A looooong time ago, I decided I wanted a giant monogram for our guestbook. Mr. Dragon was fine with the idea, and Dad Dragon is keen in the wood shop, so we asked him if he could build us a big ol’ B for our guests to sign. I’ve only seen a glimpse of it, but I can tell you that it’s a big, big letter!
Dad Dragon even figured out the best pen type/varnish configuration, so it should last for a good, long time. I can’t wait to display it with our yarn letters after the wedding. But, I still wanted some kind of guestbook our friends and family could sign, just in case the initial was a bit too out there for some.
In a fantastic stroke of luck, I scored a coupon for a free 8×8 Shutterfly photo book! It just showed up in the mail, and I’m pretty excited.
It’s a small book, and pretty thin, but we’re having 50 guests max, so it’s enough for everyone to sign, I think.
Check out that texture!
The first few pages are full of information and instruction, and then there are a bunch of different spreads for people to sign. Only a handful will get to do the fun “fill in the blank” pages so I hope they do a good job!
Because I used a pre-made style (Wedding Collection: Guestbook), I paid a bit beyond what was covered in my coupon. With that and shipping though, it was still only $11! My tips? If you’re having a bigger wedding, definitely include more pages or make the book larger (or both). And if you’re using one of the pre-made templates, make sure you switch EVERY SINGLE dummy name. Some were hiding, like on the spine of the book!
Here’s the (kind of) funny thing: the book got lost in the mail. It wasn’t in my mailbox when it was supposed to be, and because it was an international order, it wasn’t trackable. Shutterfly was awesome and immediately put a new one in the mail-but I’m pretty sure this one, which I just got, is actually the first one. So I might end up with two! Should I put them both out, or would that just be weird?
And, while I’m asking questions, what’s the best pen for signing glossy books like this?
You did a great job! I love the photo guestbook idea. I have been working on mine on another site, but I might look at shutterfly.
I just got finished ordering the same book this past weekend. We haven’t received ours yet, but I can’t wait to see it. (I’m a little worried now about the names on the spine of the book…)
We’ve been testing out pins on another book we’ve ordered from apple and so far we like a scrapbooking pin that I found at Michael’s called Recollections. It smears a tiny bit but by far it has the least amount of smear of any pen we’ve tried
It looks great!!
MrN & I want to do a thumbprint tree however some guests won’t do it so I wanted a guestbook for signing as well & yours is GREAT!!!
Shutterfly is good, I’ve had pictures not show up & they’ve resent the order then I got the originals (or 2nd set) so I ended up with 2 sets (doubles for the price of singles) which was good as it was our engagement pics so I shared with our parents. 
Beautiful book! I would suggest fine tip sharpies (in different colors for even more fun!)
LOVE THIS! Its AMAZING! I just made a photobook for our guestbook…it’s simple but works.I want to start over and make one like yours! how fun! Great job!
Love this! I just made an engagement pictures book for Mr. T through Shutterfly. I would suggest fine tip Sharpie pens.
It’s so cute! I used a free 8×8 shutterfly book for my guestbook too, and I loved it! I had 115 guests and there was still plenty of room left for notes. All of my pages were photos and blank areas to write, though–when I made mine, they didn’t have the guestbook template yet. Either way, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of room!
As for the pen, I scrapbook and we use a pen called “Slick Writer” for anything glossy. It doesn’t smear at all! It comes in different colors and you can get fine, medium, or broad tip at Michaels or other craft stores.
I’d go with the tried-and-true Sharpies for signing–no worries about bleeding, feathering or rubbing off, available in lots of colors, and pretty easy to find.
We did this for our guestbook too, and we used fine-tip sharpies. Worked great – no smudges.
Just put them both out, then more than one person can sigh at the same time.
wow, i didn’t know shutterfly had wedding albums like that! i actually really like it- and this is coming from someone who never liked guestbook photo albums!
i especially like the mad libs, etc- so if people are more adventerous then can fill that out, or just leave their name.
i might do this now…
@FutureMrsSpencer: It was all Shutterfly! The only thing I changed in the template were our names.
@MrsGreyhound: There were SO many spots the names and initials were in!!
@Alleycat: Oh, good to hear! I think there will be enough spaces for people–and they can sign over pictures, if they’d like!
@MzJynxie: I’m thinking about it! I just would rather have one really full rather than two half-empty.
So cute! I love the mix of Mad Libs, advice, and happiness.
We did a shutterfly guest book also (ALSO with a freebie coupon.). We went a different route – we used pictures of the 2 of us throughout our relationship (been together for 8 years) and left every other page blank and wrote GUESTS at the top and let them sign yearbook style. We had about 85 guests, and it seemed to be the perfect amount of space – every page was used and it was full but not cramped (our book was 27 pages, I just checked – and every other page was blank except for the heading at the top). If we would have had any more guests, we would definitely recommend adding more pages also. It’s the perfect size and it’s something we’d like looking at for years to come – especially since it’s filled with memories of us throughout our relationship.
Just wanted to comment because i think it was a great idea and i’m glad someone else did it too!!
I also wanted to add….. we ended up using a good old ball point pen (a fancy one – but ball point none the less). We tried fine tip sharpies (they smeared everywhere!) and we tried about 10 other types of pens as well – including the ugly scrapbooking pens from Michaels. They all smeared unless you let the page dry….. we were worried that people would sign and then flip the page or close the book, so we stuck with the ball point pen – just wanted to throw that in!
So, so adorable! Your guests will love it and it will be so fun to read after the wedding!
Mrs. Dragon, Sioux Lookout/Brockville, ON Age and Occupation: 24, Journalist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Graphic Designer Engagement Date: August 22, 2011 Wedding Date: September 2012 Venue: Mother of the Bride’s Residence About Me: I moved to Northern Ontario for a job, expecting to be single for the year I'd be there. Within one month I was dating a co-worker, and now, more than two years later, we’re planning a wedding and I’m still a Northern girl. I’m a reporter and a photographer for a small-town newspaper, and I get to do all kinds of fun, exciting, and sometimes weird things at work. When I’m not getting the scoop, I’m cooking, adventuring, playing with our three black cats, or blogging.
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