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Ever since I saw the signature photo mat guest “book” made by Pottery Barn, I wanted one. Evidence (although this one isn’t from Pottery Barn–and ours wouldn’t be, either. 50% off at Michael’s, baby):
Image from weddingbycolor.com
I think it’s amazing. Yes, I know everyone does this these days, but you know what? Sometimes things are popular for a reason. I think this one is popular because it’s awesome. Mr. Cream Puff, on the other hand, is kind of indifferent. I don’t think he dislikes the idea, but he doesn’t exactly like it.
When I showed him what my friend Kathy did for her guestbook, he thought it was really cool. Basically, you buy these pages and a book from this place called the Guestbook Store. Then you leave them out with pens for your guests to take to their tables and fill out:
Images from guestbookstore.com
After the wedding, you put them in the book, which is a three-ring binder. I’m not as wild about this idea as Mr. Cream Puff is, mostly because it would involve yet another DIY project. Why? Because it would be preferable to have these be only one page, and I’m not too wild about some of the questions. For example, this isn’t exactly a “get to know you” thing. We know how everyone knows us (after all, we invited them) and we know where they’re all coming from. Kathy also mentioned that we might want to cut out the “Any advice for the newlyweds?” question, because most of the answers on hers were the same.
So I’m not sure what to do. MIL Puff doesn’t seem to think that most of the Chinese guests will feel like filling these out. She says, “Chinese people like things simple. Sign your name, be done, and that’s it.” Mr. Cream Puff says we’d probably get some really funny ones from everyone else and that he’d really like to look at these in the future. So part of me is like, “I don’t want another DIY project, especially if it’s not going to be utilized or appreciated,” and the other part of me is like, “Mr. Cream Puff hardly ever has an opinion or a preference when it comes to this wedding, so maybe I should just do it.” The other part of me (because I’m a complicated woman) is like, “Maybe we should just do both.”
If we did do both, I could make a funny sign explaining what to do. It could say something like, “The bride wanted the photo mat. The groom wanted the funny guestbook. So in the spirit of compromise, they decided to do both. Please sign your name on the photo mat, then grab a pen and a guestbook page and fill it out when you have a minute.” Or something to that extent.
What do you guys think we should do?
Oh I love the idea of the funny sign– that is so cute!
I have mixed feelings about the photo mats only because at a couple weddings I’ve gone to, the signatures got a little out of control and the end product didn’t look very nice. But at the same time, when done properly, it is so lovely and such a nice keepsake to have.
I think the guestbook pages are cute too, but some of the questions are kind of goofy. You could create your own pages with your own fun questions, print them out, and put them in a book, but that would be another DIY project.
Maybe have them both out? Mr. Jasmine so rarely has a wedding related opinion that when he actually says he *wants* to do something, I feel like I might as well listen. Plus, you still get your photo mat too!
I vote keep things simple and do the frame 
Could you have a wish jar type of thing for advice so you could get the funny stuff in too?
I like the book, just because its something that you can easily flip through when youre bored and want to relive your wedding fun! I’ve seen a lot of people do the photomat, but often times it doesnt make it up on their walls at their homes, either because its kind of wierd to just have a huge picture of you guys hanging somewhere, or they just never get around to doing it. If I did the photo mat, I’d probably put some more “artsy” wedding photo of ours (maybe of us walking, or a detail shot) rather than a headshot of the two of us, or I know that thing would NEVER get hung in the house….I dont want to stare at my mug every time I walk in
I’m part of the two-guestbook crowd. First, I loved the frame mat, too! Then, I wanted the photobooth! Then, I thought I wanted both! Then, I finally fell in love, after not appreciating its aesthetics or hard work, with the wish tree…Now, I’m in complete LOVE of a concert-style poster like those on Etsy, because I’m getting married at a concert venue…AGH! Why are there so many great ideas?!
Well, there’s got to be a way to have the best parts of them all…I’m doing the photobooth and the concert-esque poster. I’m restricting the poster to only signatures, and I’m asking people to post their photobooth pics and write wishes of love and luck on pages that will be assembled post-wedding.
I say that all to assure you that if you want both, I think you can have both without it coming off too spastically. If people just sign their names on the photomat, and you make (only if you’re up to more DIY!!) up little cards more fitting to what you want to ask, I think that would turn out really nicely, Miss Cream Puff!
I was in the same boat as you CP. I was going to do both. Then decided against the mat, and chose the book since we’ve opted to do the polaroid guestbook. I was teetering with the same idea that guests would have two things they’d had to deal with it rather than one simple one.
I’ve been to one wedding with the guest book pages and those were sent out ahead of time with the invitations. If you want really thoughtful responses, it’s probably better to have people fill them in at home.
She’s right, Chinese people don’t like filling stuff out. The end product will not come out like you imagine. Could you do that kind of guest book for your shower?
My sister had the same kind of guestbook from the guestbook store… it was nice, but honestly, it was a bit of pain. I guess it depends where you put the actual table that it’s gonna be on. Due to her limited space, the guestbook table totally caused the guests to “bottleneck” near the entrance. Maybe you could put them on the tables… but then again, someone could get their food on it.
I can’t speak for the Chinese culture, but I am Filipino, and I KNOW for a fact that the old folks wouldn’t have a clue with what to do with those pages!
I’d just like to plead with all brides and grooms and shower hostesses to stop asking guests to provide advice for the newly-weds.
As a single person, what the heck do I know?!?! I always feel like an idiot when faced with the question.
Oh sorry, didn’t finish my comment. With that said - I have to go with the funny book (with alternate questions). Mostly because when I look back at my senior book as such things, the comments are still hilarious and give me warm-fuzzies about the person. Random signatures? Not so exciting.
We do the photo mat signatures at work all the time for going away parties. They never look as nice as the one in your photo. People sign all bunched up together, there are big empty spots, some people sign with their own pens so the ink doesn’t match, somebody writes too soon after somebody else and smears their signature all over the place. Of course these are just to put up in your office, so it doesn’t matter that much.
I looked at the pages on another website and thought they were just too much - people won’t want to do that much at the wedding. If you send out pages ahead of time, half the folks will forget to bring or send them back. I would also try not to ask people to do more than one thing.
We are going to do 3 x 5 cards on really nice cardstock, along the lines of a wishing tree, but with a birdcage or punch bowl to drop them into. I figure that a 3 x 5 card is big enough for people to write a nice sentiment, and not so big as to be intimidating. And they are a nice size to go into photo album pockets later. We will preprint them on one side with various appropriate words and phrases for inspiration (kind of like the expressions cards from paper source).
One of my friends did both at her wedding — a signature photo mat and the fun guestbook — I only signed the signature mat. The fun guestbook was just too much work and too much writing 
We did more or less a variation on suzanno’s suggestion, and people participated exactly as much as they wanted. As a bonus, the boxes people dropped their cards into were marked “Wit,” “Wisdom,” and “Wishes,” and we got all kinds of stuff: signatures, limericks, drawings, jokes, equations (seriously!)…it let everyone do what they wanted, without the pressure of having everyone else read it. Man, I’ve signed too many group cards with just a signature, while everyone around me has written a gorgeous sentiment, and the well-sealed boxes took that pressure off.
I am doing something like suzanno (above). I will be using small squares of scrapbook paper and scrapbook pens. I have decorated a mini trunk that the guest can drop the squares into once they are done. I am going to make a sign explaining the process on the table. Since the wedding plans have been such a huge part of my life, I will be making a scrapbook of my wedding planning and non professional pictures. I am going to put the squares on a few pages. My photographer will make coffee table books, but I am going to preserve everything else in my scrapbook. It is another DIY project, but I think I will welcome it in the lull after my consuming wedding planning phase!
As a wedding guest, I would advocate choosing one instead of doing both–I know it makes me terrible, but I tend to not have a lot of patience with too many “sign here!” commands at wedding events… When put on the spot in my dress-up clothes, I suddenly go blank.
That said, I am partial to the guestbook store idea–and plan on doing a slightly different version myself. One thing I’m thinking is to incorporate the blank cards into the seating or maybe the cocktail hour–so folks don’t have to bunch around a single table. Also, I’m thinking that there should only be one or two creative prompts for the whole thing, so it’s not an ordeal to do, and so that there’s the option of just being simple and writing “I love you guys!” and signing off…
We are doing the polaroid guestbook, it was one of the first wedding things I bought as I loved it when I saw one all done up in a store. It was pretty pricey (for a guestbook) as I had to order the kit with the camera and film along with the book, but I love it so its worth it. I got ours at Addessoalbums.com, and its really nice, covered in raw silk and high quality paper pages. I love that we’ll have pictures of all of our guests right away instead of waiting for the photographers pics. I’ve already ‘assigned’ a friend to take the pictures….. 5 months from now!
I bought the same guest book, but the one with more general simple questions! i think it is fun and creative and im not going to force anyone to do it, so whoever doesn’t want to dance can hang out and fill one out! We will see how it works, but I thought it was sooo cute!
We used the book from the guestbook store at our wedding last year… complete with wacky corny questions and everything. It was a complete success. I assumed most people would fill it out as a group, couple or family, but it turns out that my guests didn’t want to share… almost everyone did their own page!
The best pages were filled out by our youngest guests who had the funniest advice for us and the most random “best memories”!
I’m sure it doesn’t work for every wedding. But it was perfect for our small casual fun zoo wedding. Also, to keep from having a line form we left the pages in a basket along with brightly colored markers and note that guests could take a page to their table with them. I think a lot of guests filled them out during toasts and between dinner courses.
Someone bought me a signature frame for my shower even though I didn’t ask for one. Despite the lovely gift, I don’t particularly care for the idea, since all the signatures usually don’t aesthetically look good. But I guess I have to put it out now. I was going to do a simple guestbook, or a version of the one you posted Miss Cream Puff, which I am more inclined to. I think our guests will have some funny and sweet things to say on that. But now I don’t know if I can do it- I don’t know if there’s room for 2 and I don’t really want 2. *sigh.
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Mrs. Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay Area Age and Occupation: 25, Illustrator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise Planner Engagement Date: May 27, 2007 Wedding Date: August, 2008 Blogging Since: February 7, 2008 Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green Room About Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
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