Weddingbee Blog

In lieu of a traditional guest book, I wanted to do something along the lines of a wish book or wish tree – but with a twist on our theme. So, taking our cues from our ubiquitous, trusty vintage typewriter, we came up with our guest book interpretation…the Wish Paper Basket!

It’s a (hopefully not too high-) concept in three parts. First, the typewriter announces what the set up is:

Then, there’s a stack of “Wish Paper” sheets. They have goofy examples at the top and instructions at the bottom to explain what we’d like guests to do (write a wish, crumple it up, and toss it in the basket):

As a header, I crossed out a couple of over-the-top “badly written blessings”.

At the bottom, simple instructions encourage guests to be silly and creative.

And finally, part three – the “Wish Paper” Basket to drop the wishes into:

We’ll have a few crumpled up sheets in there already, to show guests that we really do want them to crumple their pages up.

Originally, I had wanted to let guests use the actual typewriter, but I figured that would probably be a bit too complicated and labor-intensive (and potentially frustrating). This way, they’ve got a nice big space to write on and some nice fat Sharpies to work with. Much less pressure.

And speaking of pressure, I have newfound respect for early 20th century typists. For authenticity’s sake (no typewriter font can imitate a typewriter like, well, a typewriter), I typed up the master version on Mr. Typey himself…can you say REPEATED TYPOs??

After inexplicably misspelling “portraits” for the eighth time, I let Mr. LB take a crack at it:

Naturally, he got it on his first try. Then I just crossed out the first two cheesy wishes:

…printed a stack of pages up in blush pink resume paper, and voila! Our Wish Paper Basket is ready to be filled!

Even though it’s a bit unusual, I’m really happy with how it came out. It’s very “me”, as I’m always chucking draft after draft of whatever I’m working on (not to mention I got to sneak in some classic Lovebug wordplay). Plus, it kind of reminds me of Snoopy and his “One dark and stormy night…” And I think a book of bound with all the pages will look neat and kind of vintage-chic, what with the de-wrinkled papers.

We’ll put the set up on a table that sits just outside the reception room, between the bathrooms. Hopefully, a spot where they can’t miss it!

Anyone have any good tips on how to make sure guests actually sign the guest book (or interpretation thereof)?