That is exactly what we did, except we just had a blank spot that said "picture here" to mark off where the picture would go.    I have fun looking back at the book.  We caught one of our male guests in the hotel room of a female guest.  DH snapped a picture of him still in bed.  We put that picture in the book and he signed it  "oops".   We still laugh when see that page.

ktjanesmom

Its kind of neat to look back many years later and remember who was there.  But I guess you don't need a traditional guest book for that.

PolarBearFitz

My mom still has her guestbook and it is awesome to get to see. We looked over it together and she was amazed at how she had forgotten how many people attended their day. I personally am thankful that she still has it and so is she. I think it's well worth it in any form to have a guest 'book' of some sort.

Whether it's a picture frame, tree, favorite books like HGF, or river rocks it's a momento from people you care about you can keep for years.

netskyblue2

My sister had a quilt that our mom made and had embroidered with their names in the center block.  All the guests were invited to sign it/write well wishes.  They have it on a rack in their living room now.

AprilH81

Like a PP we did a photo guest book from Shutterfly (I caught coupon for a "free" guest book).  We used our engagement pictures and left lots of space for people to write messages or just sign their names.  

We ended up spending $15 on it (shipping, fees, and an extra fee for the specialty design I wanted).  I figure that if nothing else we have a nice photo book of our engagement pictures so it was worth the small cost to me.

hellohkb

@aefitz29 That's so nice! I was considering not having a guest book either but you bring up a great point. I'd love to be able to look at it someday with my children.

@netskyblue2 that's a great idea for a guest book.

monkeysip

We love traveling and postcards, so we bought a bunch of postcards from places we've been or wanted to go and had people sign/put a message, and pin it to a cute pinboard we had set-up.  I thought it was cute, and we have some nice messages on postcards now.  We might display them in some way, or just put them in a scrapbook.

I do like the scrapbook idea of having people sign next to where their pictures will go.  But I also just love scrapbooks.

PolarBearFitz

monkeysip said:

We love traveling and postcards, so we bought a bunch of postcards from places we've been or wanted to go and had people sign/put a message, and pin it to a cute pinboard we had set-up.  I thought it was cute, and we have some nice messages on postcards now.  We might display them in some way, or just put them in a scrapbook.

I do like the scrapbook idea of having people sign next to where their pictures will go.  But I also just love scrapbooks.

That's such a cool idea!!! I would definitely frame them either in a standard frame or in a pile within a shadow box. Then you can open and re-read them later. So neat!

firebabe6519

I have had friends who used their engagement photo set in a frame for guests to sign around. It hangs in their living room now.

My FI and I are doing a vintage photo booth sort of guest book. Our venue provides a little nook filled with cute vintage items plus an old Polaroid camera. We will have a guest scrapbook with slot for the photos. Our guests can then either take a cute photo to add to our memories of our special day or for the camera shy they can simply write something.

CLI242009

FI and I are doing the mat with picture. We're going to frame it once our day has passed.

[Deleted User]

We went to a local winery that we love and got wine. We had the venue put out a bottle on each table with a silver sharpie (bottles are green) and I made tags that hung around the necks of the bottle on what the markers & bottles were for. The staff was instructed not to open & serve the wine. We are opening 1-2 bottles of the wine each year on our anniversary and looking at the signatures when we pull the bottles. We also have a wine tree in our backyard (metal art work that you can add bottles to for decoration) and we are using clear spray paint to seal the signatures onto the bottles and using the empty bottles to decorate our tree (we do move it inside in the winter)

JennyColada

Sorry for the little bump, but I just found out what I want to do and thought others with smaller groups might enjoy it:

Fi and I are big foodies so I am getting a plain wooden cutting board and I'll have people sign it with Sharpies. Later we can hang it on the wall.

MrsMaggardToBe

We're doing a large wooden initial and having everyone sign it. We'll hang it in our entry way or other area that we spend a lot of time in along with our wedding pictures around it. 

biojess

One friend did a photo of them with a signable frame. They love it.

Another friend has river stones people signed. They kept them in a vase until they bought a house. Once they had a garden, the collection went into a display near their outdoor bench.

I'm a collector of rubber duckies, so I've been looking at getting small ducks for people to sign that I can mix in with my collection, and I rotate which ducks of my collection are on display throughout the year.