Wedding Blog
As much as I think our wedding is the next to last thing on Mr. Sunbeam’s mind at times, I was surprised one night to find that he bought a little something for our wedding without me even asking!
Alright, it’s not really a “little” something. This 1.5 L bottle of wine is our guestbook! I had been stressing over the fact that I hadn’t scanned in even one of the pictures I’d meticulously sorted out to create a photo guestbook. We started tossing around new guestbook ideas and Mr. Sunbeam went into action!
I love the idea of having our guests sign the bottle, then cracking it open on our N-th year anniversary and reminiscing about our wedding. He even spent an evening carefully removing the back label to maximize autographing space. And since he purchased it right before one of our trips back home, it’s one less thing we’ll have to haul home in September! Nice timing.
If you’re thinking, “I hope 2005 was a good year. 1.5L is a lot o’wine,” Mr. Sunbeam informed me that this bottle was rated as the best modern vintage since 1961 with an overall rating of 99/100 points, and can be kept for something like 25 years, maybe longer. Someone sure did his research! Now we just need to pick up a silver sharpie and this baby is checked off the list!
Are you planning on having a non traditional guestbook? Any wine bottle guestbooks out there? Has your FI surprised you by taking on a wedding duty unexpectedly?
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i love that idea! we considered getting a magnum as a guest book when we were hoping too have our reception in a winery. we ended up booking a different location … but i wonder if i can still make it work …….
what a great idea. this is such a creative idea & i love that you’ll be able to share the bottle of wine together for a special day in your future.
that’s a fun idea. Are you sure you’re going to have enough room though?
@LatteLove: We hope so! Maybe we can have a back up stashed somewhere just incase.
That is an AMAZING bottle of wine! I’m totally jealous. Just be sure to keep if at 65 degrees or so if you actually want to drink it in 25 years, and not just have it to look at all your life. Otherwise, it won’t keep that long.
Can you give me a link to where those ratings are? I’m very interested!
@Miss Cowboy Boot: Absolutley! http://www.kandlwines.com provides ratings for a lot of their wines, including this one.
Such a fabulous idea! If you haven’t used a paint-pen before, consider checking it out at Michaels!! Paint-pens show up on champagne bottles really well 
Mmmm I may need to borrow this, since I never ordered that engagement pic book I wanted :-/
I agree with Futuremrsm…. use a paint pen. Silver sharpie tends not to work so well on glass, and can get rubbed off pretty easily
What a great idea! I love it and may steal it!!
Could you make cute adhesive labels that guests could write on and then stick on the bottle?
awww how cute, we are also doing an “untraditional” guest book. we are having a “wishing tree”. I folded paper cranes and attached a square of cardstock and they will be hanging on manzanita branches. after the reception we will display them in a picture frame that will be hung in our home. <3
great idea we will be using a wish bowl which is not entirely untraditional but enough to make our older relatives think it is 
that is a really lovely idea. i never considered having a guestbook but this is such a great idea (and an excuse to get something extravagant like a barolo or something) that i might just have to borrow (i.e. copy) mr. sunbeam’s idea!
Fab idea, just love it! We’re doing an non-traditional guest book idea too, but I’m keeping it a secret until I have mock up photos to share.
We are using pictures of us in mats (no frame) as table “numbers.” The guests will hopefully sign around the pictures. I’m going to ask the photographer to take a picture of each table. Then our pics are going to be removed and I’m going to put the pics of the guests in the mats and mount them in a scrapbook.
Love this idea!! We are using a scrapbook page which our guests will sign and we will add it to our wedding album!
i love when people do this! so much more interesting to sign! you can keep it after you drink the wine and use it like a vase.
I absolutely love this idea!!! I think I might use it!
I love it! I’ve been agonizing over the guest book. Like many bees and pp’s, I haven’t gotten around to the picture book yet…maybe I’ll do this instead! Not sure how my family of non-drinkers will feel about it…but still, super fun!
What a great idea! I am planning to use a photo frame that I had found on ebay. The mat is some sort of metal and our guests will sign with a special pen that will actually engrave their signatures so it is supposed to last forever. Have any of you used one of these before? They say that the pen is easy to use and I am hoping so. I just thought it would be something that would last forever and hang where we would actually see it, rather than a guest book that I will probably never look at again.
I will have to let my friend know about the wine bottle idea. She is having a wine-themed wedding.
Thanks for sharing!
what a neat idea! Are you having a large party? Putting anything on the label? How will everyone sign just one bottle?
Yeah, definitely use the paint pen. Not only do they rub off glass, they lose their metallic-ness really fast, so if you have more than ten people to sign it may not show up.
@Irishker03: There will be about 100 people (so like 60 couples, most people sign as a couple). We’re not really expecting messages or anything, since that could be put in a card, mostly signatures so it should be ok! It’s a big bottle, but maybe we’ll have a secret back up bottle. But hey if it gets filled to it’s max I’m sure our guests won’t freak out
So cool! My fiance proposed while we were in San Francisco, and we visited Sonoma while we were out there… AND I had just finished bartending at a restaurant in NY with great wine.. so vino is pretty well tied in with our proposal and that time in my life. I may copy this idea. But how to get my man to think of it on his own…. hmm…
such a cute idea! I wish Mr. Poodle was a lil bit more into wine
I second srogan12. If you plan to drink it even a few years down the road, be sure to keep it in a cool, and dark place, out of the sunlight, otherwise that pricey bottle will be no good in no time. Great idea though!
THat is a great idea. We are going untraditional with the guest book also. We are going to get an unfinished cedar chest and have people sign it. After the wedding we will have it finished to seal in the well wishes. Plus, any wedding keepsakes can be stored in it, including my heirloomed dress.
Wow that is SUCH a cool idea! I may see what the fiance thinks about doing this
i LOVE this idea!! thanks for sharing…good job mr. sunbeam!
What a great idea! I tossed that idea around a bit before deciding on our guest book…
My fiance is an avid skier (pretty much learned to ski before he could walk!) So as my surprise gift to him, I’ve ordered antique skis for our guest book!! Everyone will hopefully sign them, then I’ll have them sealed (with something?) and then they will hang on our wall.
I hope he will love it
We are using a 3L bottle of Joullian wine from Carmel Valley, CA for our guest book. We plan on opening it on our first anniversary and after that using it as a change jar to save for vacations! I love that it is something we would have out and see everyday:) I am planning on having a couple of gold paint pens for guest to sign with…
Well Miss Sunbeam you have just solved my problem of “what will the guestbook be?!!” This is excatly why I LOVE weddingbee!!!! Awesome idea & thanks so much for sharing!!
We’re doing a similar thing but we are having five bottles. One for each of our first five anniversaries and I am having a sign explaining we will open one bottle on each of the anniversaries so write us words of advice and well wishes.
I love this idea! I would have done it had we not been flying to the location and then getting onto a cruise (customs isnt too friendly about it…)
A wedding I went to in April did different bottles of their fave wines and had them marked the years they were going to drink them..1,2,3,4,5,10,15,25,30,50 and then the guests signed the wine of their choice with their well wishes!
My sister did this a couple weeks ago, and before hand she tested out all the pens - the silver sharpie got a big thumbs DOWN, but the White Sharpie PAINT Pens worked great. Read about it on my blog here:
http://heathereve.blogspot.com/2009/07/another-wedding-down-various-craft.html
its the last of a few DIYs from her wedding I feature on that post.
So happy to have inspired some of you! and @Heather: Thanks for the tip
* Also keep in mind that we removed the huge back label so there is more room to sign.
This is AWESOME! My FI and I already had the idea of saving one of the bottles of wine we serve at the reception and aging it for a year for our anniversary…but I hadn’t even thought about having people sign it as a guestbook! That is just fab!!!!
What a great idea! And hats off to Mr. Sunbeam for taking this project off your hands.
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Mrs. Sunbeam, San Francisco/Grove City, PA
Age and Occupation: 26, Grad Student & Office Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Motion Designer
Engagement Date: May 10, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: Harbison Chapel & The Maple Lane Farm
About Me: Mr. Sunbeam and I are high school sweethearts. We both come from a small town in PA but are growing to love the California lifestyle. He loves wine and I love cheese... the perfect combination! When I'm not drooling over wedding blogs, I'm attending grad school, out being a foodie, or attempting to "walk" our cat at the park. Two things guaranteed to excite me are wedding cakes and breaking out my suitcase to travel. Mr. Sunbeam and I are personalizing our hometown wedding to celebrate our high school sweetheart status and PA roots with a few CA touches. After ten years of dating we couldn't be more excited to call each other husband and wife!
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