No Guest Book

ScottishSarah · April 2016

Hey lovely ladies.

Last week I ran a wedding where the bride bought a lovely silver plated Vera Wang guest book with a space for a photograph. Only about 5 pages of it were filled out! I thought what a waste that was and that happens a lot with guest books in my experience.

It got me to thinking, why not have no guest book? I thought I would not really look at it much, and it seems a bit depressing to have all those emplty pages?

Would you you think it was strange not to have a guest book?

ILoveBeachMusic · April 2016

No not strange at all. My DD made a phonebook out of their engagement pictures. They used that as their quest book. That way all the pages are filled because of the photos. I have no idea how many people actually signed it though.

OurWildKingdom · April 2016

We're ordering a watercolor painting from Etsy for guests to sign. Even if no one signs it, we still have a gorgeous piece of art.

SP29 · April 2016

Our venue provided a guest book that they left out- I didn't really care for it, but thought whatever. I'd say about 2/3rds of the guests signed it. We had a smaller wedding, so there are still lots of empty pages, but it's still nice to have

. Nice to have actual people's handwriting with a signed name.

What we had originally hoped for was to have a photo guest book. We had a backdrop set up with the second photographer stationed during the cocktail hour. There was a small chalkboard guests could write a message and then take a photo. Only a handful of our guests actually had a photo taken, so that was kind of a bust. We still have the photos that were taken, and some of them are quite funny, so we still love them, just not very representative of our guest list that day.

kvruns · April 2016

I didn't have one for that reason. I think I forget to sign half the time (either don't see it or don't want to wait in line) and I didn't want to have one half done myself.

downtondiva · April 2016

We didn't have a guest book. I didn't see the point.

artbyallie · April 2016

We had guests make advice cards and stuck them in a book with pockets, but I confess I have no idea where the thing is now and haven't looked at it once in the nearly five years we've been married.

ernursej · April 2016

If I do anything, I'll have little cards for people to write on and then I'll scrapbook with them. I was also not very enthused about a half empty book that cost money.

ScottishSarah · April 2016

Thanks ladies. In my circle everyone does give a card and I did see an idea on here to hole punch them and make them into a book. Can't remember who suggested it but I think this would be a better way of remembering who came to your wedding.

I do love the other ideas for alternative guest books and have researched them, but I'm not good with anything complicated. Basically anything that requires an instructional sign is out as we want to keep it very simple, no favours, no signs, no faff, just great food, flowers, drink and music. Hope this makes sense! I was just wondering if the wedding will look too bare without these wedding extras?

Great to know that not every wedding has a guestbook.

londinium215 · April 2016

ScottishSarah said:

Thanks ladies. In my circle everyone does give a card and I did see an idea on here to hole punch them and make them into a book. Can't remember who suggested it but I think this would be a better way of remembering who came to your wedding.

That sounds like a great idea! FH and I decided against having a guestbook because neither of us would look at it more than once, but I love re-reading cards.

Jen4948 · April 2016

You don't have to have a guest book, but you can use the unsigned pages for photos or as a scrapbook, or whatever you like.

kvruns · April 2016

ScottishSarah said:

Thanks ladies. In my circle everyone does give a card and I did see an idea on here to hole punch them and make them into a book. Can't remember who suggested it but I think this would be a better way of remembering who came to your wedding.

I do love the other ideas for alternative guest books and have researched them, but I'm not good with anything complicated. Basically anything that requires an instructional sign is out as we want to keep it very simple, no favours, no signs, no faff, just great food, flowers, drink and music. Hope this makes sense! I was just wondering if the wedding will look too bare without these wedding extras?

Great to know that not every wedding has a guestbook.

That's what I'm doing with ours. I ordered these giant 3inch diameter binder rings and one of these days will hole punch the cards we received and put them on the ring.

[Deleted User] · April 2016

ernursej said:

If I do anything, I'll have little cards for people to write on and then I'll scrapbook with them. I was also not very enthused about a half empty book that cost money.

I've been collecting postcards. I'll put them somewhere so guests can write a note to us or just sign their names. I'll scrapbook them with photos of the reception. I already have over 100 postcards collected and I haven't bought one in years, I decided this was a plan while finding tons of photos during cleaning.

ShesSoCold · April 2016

I find the regular old guestbooks odd and funeral-ey. And H and I have like three total pictures together and did not want a book of pictures of us. I was going to bypass it completely until someone on here told me they had a jersey (I think theirs was baseball, we did hockey) made with the new last name and had everyone "autograph" it. I LOVED the idea and I loved how ours turned out.

flantastic · April 2016

Yeah, I saw no reason to have a large book with signatures, or really anything with just signatures. If we were going to have a guestbook, I wanted actual notes from people. I figured part of the reason people don't tend to write much is because they have to stand somewhere to do it and possibly wait in line/have people in line behind them. So I put clear labels on a bunch of Moleskine cahiers (little 3x5 64-page notebooks) that said "Please leave a note for B&G to revisit on their X anniversary" where X was the table number (I also like when things serve multiple purposes). Put them on little gold wire stands, throw a couple of pens on the table, people can write in them at their leisure during the reception.

We have a little basket in our living room with the 15 books, and the front one is whatever anniversary is coming up next. I still really like it. I figured having that would also remind us to go look at them at least the once a year. People also loved it, and we got some great notes, plus other fun stuff - e.g. one table made theirs a flipbook in the corner.

ScottishSarah · April 2016

Love these ideas x

AddieCake · April 2016

We had guests sign river rocks and we keep them in a vase on our fireplace mantle. It's one of my favorite things.

indigo26 · April 2016

We ordered a set of wood anchors from a local crafter and I painted one blue and the other white. Even if no one signs them, I'll still hang them on the wall since they go with our living room decor - which is mostly lighthouses and boats. I just didn't see the point of a book since we'll never look at it again.

ahyatt87 · May 2016

I also thought a guestbook would be kind of a waste. I figured even if people filled it out, DH and I would not be reading it often. However, he was really set on having something. So we compromised and had guest sign the border to a picture frame. We have a great shot of our guests dancing at the reception in it and we actually see it everyday.

princessleia22 · May 2016

We did a shutterfly book with our engagement photos and left every other page blank. Then we got a polaroid camera (well, the FujiFilm Instax, but same thing) and had guests take photos of themselves to add to the book, along with whatever message or advice they have. It turned out really well. I think everyone took photos & signed (we only had 25 guests, though). We only had a few empty spots, but we filled those with a few extra photos from the reception. I'm really happy with it. It's on the a display shelf with our wedding photo album. I've looked at it a couple times since the wedding (almost 2 years ago).

MesmrEwe · May 2016

There are so many great "Guest Book Alternative" ideas out there... Puzzle pieces... Picture Frame... etc. I've seen it go so far as the bride puled out fabric markers and had people sign her train... What we did for my parent's 50th was put an empty card at each place setting and asked for them to share stories about them over the years then that went into a photo book from Walmart. Not expensive nor overpriced. We then had a spot for them to be returned that also had extra pens, markers, etc. so kids could be involved too... It doesn't need to be complicated nor expensive to be nice and something you can enjoy for years to come!

PaperTigersx · May 2016

SP29 said:

Our venue provided a guest book that they left out- I didn't really care for it, but thought whatever. I'd say about 2/3rds of the guests signed it. We had a smaller wedding, so there are still lots of empty pages, but it's still nice to have . Nice to have actual people's handwriting with a signed name.

What we had originally hoped for was to have a photo guest book. We had a backdrop set up with the second photographer stationed during the cocktail hour. There was a small chalkboard guests could write a message and then take a photo. Only a handful of our guests actually had a photo taken, so that was kind of a bust. We still have the photos that were taken, and some of them are quite funny, so we still love them, just not very representative of our guest list that day.

This is similar to what I want to do. But with a Polaroid camera. People take a picture and put it in the book and sign under it. But idk how many people actually would do it

[Deleted User] · May 2016

I copied an idea that I found on here once. We went to a favorite winery & got a wine we enjoy & put a bottle on each table (closed) with a silver sharpie (bottles were green) with tags on them for everyone to sign the bottles. We have them properly stored and each year on our anniversary we will pull out a bottle, open it up & enjoy it and look at the signatures & messages on the bottle. If we would have done a book, I don't think we would ever look at it.

floridabride44 · May 2016

I always wonder with the giant canvases that people do... how long do you actually leave it hung up? After a few years does it really make sense to have your wedding guestbook displayed in your house? Also, every time I've seen one of those, people just sign their name because there's not much room to write an actual message. Seems like one of those Pinterest ideas that seems "cute" in theory but doesn't make much sense in reality.

A book gives people space to write actual messages, plus it's easy to store and pull out once a year to read on your anniversary.

lnixon8 · May 2016

floridabride44 said:

I always wonder with the giant canvases that people do... how long do you actually leave it hung up? After a few years does it really make sense to have your wedding guestbook displayed in your house? Also, every time I've seen one of those, people just sign their name because there's not much room to write an actual message. Seems like one of those Pinterest ideas that seems "cute" in theory but doesn't make much sense in reality.

A book gives people space to write actual messages, plus it's easy to store and pull out once a year to read on your anniversary.

LolYUP. I gopt mine on sale for $10 and it looks so stupid. I have a 4 bedroom house for only the 2 of us so I just have it hanging in the guestroom just to have something on the wall

ernursej · May 2016

floridabride44 said:

I always wonder with the giant canvases that people do... how long do you actually leave it hung up? After a few years does it really make sense to have your wedding guestbook displayed in your house? Also, every time I've seen one of those, people just sign their name because there's not much room to write an actual message. Seems like one of those Pinterest ideas that seems "cute" in theory but doesn't make much sense in reality.

A book gives people space to write actual messages, plus it's easy to store and pull out once a year to read on your anniversary.

I think it depends on how it looks. My sister did one for her wedding and they have it in their bedroom and it looks great. She says she likes to look at it as a daily reminder of the people that support their marriage and by extension of the vows that they made that day.

justsie · May 2016

I'm so undecided on what to do for a guestbook and I need to decide soon and you ladies aren't helping! Ha! I was thinking of doing something to hang on the wall that is signed but I had a similar thought to what you just mentioned. @ernursej what does your sisters look like that she doesn't mind it in her bedroom?

ernursej · May 2016

@justsie my sister used a black and white wedding photo. They knew they were going to use a 5x7 and bought the mat and frame prior to the wedding. After they got their photos back, they selected their fav. They used black thin sharpie markers and it looked really crisp.

lembaslover · May 2016

We got a free photobook from shutterfly and I used it make a guestbook out of our engagement photos. I was shocked at how many guests signed the first page (before getting to photos). I left tons of room and put question prompts in there for people to answer like "advice for the bride and groom, favorite memory of bride or groom, etc... So now it looks kind of silly since most pages are blank except for photos. Oh well we have a book of our engagement photos and just ordered one I made of all of our wedding photos so they kind of go together I guess. I'm probably going to make a book of our honeymoon photos too and then it'll be a cute little set!

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