Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
Our “Guest Book” - The Signing Cloth
January 28th, 2008 @ 5:34 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I LOVE our engagement pictures, so I really wanted use them to make a guest book, however I also really wanted to go the traditional Chinese route and use the traditional red silk embroidered signing cloth. I really tried to convince myself that we could have two guest books. But then, Mr. Toucan slapped some sense into me - no one is going to sign two guest books. He’s completely right. I had to chose one or the other. In the end we opted for the signing cloth and bought this one in Hong Kong:
As much as I really wanted to display our engagement pictures, I figured that there are other ways to have them displayed other than by way of the guest book. Additionally, the signing cloth was cheaper and required no work! 
Like most Chinese “guest books,” our signing cloth features the usual wedding symbols. The symbol for the bride, the phoenix:
The symbol for the groom, the dragon:
And the double happiness symbol:
We’ll put our names (in English and in Chinese) along with our wedding date on the the cloth, and our guests will sign the cloth in black marker in the middle. After the wedding, we plan to have our “guest book” framed, and hopefully it will serve as nice memento from our wedding!
11 Responses to “Our “Guest Book” - The Signing Cloth”
That is such a gorgeous guest book idea– I love it! And it’ll make such a nice keepsake for your home.
Thanks Miss Toucan for posting this. It reminded me that I needed to get one. Yours is very pretty by the way. Will your names and date be embroidered on it? If anyone knows a reputable vendor I can order one online, please let me know.
I’ve been to many weddings where I’ve had to sign the red cloth, a regular guestbook AND a signature mat. Overkill yes, but it didn’t take that long to do. You may want to reconsider adding your engagement guest book too as many of your guests would love to see your engagement pictures.
Luxe, I’m sure a few places sell them. They aren’t too expensive even in the states. Here’s one from China Bridal: http://www.chinabridal.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CB&Product_Code=SIGNC&Category_Code=SIGNC
Meli, I figured that a lot of other brides have done the same, but in the end I think it’s too much. I think I’m going to try to get one of those digital frames for our guest sign in table, and have our engagement pictures rotating on it. The bonus is we’d get to keep the frame too!
i thought about the same thing but I am going to go with the blurb book because i want to read messages our guests leave. the mr thought the cloth was a fantastic idea since he is american but we both had to ask - what will we do with it afterwards?
Miss Toucan - that is a great idea to use those digital frames! I may do the same thing! I got two for Christmas and had no idea what to do with them. Thanks!
My FIL’s just brought us a very similar signing cloth from Hong Kong. I was wondering, is there a special type of pen/marker we should use? I have never seen one of these before and I dont want it to be ruined by using the wrong marker.
hmm.. I don’t know, Jenny. I’ve always seen people use permanent markers, but sometimes they bleed. I’m planning on buying the super fine tip marker. I think it will be less likely to bleed - I haven’t tested it though.
cool! i’m doing this too for the michigan reception. i’m doing the e-pics in a guestbook for the boston wedding.
[…] it partially had to do with me not really buying anything (the only thing I had purchased was our guest book/signing cloth). It partially had to do with the fun toys he […]
Where can I buy this cloth online?
