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I would like to give a fair warning out to brides nearing their wedding day. It’s easy to put things off and plan to do them later. I think some of us assume that if it comes down to it and we run out of time, we can always throw money at the problem and let someone else do things for us.
I am here to tell you that I recently learned a difficult lesson…
Attempting to throw money at a problem does not always work!
I had originally planned to design guest book pages myself, then print them out and leave them on a table with place cards for people to fill out. However, I have been unable to replicate the awesomeness that others have created. After enough failed attempts, I started avoiding guest books in general.
Image via Weddingbee / Posted by michellybelly124
Honestly, I think I avoided working on a guest book for so long that I actually just forgot about it…
So when I finally remembered and we were so close to the wedding, I decided that throwing money at the issue would be my best solution. I was so sad when I received a reply back from a very talented Etsy seller that she would be unable to complete an order for us in time for the wedding (this was approximately 2.5 weeks prior to the wedding date). Epic fail procrastination on my part!
Amazeballs am I right?! (Image via Etsy/ Sold by CottageCreekArts)
This is one of those trees that you have guests fingerprint and sign. Honestly, I think this one is too pretty to even let guests near. I actually asked the seller about a different one (I still secretly hope I can convince Mr. Ticket that we need to buy this one just to frame and put on a wall in our home), since this one was significantly larger than what we needed. Shame on me for not getting on that bandwagon soon enough!
So now I’m back to the drawing board on the guest book issue. I don’t want to just have one of those plain Jane books where people sign their names and that’s it (no offense, Jane). There’s no time to order a beautiful photo book of our engagement shots for people to sign, either. So, I need your help, hive. I’m too tired to attempt to make this decision, and Mr. Ticket doesn’t really care. What do you think I should do?
I could design guest book pages like I originally planned, blow up one of our engagement pics, have it matted, and let people sign it, forgo the guest book altogether (we are having an anniversary box, anyways)…or do you have another idea?
Did you take care of your guestbook last minute? What did you end up doing?
I vote for this: blow up one of our engagement pics, have it matted, and let people sign it. One of our couple friends did this and has it framed and in their living room and it’s gorgeous. I really like this idea 
You can download a template like you’ve seen in the DIY boards, or I’m sure other nice bees would be happy to send you their templates! I have one I could send if you’d like. Mine has a spot for placing a picture after as opposed to drawing a picture as pictured in your post(Our wedding is going to be 150+ people and I think drawing pictures would take people too much time and crowd the table). I have several disposable cameras I bought and will have a sign directing people to take their pictures and then I am going to have the pics developed after the wedding and attach them to the pages in the spot I made and make a scrap book out of the pages. I am just printing the pages onto ivory cardstock (got a big bundle of it at Staples). Total it cost me about $40 for the disposable cameras and cardstock. Let me know if you’d like the template! I just made it in word.
I love the river-rock guest “books,” where people sign and write notes on rocks. Finding rocks might take a while (I don’t know if you can buy them?), but once you had the stones all you’d need is a sign explaining what to do with them.
Martha Stewart Weddings also has a mad libs guest book option that you can download. You might want to check that out.
What about a book with October photos in it? or the book of photos of your honeymoon spot?
I kinda had two guest books. First I did the photo mat, then I ordered a escort/guestbook box from cutthecakedesigns on Etsy. It was the most creative and original thing I did at my wedding and I absolutely loved it. I am sure you could easily design something similar without too much hassel.
i ordered business cards from vista print - “custom made” so they are all white and the top has a printed “love is…” on some of them and on others it says “wishing you…”
I bought a dozen or so pens in our wedding colors and am going to make a super quick and cheap note to frame that asks guests to fill out a card and leave it for the bride and groom. It was about $12 total for 250 of each card with slow shipping. I’m sure you can rush shipping and spend some money on that and for probably $20 have cute little cards for people to sign. Later I intend to put them into a scrap book of sorts….
I did a guest photo mat. We used on of our engagement pictures in the frame during the reception, and then swapped in our favorite wedding photo after the fact. It is hanging in our living room now and it makes me smile every time I see it. My best piece of advice for whatever you plan on doing is to have your wedding party sign your guest book/mat/rocks/tree during the rehearsal dinner to serve as “examples” so that guests at the reception will know whether you just want signatures, messages, advice, etc.
My friend made a small “scrapbook” guestbook, where she cut out squares of paper that coordinated with her colors and embeliished each with flowers, etc. on the corners. Then she provided variou colored pens, and later she can add pages with pictures, etc. It was really cute.
You could also have photo postcards made if you have rights to your engagement images (Office Max is pretty reasonable), and have guests take them and mail them back after the wedding is over.
Personally, I took the Jane route on this element of my wedding. I love more whimsical and creative alternatives, but just opted to put my efforts into other projects. Good luck!
One of my friends had her wedding guests sign the white mats she used to frame the wedding photos. It looks really cool hanging in their living room. So you could get the frames, and have your guests sign those, maybe with your engagement photos already inside.
First off thank you ladies for so many amazing ideas! I’m going to try to narrow it down from all your excellent suggestions.
@candykiss - I would LOVE to see your template. I’ve tried making my own using Microsoft Word and it is just not working for me at all.
@Meg - I have seen this before and completely forgotten about it, I’ll shoot the idea by Mr. Ticket and see what he thinks. I think it would be really cute to have in our home.
@WinterWhite2012 - I will definitely check that out, thank you!
@Jessica - I’m not sure we have time to get a book made, but I’ll definitely look into it. I love autumn photos.
@RachelD - That box idea is adorable! Did you get most people to sign both?
@adria1211 - Rush shipping! This is genius. Thanks!
@MsTerrapin - This is by far the best piece of advice I have been given. No matter what we choose I will make sure the bridal party signs it at the rehearsal dinner. Thank you!!!
@poelette13 - I’m loving the photo post card idea! I will look into this today. Thanks!
Style Unveiled has a free fingerprint tree guestbook template to download and you can even request your name and wedding date be added: http://styleunveiled.com/wedding-fingerprint-tree
We used it as our guestbook with different colored stamps and then set out pens for people to sign their print. We framed it and I think it looks gorgeous. That, at the photobooth scrapbook that people wrote in, are my favorite “guestbooks” from our wedding.
I had a good friend use a book of pictures from national parks. (She is a wildlife expert and both her and her husband are super out-doorsy) Maybe find a book you both enjoy and have guests sign that?
I like those recipe boxes where the person can fill in their name and a message, or, whatever you can delegate to someone else to get done on time
We bought a large coffee table book full of phtography from the city we live in now and had people sign the pages. People loved the idea and the book looks great sitting out with all of their notes in it. You could also do a book of photos from the city your honeymooning in, the city you met in, went to college in, grew up in, etc.
I like the blown up e-pic idea! Beautiful during and after the wedding.
@futureMrsCPT:
@RachelD:
@MsTerrapin:
@HBanan:
Like all of the above posters, I am planning on having the guests sign a mat for a framed photo from our wedding! Easy but meaningful!
I had a friend draw me my guest book. We’re doig the thumb idea. She took a picture of the house in the movie “Up” and put it on a projector and traced it on a cardboard taped to the wall. Ta-Da!!! Insta guest book! Took her like 2-3 hours. (Mainly b/c she arm kept getting tired.) You guys could do something like that.
Oh no, throwing money at it doesn’t work. I hate when that happens. 
Sadface! I would vote for the matted big photo… if you really like one of your photos. Otherwise maybe forgo the guest book? Lots of people tell me they are ignored at weddings, so I don’t even know how much ours will be touched.
I didn’t leave the guest book till the last minute… but I did leave my DIY parent present until now and I’m not sure I’ll get it done!
I can easily make you something like the one above in photoshop! Then you can print on 12×12 cardstock. message me if you are interested.=)
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Miss Ticket, Riverside, CA Age and Occupation: 25, Executive Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, HVAC Technician Engagement Date: November 14, 2010 Wedding Date: October 2011 Venue: Crestmore Manor About Me: I'm a lifelong So Cal gal, a chocoholic, a closet gamer, and a television enthusiast (love me some Vampire Diaries!) who adores playing in the kitchen and lives in flip flops. Mr. Ticket and I are best known for singing and dancing in the car, our World of Warcraft addiction, adoring food, crane game playing, and our general homebody ways. Oh, and GO STEELERS!
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