After looking at various wedding websites over the last few months, I've noticed that there are many awesome variations of the traditional guest book. Maybe these have been around forever, but as I haven't paid much attention to wedding things until now, they're new to me.
I love this first idea. The guests all write a bit of advice or well-wishes for the couple on a piece of paper and then hang it from the little tree. It makes a beautiful decoration too. I love the idea of getting advice from the guests, especially the married couples because I feel like there will be a lot to learn once we're married and I'm sure people who've been married for a while have great tips to a happy and successful marriage. However, I'm not sure what we'd do with the tree after the wedding. Of course we'd read all the notes, but it doesn't seem very practical to keep a tree around an apartment or house forever. I'd like to find something a bit more practical to hold the wise words.
This idea makes me happy. I love blankets and quilts. These people made a quilt incorporating their engagement photos and had people sign it using fabric markers. What a great idea. A quilt is practical and snuggly, and with this additional use it can hold great words of wisdom and reminders of fun memories and loved ones. I would be a bit curious to test out if it's difficult to write on fabric, but also I might be worried something would get spilled on it. Overall though it sounds like a good idea. I also read of people asking guests to sign pre-cut pieces of fabric and sewing them together later. Then you could add pictures of the actual wedding if you wanted to, or leave it simple with just the notes.
These two ideas are really cute. I've seen a few examples of the wedding tree (which is awesome and classy looking), but this is the only balloon version I've seen (also very creative). Each guest presses his/her finger into an ink pad and then presses it into the already drawn tree to make the leaves, signing his/her name or initials. I like this idea, but I think it would need to be accompanied by something else since there is no opportunity for a personal message or advice.
So this is kinda a fun idea. It's a homemade photo booth. You could use a Polaroid camera to take pictures and then have a book and photo sensitive adhesive to put the pictures in. Then the guests could write a little message next to their photo(s). I'm not sure how durable the book would be, but I'm sure you could think of a way to improve my idea. Maybe have the guests write their message on a colored piece of paper and put the photos and note into an envelope. That way someone could put both pieces securely into a book later and make it look pretty. Another concern is maybe this style wouldn't appeal to everyone. I definitely want as many guests as possible to sign whatever type of guest book we decide on.
This little book has little colored envelopes for guests to put in their notes, that way they all stay in one place. I think I would also like the guests to write their names on the bottom of the envelope so we could know whose note was in each envelope. In this option the notes are less visible though.
This option is pretty common. I love photos and it would allow everyone's comments to be visible. Also it would be a great addition to any room. Although I would be concerned that there wouldn't be enough room for everyone to sign. I also think it would be cool to do a twist on this idea... although I'm not really sure how.
This first book is just a twist on traditional guest books. It is customized with pictures of the bride and groom. I've also seen pre-made scrapbook pages with open space between pictures for guests to write on, as seen in the second photo. I kinda like that idea of having the homemade touch.
I think that's it for now, just kinda gathering ideas I've seen and collecting my thoughts on them. I might add a few later if I come across any others that I like. :) To me it's important to give the guests an opportunity to share their words of wisdom with us, as well as have a guest "book" that is practical and that we can enjoy for the rest of our lives.
