Chit Chat

Wedding Guest Book

We are trying to figure out what (if anything) to do for a "guest book."  What did you do, where is it now and would you do the same thing again (in retrospect)?
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Re: Wedding Guest Book

  • We did cards.  We found a set of blank cards at a paper store.  There were 4 different themed cards, 5 of each.  We wrote "On your first/second/third/fourth/fifth anniversary...  on the envelop (4 for each anniversary) and let guests fill in their words of advice.  We open each on the appropriate anniversary.  We also re-read the old ones before we open the new year.  We'll be at 5 this year, so the last batch.  :(  But we have someone who wrote in each year but never signed their name.  We're hoping there's a signature for the final year so we can find out who it was.  

  • bleve0821bleve0821 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited October 2016
    Scrabble board with blank tiles for the guests to write on. We filled out the board like we'd played a full game (e.g. names and words like "joy" "marriage" "love") and glued the blank tiles around the board. We actually just framed it and hung it up a week ago.

    ETF automiscorrect


    "And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me..."
    --Philip Pullman

  • edited October 2016
    Are you Christian? We bought a new bible with alternating blank pages for people to highlight verses, make notes or write us a message. This will become our "family bible". I'm really excited about it. 

    ETA: we are also going to have a photo with white matt frame for any non religious people to sign if they want. 
  • lyndausvilyndausvi mod
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited October 2016
    I made up 8x8 cards with a spot left for a photo and then lines for people to write something.  I clipped them to clip boards to make it easy for people to write.       

      We had 95% of the guests sign and/or wrote something.  

    Between my guests and the professional photographers we had a picture of every guest/couple (granted some were group shots).    After the wedding I attached a picture of the guest/couple on their page and then put it in an 8x8 album I bought from Michaels.

    for those who didn't sign, I still made a page for them.  I look at that album more than my professional album.

    Below is a picture of the pages and the album is all the way to the right.








    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • Anything wrong with buying a pretty guestbook at Michaels or Hobby Lobby (use a coupon)?  Simple, and does the job.
    httpiimgurcomTCCjW0wjpg
  • We skipped the guest book entirely. I didn't feel it was necessary.

    However, for my shower, my aunt put together some of our engagement photos in a frame and the guests signed around the photos. It was sweet and u have it hanging up. 


    Daisypath Anniversary tickers Daisypath Anniversary tickers



  • I had 6x6 squares of white fabric. Our guests wrote a note of congratulations or advice, drew pictures, whatever they wanted. The plan is to eventually turn the squares into a quilt incorporated with other fabric, I just haven't figured out the pattern yet or had the time to think about it/work on it. Even though they're sitting in a box, I'm really glad we did it. I think it will be a fun project and everyone's notes are nice to look back on. 
  • We didn't do one. Half the time I forget to sign a guest book, or if it is some activity like a thumbprint in paint or something I usually don't do it anyway so I figured there wasn't a need to do some. Between pictures and saving cards I'm good with what we have. 
  • We got (from some wedding crap website - don't even remember which one) a shadowbox with a hinged door and chicken wire inside. it came with etched glass with our names and the date and little cards in our wedding colors that people wrote notes on, rolled and stuck into the chicken wire. because the cards are all different colors it looks super pretty. i'm describing it badly, but it was cool.
  • I had people sign a white frame mat. 
  • I found large picture postcard things of our venue in the giftshop when we went on the site visit.  I'm having people sign the pictures and we'll frame them (small wedding).  I'm running out of wall space though... But this reminds me to get some silver and gold pens.  Thanks!

  • CharmedPamCharmedPam member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited October 2016
    I had people sign a white frame mat. 
    This is actually a better idea than mine

    edit:  holy shit is this a better idea! Totally doing this now, going to try to get a big group shot.

  • I had people sign a white frame mat. 

    Us too.
  • We had people sign a children's book that was meaningful to us.  It was fun to go through later and see what everyone had written.  Honestly not sure where it is now, somewhere high where none of the animals can chew it up.
  • I disliked the regular old guestbook because it makes me think of funerals so we were going to bypass it altogether.

    Then @muppetoverload told me about her guestbook and we stole the idea. We got a hockey jersey made (she did baseball) with our last name and the year we got married as the number and had everyone "autograph" it. We intend to frame it like you would an autographed jersey and hang it in the bar. I love it.

    I did something similar at my baby shower. Except it was a onesie.
  • We had a photobooth so we had the attendant print two copies of photos and had pens, makers, etc and a scrapbook so people could sign the book and put in their pictures. I've looked at it once or twice. 
  • I did the white frame mat too. But out of 202 guests less than 20 signed. Its in a closet.


  • Our guests signed a white frame mat. I have it, with a photo from the day, hanging in our living room.
    "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." -Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Reading and Writing"
  • I've posted mine a couple times, so I'll just link to the first thread. It's like the 3rd one down. In short, I made it easy for people to write more to us than just their names, and they did. Still love it. Would do again.

    http://forums.theknot.com/discussion/1053250/guest-book-ideas
  • I like the idea of having guests sign a white frame mat.

    We had a photo booth, managed by our second photographer. The only issue was that most of our guests did not partake in it, so sucks in that respect.
  • edited October 2016
    We did the white frame, but glued stars to it and guests signed a star each. 90% signed it. It's in the guest room.

    And had a photo booth. An extra set of photos was printed and pasted in a scrapbook, guests were invited to leave a message next to thier photos.
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • Thanks all!  I'm glad to hear so many people do still have them and display them.  I was thinking if people really didn't do anything with it, I'd just skip it or do the traditional book.

    I'm going to share these ideas with my FI but think I like the simpler idea of a white frame or scrapbook best.  I'm pretty sure he's going to like the jersey best!
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  • We did the same as SheSoCold.  We had a baseball jersey with our last name and the year on it.  I think 75% of our guest list signed it.  Its currently hanging in my closet, but when we finally get going on finishing the basement, it will eventually get framed, along with some of our engagement pictures (we had them done at the stadium), and a home plate that was signed by guests at my bridal shower.
  • We had normal guest book, but it was fancy and engraved. My granny gave it to us with matching pen. It's lovely and I love it.

    Coworker got married and they had their engagement photo in the center of a stiff black board {to be framed} with silver pens to sign. I liked that idea. Similar to @DrillSergeantCat  mat idea!
  • We are doing a framed photo with a white mat around for people to sign on. Wedding is today so I can't comment on if I would do it again, but I wanted something that I would see all the time. I'm hoping it gets signed.
  • We have a friend who makes log furniture, so he made a wood plaque and Engraved "Mr and Mrs Us" and our date on it.  Actually, he did 2 because he thought the first one looked weird, but looked fine to us.  So we have 2 of them, hanging in different parts of the house.  Oh, and we took them back to him after the wedding to put a sealer on them.  

    Only annoying part was that H's sister got drunk and wrote "Congrats Bitches!" on one of them, so that sort of made it a bit inappropriate.  That one is hanging in a less conspicuous part of the house.
    Married 9.12.15
    image
  • ernursej said:
    We are doing a framed photo with a white mat around for people to sign on. Wedding is today so I can't comment on if I would do it again, but I wanted something that I would see all the time. I'm hoping it gets signed.
    It's Tuesday!  I almost forgot - congrats!!

    @julieanne912, something similar happened on my sisters white mat and of course it's someone they lost touch with LOL.
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