When I first saw the fingerprint-tree guestbook idea, I fell in love. It’s more than perfect, it’s sweet, it’s simple, it’s different (for local standards), and it can have that autumn vibe I’m so in love with.
At the beginning of our engagement I could have sworn we were going to have a fingerprint guestbook. I looked at Etsy shops (as much as I’m scared of Etsy prices), I looked at local printers to see how easy it’ll be to print it locally, I even asked around for designers who could draw one for me. I eventually set the idea aside as something I’d worry about closer to the wedding.
When “closer to the wedding” came I started realizing the snags in the fingerprint guestbook idea: We expect to have over 260 guests; that’ll make a huge tree and might end up in a big mess, and I fear some guests will think it fun to just play with it and mess it up (genuine concern, people). At the same time I fear our guests will not pay attention to the guestbook and we’ll end up with a nearly empty tree.
I also considered a signed photo frame like Mrs. Wizard’s idea:
Mrs. Wizard’s photo frame guestbook
That idea’s still floating in my head, but I do have some concerns about it: We’ll need a frame that can fit nearly 200 signatures, and I fear people will mess it up. A few weeks ago I was looking at my niece’s quinceanera guestbook. It was a simple “sign the line” guestbook, but people started filling it with messages, taking more than three lines—some people even took one entire page just to write “Happy birthday,” so I fear people taking this kind of liberties with our guestbook (whatever it ends up being) and, well, ruining it.
A solution to the problem of people messing it up was a wish tree:
Wishing tree guestbook via My DIY Wedding Day / Photo by Sara Remington/Anna Kuperberg Photography
It has the benefit of individual cards that can be discarded if inappropriate; the big question came when I started wondering what would I do with them. How could I display them? Because, believe me, if I keep them as cards I’ll put them in a box and forget about them. We need a guestbook that could be somehow displayed in our home.
We don’t have enough space for a bench:
Guestbook bench by Mrs. Sand Dollar
And as cute as signed corks or rocks sound, they’ll end up stored and forgotten just as the best wishes cards would.
Wishing stone guestbook by Mrs. Cola
Do I really want a guestbook? Not really—it’s one of those things I could have or not and won’t make a great difference, but I love the idea of a wedding keepsake that can be displayed in our home.
What kind of guestbook did you have/are you having? How do you display it? Has anyone decided to forgo a guestbook? Did you regret it?
Lol I am just loving the fact that the couple in your wedding tree photo was married on my birthday 
We are doing a wishing tree that is going to have fall leaf tags so it will look like a fall tree. I was planning to take the tags when I am done and place them in a frame with the signed portion out for us to see always. Our guest list is a lot smaller though, but I have always heard that usually only half of the guests for the tree. Maybe you could do two things, a tree and a frame to sign or something.
You could do what I did. I did a tree guest book, but had people stamp it with a leaf-shaped stamp instead of their finger prints. You could buy cute little leaf-shaped stamps and put out different fall colored inks. There’s still a chance someone will make a mistake, but it’s less messy than the thumbprints.
My husband is a pilot, so we had people sign a cool wooden propeller. It looks awesome! We plan to mount it on the wall in our living room.
Honestly — I don’t think people will mess up your guestbook! If you have a frame, they really should recognize that there is a finite amount of space to sign. Fingerprints could result in play if you have children in attendance, but I think adults would be respectful.
Good luck!
For what it’s worth, I will tell you that I love our photo mat (& thanks for the shout out! haha), but we ran out of signature space before everyone got to sign it. And we only had 100 guests! Many people signed “from the family” rather than each individual person so we maybe only would have had 60-70 signatures, but I think the people who signed it first were like WOO LOOK AT ALL THIS SPACE!! and wrote huge, and then the people who didn’t get there till later had just little nooks and crannies to cram their signatures into, and/or didn’t sign at all.
What about doing two fingerprint trees? You could hang them side by side in your home!
I got my tree for FREE by doing this DIY tutorial
http://onefabday.com/diy-project-free-fingerprint-tree-template/
I just bought a cheap 11×17 frame from walmart that i will take the glass out of for the day of the wedding and then after the thumb prints are all there and the wedding is over we will put ours in a nice frame.
Our thumbprint tree went over amazingly well. We had about 200 people sign it and it looks beautiful. Some couples just did one thumb and signed both names while others each did their own print. We had my parents and a few bridesmaids do theirs first as an example to the other guests. It was the first thing they saw when walking into our venue. We got the biggest tree from the Etsy vendor you listed and our tree is full, but there was still plenty of room for more.
Oh – and I bought an Ikea frame for it. I did a post on it but will be showing the finalized product in an upcoming post!
Just a thought — if you don’t care too much about the guest book, do the wishing tree. Afterward, put the tags in a scrapbook or something with some wedding photos. That way, you still have a guest book and you can pull it out and look at it from time to time or share with your kids some day in the future.
My FI and I went through all of the above options too before deciding on our not one.. but two guestbooks. My mother found a beautiful leather embossed guest book that portrays the tree of life on the front and inside enough space to leave notes and well wishes.
Our other guestbook we decided to do because both of us are artsy and I recently made a lovely 3d inspiration shadow box for my mother out of butterflies. So I am purchasing a large butterfly punch and putting them in a basket so our guests will sign their names only on them in silver/black (butterflies will range in hue from white to purple) so I can make an art display for our home later like the one I did for my mother.
I think you should do the wishing tree…guests can write as much (or as little) as they want and after the wedding you and Mr. Toadstool can find a fun way to display them (make a scrapbook with them, place them in a box, make a collage and frame them).
We got a tree print for 200 guests it ended up being 2ft by 3ft. Big but manageable, besides trying to fit it into the tiny Michael’s shopping cart! It also had different shades of blue (our color) dots to sign on instead of the messy fingerprints. If the message on a dot is inappropriate, I figure I can take it off and replace with a blank one or draw something on it.
I worked up a shutterfly book of all our engagement photo’s leaving plenty of white space for guests to sign. We’ll keep it on the coffee table and then anyone can look at it while we still get a showcase of all our favorite engagement photo shots.
I’m doing a book with little envelopes glued in t (4 per page) and placing the cards in a bowl. I am going to have my guests write a loving memory or well wish for our marriage:) something we can cherish for many years to come
We did a beach themed spin off of your fingerprint tree above – the Fingerprint Palm Tree. Perfectly manageable for 30 guests! It also had two little birds in the tree with our names above them, and our initials “carved” into the trunk of the palm tree.
I did a thumbprint tree for my bridal shower, but I needed that frame for the wedding so I took out the thumbprint tree and now I have no idea where it is! Haha. For the wedding, I did a photo guestbook. It looks a little sparse though because not everyone signed it.
One of my friends did twist on the wish tree with paper for guests to write messages on and then hung them up on a line with mini clothespins. Just (another) idea for you
http://diy.weddingbee.com/topic/diy-tree-guestbook-alternative
This is a tutorial that I did for our guestbook tree, instead of doing the thumbprints, that way everyone gets their own little leaf and that will give them a limited space.
Initially we wanted to do the hanging leaves for a wish tree for everyone to write their well wishes and advice. but we went with this!
Good luck!
We bought an historical print of Fredericksburg, Virginia (where we live and where we’re getting married) for guests to sign. After the wedding we’re framing it and putting it in our home office. It suits the historical, shabby chic feel of out wedding perfectly.
have you seen the guest book puzzles? every body signs one piece then you can put it together and frame it, and you can buy them in tons of shapes, even trees!
Mrs. Toadstool, Obregon, Mexico Age and Occupation: 23, Research Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales Manager Engagement Date: October 1, 2011 Wedding Date: December 2012 Venue: Hacienda los Agaves About Me: I’m a born and bred Mexican girl with a severe coffee addiction, an obsession for books and an aversion for exercise. I like to plan things, so this wedding’s my dream project---I just need to remind myself from time to time that I’m the bride and not just the planner. I recently realized brown’s my favorite color as I was trying to incorporate it in every aspect of our wedding and I'm dreaming of an autumn vibe since we don’t have that around here. I’m marrying my best friend and partner in crime on the day of our nine-year anniversary! He’s an awesome, smart, fun guy who is patient, and crazy enough to spend the rest of his life with me. We’re planning our not-so-dreamy dream wedding in December in a non-traditional way and making it our own.
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