Weddingbee Blog

Howdy hive, how have you been? I’ve been busy with school and work and school and… well, you get the picture. Mr. Mary Jane and I are still totally stoked for our Jamaica honeymoon, coming up in just a few short months.

Anyway, I finally figured that — with wedding season upon us — I ought to take a moment to show you a little DIY project I finished up several weeks back.

Mr. Mary Jane and I did not have a guestbook at our wedding. It’s not hard to remember the names of our parents and brothers, so there was no need! There was a piece of paper laid out at our picnic reception, but I don’t think many people signed it. (And I never saw it. Maybe my MIL has it?) Anyway, the point is: we did not have a guestbook.

We did, however, have no shortage of “congratulations” from others. As people heard the news of our wedding, we received dozens upon dozens of beautiful cards, letters and notes in the weeks surrounding our wedding day. I saved them all, determined to preserve them in some way.

I also made sure to keep extra copies of all of our paper products. Then, everything sat in a stack in our office until February. (What can I say, I’m busy!)

I eventually picked up a scrapbook (8×8) on sale at Michaels.

Finally, during the 2010 Winter Olympics, I decided to work on the project. (It’s pretty much the only TV I’ve watched in years — and I felt too antsy to just sit and watch it without doing something!) I grabbed my huge stack of cards and went through them. I separated pretty pictures from heartfelt notes. This way, I could make sure that no one’s thoughtful sentiments ended up wrong-side down in the scrapbook. The cards from people who had only signed their names were put in a pile to be used as embellishments. When that was done, I had this.

Added bonus: While sorting, I found a $50 Target Gift Card still tucked away in one of the cards! Score!

And then… I just went at it. I used them just like you’d use various materials in a scrapbook. I freed myself from using entire card-covers, instead choosing to cut out the parts I liked. Some cards are only represented by a small portion of their original design, while others are in the scrapbook in their entirety. Colored paper inserts became backgrounds. Patterns on large cards became borders. I used double-sided archival tape-squares to hold it all together.

First, I put in our picnic Save-the-Date and the invitation I received (from Mr. Mary Jane’s aunts) to my bridal shower.

I followed those with the cards I received at the shower…

… and then our picnic invitations made their appearance.

Time for the cards! I tried to find cards that looked nice together. (Modern cards for one page, old-fashioned-looking cards on another, etc.)

I also made sure to showcase the advice and well-wishes that were written to us in some of the cards.

If you want to do this, my best tip is actually to wait a few months after your wedding before starting the project. We received our last wedding congratulations card after Christmas (nearly 4 months after our wedding date!).

I’m really happy with the way the album came out. It was fun to look at the cards again, and now they’re in a format that’s easy to thumb through and reflect upon whenever we please. The best part is: this project’s total cost was under $20 and it was really easy to do. I’d say I spent about 8 hours on it, but that would depend on how many cards you receive.

How will you preserve the pretty paper products from your wedding?