As the days flow into September, I am reminded of all of the past weddings I’ve planned and the engagement season to come. I’ve seen so many beautifully creative ideas over the past years throughout the weddings I’ve worked, from first dance variations to the cakes!
Today I’d like to talk about how you can change your guest book to fit your needs. Long gone are the days of simply using a book to record who was at your wedding. Nowadays we have a multitude of options to cherish our guests, and today we have some clever ideas to personalize your guest “books” and make them stand out!
Book Alternatives: While you may not want a traditional book, you may still want a written record of who was at your wedding. You can use so many amazing things to capture your guests’ written names while not using a traditional book!
Some ideas are:
- If you love to garden…stones for your garden.
- If you both are wine sommeliers in the making…signatures on bottles of wine (you could label them for your 1st, 3rd, 5th anniversaries and so on!).
- Puzzle pieces for those cozy nights in.
- Matte a large poster from the first concert you went to and have loved ones sign around it.
- If you’re both world travelers, get a globe for guests to sign where they’re from.
Written notes of love: If you want to provide more space for your guests to leave you love letters instead of just signing their name, there are options for this as well. Take a deep dive into your interests and come up with an idea that means something to both of you.
- Love letters…get a mailbox (maybe one for your new home together!) and have guests leave you mail from the reception.
- If you both love to cook, have your guests leave their favorite recipes and some extra encouragement to keep the love cooking.
- Maybe you want some date ideas! Have your guests leave their best ones on some slips to crack into after your wedding night is long over.
- If you treasure other’s advice, consider having a book or photo book not only for signatures but to capture those hard lessons those who have come before you now know.
- One of my couples had their guests highlight a favorite verse or passage in the Bible and then sign their name(s) next to it!
Artwork: If you are more into the idea of having your loved ones’ signatures displayed in your home, there are many ways to do this! Many objects can become pieces of art with just a little touch of love.
- Have your guests take Polaroid photos of themselves on your big day and string them up on twinkle lights for you
r home décor. - Let your guests leave their mark with a fingerprint tree designed to capture their names while creating a beautiful masterpiece.
- Purchase a nicely polished piece of wood to accent your home and have guests sign their names.
- Create your favorite photo of the two of you and have guests sign around the matted area (my husband and I did this 30 years ago!).
During COVID-19, you might not want guests using the same pen or writing implement as they leave their best wishes. Set up a digital guest book where guests can leave messages for you rather than handling a guest book at the wedding by using a customizable app that can be downloaded on to phones/iPads or a customized link to send guests for them to click on and either type in their message or handwrite a message and upload an image of it! You can also make this available for those folks who have chosen not to attend the wedding in person, but want to share their best wishes with you. They sign and send their message through the app or link, which then gets transformed into a beautiful guestbook for you to keep. Here are a couple of options I found when I googled “digital guest books”. – MissDesignBerry.com and My Digital Guestbook
The ideas are endless! What’s really important is that you are personalizing these ideas to be uniquely yours. From basketballs to cookbooks, the ideas are truly expansive. I hope this list of mine has begun to get those creative juices flowing, but if you need help in planning the wedding that is authentically coordinated around your love – I am always here to help! Contact me today for more thoughts and ideas, as well as a free consultation!
Lexi
