Make Your Wedding Guest Book a Keepsake to Treasure
Keep Your Memories Alive for the Future
The guest book is a really important feature at a wedding or special occasion. It is more than a list of who attended the party — it is a captured moment in time, with contributions from everyone who was there, and will surely be an heirloom to treasure through the years. My husband and I take our guest book out every year on our wedding anniversary, and enjoy leafing through the pages, which include both guest signatures and photographs from the wedding, as we recall that very special day in our lives.
Let The Guestbook Circulate
Guests normally sign their wishes to the bride and groom at the reception, but don't feel you have to leave your guest book parked on a stand at the front of the room. Passing the book among the tables at the reception site is a great way to make sure your guests don't miss adding their bit to its pages. Encourage people to express themselves: Along with the book (which should be a high quality scrapbook) make sure colored pencils, markers, and plenty of pens are available. Ask your guests to compose a poem, write a short story, draw a picture or recall a favorite memory. Some might enumerate their wishes for your future, or share a piece of advice. A book filled with this much personality is so much more fun than just a list of names of those who attended.
More than Words
One way to really capture the spirit of the moment is to incorporate photos into the guest book. Ask a trusted friend to circulate around the room taking Polaroid snapshots of everyone. Guests can then use tape to attach their picture to the page and then sign their messages next to and around the photograph. What a great way to recall the fun of the party, and an added bonus is that this activity serves as a great icebreaker for guests who don’t know each other.
Make it Meaningful
Another meaningful way to create a memory book is to ask each invited guest to send a contribution for the book a few weeks beforehand. Some ideas for pages include letters, photographs, recipes, memorabilia, etc.
For my grandmother’s 90th birthday party, we asked guests to mail us something to include on her memory book pages. Everyone mailed letters filled with their memories of her, newspaper clippings of her accomplishments, drawings, poems, handmade cards, photos of places she had lived, photographs of themselves, maps, ticket stubs, tribute essays, and all kinds of things that outlined each guest’s connection to her. These bits and pieces were assembled beforehand and presented to her at the birthday party. The finished book was massive, and painted a complete picture of her. This beautiful heirloom really showed her how she had touched the lives of family and friends, and will be a treasure to hand down through the generations. She still says that was the best gift she ever received.
Keep it Under Control
Here’s an idea to make sure your guestbook is arranged the way you want: Instead of having guests sign the pages of your guestbook, present flat notecards in a lovely container (I have seen glass punchbowls, baskets, and decorated boxes used for this) and provide pens nearby. During the party, each guest can sign their wishes to the couple on a card, which can be collected in a second container. After the wedding, the cards can be arranged on scrapbook pages, interspersed with photographs from the party and notated with reflections on moments from the event.
Lined or Unlined?
All of these ideas will work better in a blank, or unlined, guest book. Having lines on the pages will seem silly if people are doodling, pasting in pictures, and writing long messages.
Some couples prefer a more traditional guestbook, where guests can sign their names and a brief comment as they enter the wedding reception. If you want to keep your guest book simple, you should be sure your chosen guestbook has lines to keep things neat on the pages. It is difficult for people to write across a page without slanting up or down, and the pages will look messy unless there is a line for guests to sign in on.
Set an Example
The best way to ensure that guests will sign your book in the way you want is to get a few entries done before the party. Ask you sister, your dad, your best friends to make their entries before the party, and be very specific with them as you describe what you want the entries to look like. People will generally copy the entries that came before theirs, and if a few entries are there at the beginning, no-one will have to feel intimdated by the prospect of filling a blank page.
Remember it Always
There are no rules for the creativity you can apply to your guestbook, and with a little encouragement, your guests will be creative, too. You'll remember your special day with so much more pleasure if the guestbook you flip through years from now includes more than a list of names. Take a few of these ideas and make them your own, and you will end up with a guest book that is a keepsake to treasure.
This article is written by Jenni Bick, and is the sole property of Jenni Bick Bookbinding, Inc, Copyright 2005
