Wedding Blog
I have been stumbling along the internet trying to think of a creative guest book. There are a lot of good and popular ideas that I like, such as the photo book, photo booth, wish tree/stones but I just can’t decide on one that will be simple, cheap and easy for my guests to “get.”
One idea I am kicking around is to do a Sketchbook Guest Book. I have always loved sketchbooks, since my days in art school. So many little pieces of art in one place.
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The plan would be to purchase a perfect bound book and cover it in copper flashing. Then along with pens next to the book I will have small pieces of paper, double stick tape and colored pencils. (I’ll try to pick tidy craft supplies.) Then ask everyone to make a little drawing or doodle on the scrap along with their name and put it in the book with a glue stick.
What do you guys think? Will people be into it? Too messy, complicated, time consuming?
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I know this is very un-DIY of me (and not exactly cheap), but I love this, maybe it can be inspiration:
http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=14449
There’s a matching photo album, too.
I think it depends on how many guests you have. If you have a lot of guests, I think it will take the guests a while to think of something creative to write/draw. The line could get long, and you may miss some guests due to the wait. But I think it’s a VERY cute idea!
My friend did this at her wedding and I think people really enjoyed it…she went to an arts high school, and so I think people liked that it fit her personality. Also, it allowed guests who may not be so creative in writing to express their unique personalities through their drawings and other mini-pieces of art!
I’ve done this before. I put out fun stickers and colored pencils. Most people just wrote something with the colored pencils but some people did drew and use the stickers and it turned out really cool! I’d recommend it as long as you give people a heads up early in the reception so that everyone has a chance to be creative. If no one realizes it’s there until the end they’ll probably just do something quick and easy. But even if they do just write in the cool colors, that’s more then they would have done in a more “normal” guest book so there’s nothing lost!
very creative…..i’m also thinking time consuming. Regarding your guests, would you consider them a creative bunch? would there be enough “takers” for this project, or would you just get Uncle Tom’s signature along with many others in colored pencil instead of ink……this is one of the points I’m currently condsidering. ……not sure how creative our guests will be…..
One of my friends did a similar idea - she had everyone write small notes that she could incorporate into her overall wedding scrapbook. To alleviate line issues, the scraps were at the tables and she actually incorporated the pens into her centerpieces by wrapping them in green floral tape and attaching a silk flower to the end. Then near the card box/gift table area she had a box designated for dropping off the scraps so people were free to write as they pleased throughout the night without waiting in line or feeling like they were holding anything up by writing something really thoughtful (or silly!)
I actually just found this guestbook company
http://www.guestbookstore.com/index.html
that has the drawing and also the formal aspect of including some info that you might want to have for the future when you look back on the wedding. They offer a spot for the guests to draw a picture of themselves along with room for writing comments. You can also insert blank pages for more drawing if you choose.
I think this is the route that my FI and I are going instead of the guestbook frame like I originally planned for.
Good luck with your project!
I think that you know your guests better than anyone… will they be receptive? I’ve found that with some weddings it is hard enough just to get them to sign their name… and then at others I’ve had amazing success with off-beat guest books (photo stations/video stations/etc)… just keep the guests in mind and cater to their personalities… I think it is a great idea for the right crowd.
I think you can solve the issue of any potential line by either having extra cards and pencils on the tables, or having your attendants distribute extra cards and pencils to the tables at some point in the reception. If you have some children to help out, I’m sure they would love to go from table to table with baskets of cards and coloring supplies. And it would be fun to also have little boxes of crayons - I think that even adults love crayons.
yeah, i would use one of the scrapbooks where you can take the pages out so you can spread them across the table. i love the idea, just make sure many people can access it at the same time!
Laura - another friend used that for her wedding and her bridal shower and they were a huge hit. I think I’m going to use them for my bridal shower but will use something else for the wedding (we wanted to socialize at the wedding, not spend 15 minutes trying to fill out the whole darn card, but that may have just been my opinion).
That is similar to what we WERE going to do. We were going to put a large colored piece of scrapbook paper on each table with markers. The scrapbook paper was going to have a 4×6 note on it explaining that drawings and doodles are appreciated, etc. Then after the wedding, we were going to replace the note with a photo of that table full of guests and put it into a scrapbook.
I’m a graphic artist, so this was tying me in.
BUT- we abandoned the idea. Many of our guests are Polish and wouldn’t get it. The concept is too out there for them. And we’re already doing lots of other seemingly out there things.
Instead we are going a signature platter out next to the placecards. Much easier to understand. And something we’ll actually use.
Personally, I think, while cute, your plan sounds too time consuming for people. I think people will see a long line, then plan to come back later and then forget. 
Maybe the scrapbook sheet per table idea might work for you. No line, more likely people will do it.
I like the idea….Someone suggested having the bridal party prompt guests to make sure they contribute to the guest book. I agree with that. Even with a regular guest book not everyone takes the time to sign it. As long as you are ok with having fewer really cool entries rather than a lot of standard signatures I say go for it. Honestly I don’t even know where our guest book is but I am sure if it was a sketch book I would have it displayed somewhere in my house.
I like the idea (& the guestbook store ideas, as well–I think I want to use theirs as inspiration, since I think having prompts will help inspire people)
but I think I would skip the step of having the guests glue the pages in the book themselves. It seems like that extra step would add messiness and a longer line…
I think it’s a wonderful idea but it would be very time consuming.
[...] we have our photo guestbook. I had grand ideas for the guestbook, possibly a sketchbook. In the end we decided to go with a photo people can sign around to keep things simple. The [...]
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Mrs. Pineapple, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 24, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Student Affairs Administration
Engagement Date: August 4, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: April 14, 2008
Venue: The Rivers Club
About Me: Being a transplant from sunny south Florida I am learning to live with all four seasons while playing with our cat collective, line dancing, and doing a ton of DIY projects for our wedding (seriously, like a thousand)!
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