Wedding Etiquette Forum

Guest Book vs. Signature Frame

My mom and I are in a disagreement about this.  She is old fashioned and thinks we should have a guest book for the guests to sign.  I'm more modern and like the idea of our guests signing the frame, and hanging it in our house after the wedding.  My mom suggested then that I have both, but I think that it's unnecessary having our guests sign two things.  My mom says I need the guest book to keep track of all of the gifts, which I will do anyways, but I don't see the need to have it out at the reception.  What do you all think? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Re: Guest Book vs. Signature Frame

  • Your wedding, your guestbook.  Do what you want.  I've never seen the appeal to a book with names in it that sits and makes clutter... so there's that. 
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  • I didn't use my guest book to keep track of gifts. How does that even work? No one signs "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Beckyboo! I hope you love the toaster!"

    Just do whatever you want. Your mom will get over it. 
  • How does the guestbook help you keep track of all the gifts? 

    I had a guest book, but was a coffee table book of pictures from St. Thomas (where we got married).  I agree with you though that traditional guest books are outdated and you should do something that you'll be happy with.
  • My mom wanted me to have a guest book for the same exact reason (keep track of gifts).  I guess you can go through it and write what gift you got next to the names.

    I did get a guest book but we didn't put it out.  I just wrote the gift list in there and it was helpful when I was doing thank you cards, but I haven't looked at it since (my mom thought it would be fun to look through.  What?).  I love our signed frame - but I haven't gotten it framed or hung it up yet :(  We've been married for more than a year...
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  • I did the frame and I do look at the notes people left and remember the day fondly.
  • Do one or the other, but not both.  Personally, I don't see the point of traditional guest books.  I think a frame is more fun.  I'm actually going to surprise my fiance with a Miami Dolphin's jersey for our guests to sign (it will have "our" last name and the year we got married).   He's a huge dolphin's fan, and I know he'll like having this hanging in his man-cave:-)

    You can keep track of gifts using a pen and paper.  You only need that for as long as it takes you to write TY notes, you don't need it forever and ever as a memory that Aunt Janet got you those ugly potholders you didn't register for.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_guest-book-vs-signature-frame?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:bd7c9dd5-5124-47ba-af31-14e83350f183Post:5c24c1c2-614b-471d-98da-93684297dd7a">Re: Guest Book vs. Signature Frame</a>:
    [QUOTE]I didn't use my guest book to keep track of gifts. How does that even work? No one signs "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Beckyboo! I hope you love the toaster!" Just do whatever you want. Your mom will get over it. 
    Posted by annakb8[/QUOTE]

    <div>Apparently she thinks we should use the guest book to record the gifts we receive for the wedding by writing what gift so and so gave us next to their name.  The idea just seems silly to me.  I didn't know if this was something other people did, but I didn't like the idea of it.</div><div>
    </div><div>Thanks everybody for the advice.</div>
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  • annakb8annakb8 member
    First Comment
    edited January 2012
    I just kept track of gifts on a piece of paper. I think it was just the back of the first envelope I opened. After I finished thank you notes I threw it away. 

    I did have a guestbook, I haven't even looked at it yet though. 

    ETA: Also, there is no way that everyone will sign your guest book. So you are still going to have to write some people's names down somewhere else. 
  • We did a guest book.  Not everyone signed it, so I don't know how it would have helped me to keep track of gifts. 
  • I don't understand how the guest book keeps track of gifts either :-/ Maybe I'm weird, but I kept track of gifts based on who signed the card....

    Anyway, I think if you want to do a frame you should go for it.  I'd caution you, though, to really think about how big the frame is and how many guests you'll have.  We received a really loved signature frame, but there was just no way 300 people were going to sign it, so we put it out at our RD.  Win-win to me; we still got to use it but it's filled with only our closest family and friends.
  • You can use the back of cards from the guests to write what you got on them, then cross references it with your own list (to see if someone didn't have a card to write on).

    I don't get the book either.  Do a frame!

    If that is what you and your mom have to argue about, consider yourself very fortunate!  Good luck!
  • I don't like guest books, but fmil is obsessed with them (she has people sign into every single event at her house), so we figured we'd buy the cheapest one we could find to make her happy. Then I found out you can make guestbooks on mixbook - the idea of having a printed book of our e-photos, with some notes from guests, is actually something I'll look through from time to time. I personally wouldn't hang up a frame, though, so whatever makes you happy.
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  • AdeleDazeemAdeleDazeem member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited January 2012
    We had a picture for everyone to sign instead of a guest book.  My apartment is small, something to hang on the wall is FAR more preferable than a book I'll never look at again!
  • We're having guests sign wine corks to put in a bowl instead of doing a guest book.  (I guess we're winos.  whatevs.)  

    FMIL thought we should do a guest book too, but when we asked her why, she didn't have an answer.  

    I guess it's a generational thing.  Our kids will probably have moved on to something else entirely and we'll be all "But you should do a frame too!"
  • The guest book was something I just didn't care about. H didn't want a frame, since our house is small and the walls are already covered with art and his photographs.

    We bought the cheapest guest book at Michaels, and while it's sitting in our china cabinet, neither of us have looked at it since the day after our wedding.
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_guest-book-vs-signature-frame?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:bd7c9dd5-5124-47ba-af31-14e83350f183Post:17876504-512a-40e0-8f8c-a1d839d2d3d1">Re: Guest Book vs. Signature Frame</a>:
    [QUOTE]We mad a guest book on shutterfly with pics of us.  Posted by ILoveMilkDuds[/QUOTE]

    I also did a Shutterfly book with our e-pics and plenty of white space for people to write messages and well-wishes (similar to a yearbook). I can see us pulling the book out and actually looking at it much more than just a standard guest book with lines where people only sign their names.
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  • We had a guest book AND a plate.  Our guest book was a picture album of our engagement pictures where we had people sign.  Then a friend of ours made a plate for us.  People signed both.

    I had the guest book at both the ceremony and the reception, but the plate at just the reception.

    My mom also wanted me to have this thing called a "bride's book" where I wrote down who got me what gifts.  That way I could reference it when people came to visit, ya know, make sure that gift was out or something.  I decided to use this other note book that my MOH had gotten for me, but I was forced to PROMISE my mom to record all gifts in it.  Yeah  . . . didn't happen.  I do have an excel sheet with all of the gifts though.  I did that to keep track of thank you notes.
  • We're doing a mixbook wth  our engagement photos also. I like looking through old photo albums, so I know this will actually get some use after the wedding. Plus, it leaves room for guests to leave messages that we can read later. Maybe this is something you could mention this as a compromise? I'm with you on the traditional guestbook -  I don't see the point of a book full of signatures.

    I debated the frame for a while, but as a pp said, I don't see us hanging this up in our house.
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  • We're doing frames during the cocktail hour. We got 2 medium sized frames rather than 1 large one, so that more people can be signing at one time and move on to the drinks and mingling. 
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_guest-book-vs-signature-frame?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:bd7c9dd5-5124-47ba-af31-14e83350f183Post:1660ee18-dcdf-4764-b0b7-775ad1cee4d0">Re: Guest Book vs. Signature Frame</a>:
    [QUOTE]We're doing frames during the cocktail hour. We got 2 medium sized frames rather than 1 large one, so that more people can be signing at one time and move on to the drinks and mingling. 
    Posted by em01092[/QUOTE]

    Love this idea!  I was just thinking about frame vs traditional book on my way home!
    Great advice ladies!
  • We had a charcoal frame with silver pens for the guestbook and then used a spreadsheet to keep track of gifts. Then I was able to check off in the spreadsheet if we had sent a thank you yet or not.
  • We are having both a frame and a guestbook. I used shutterfly to make the guest book with some of our engagement pictures and left blank pages for people to write notes and wishes for us. The frame I bought at Joann's and we are using it for people to sign their names. Since my FI is really artsy on the matting of the frame he wrote "Mr & Mrs" and then our wedding quote. We plan on hanging the frame up and also displaying the guest book as a coffee table book. I am happy with what we have decided to do. I think it just really depends on what you want, it is your wedding day so do what you want to do.
  • edited January 2012
    We originally wanted to do a frame, but then I got the idea to use my favorite book from when I was a kid. It was about 2 little skunks who lived at the beach...blah blah... and they lived hapily ever after. I read it in the car on the way home (I was not driving haha), but haven't touched it since. And I'm not entirely sure where it is.  Whatever. It was like $5 and my mom really liked it.

    I kept track of gifts on the back of an envelope. And then on a random piece of paper.
  • At a recent wedding of a friend she used a traditional guestbook...which was great because I was in the wedding party, and then boyfriend, now Fi signed in for us with our new adress. My friend was then able to send my thank you note here instead of to my parent's house. You can also use it as an adress book later.

    BUT...I also love the new, less-traditional guestbook ideas. We are planning on having a table with a display of "engagement items" including e-photos, tickets from the observatory, the sweater I was wearing, and the wine bottle from that night. We will have pens and slips of paper for people to leave us a message in a bottle. We will break the bottle open later, maybe on an anniversary, and read what our guests wrote on our wedding day.
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  • I agree with previous posts. Your wedding you get to pick.

    We're doing a frame, but a slightly different take on it. 
    you write on the glass with a special pen. We'll put a picture from our engagement session in it. 
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