Signing the guest book is an important tradition at a wedding. The bride and groom will have hours of fun in the future looking at all the messages. In fact, this is why you should always write a message that reflects how you feel, the longer the happy couple are married, the funnier the comments will get! But, just because traditional states a guest book is necessary doesn’t mean that you need to use an actual book. There are plenty of other wedding guest book ideas which will inspire you.
Wedding Guest Book Ideas
1. The Photo Chart
This is proving to be one of the most popular wedding guest book ideas of recent years. It is actually an extension of the disposable cameras that were so common 10-20 years ago.
The idea is that you leave a Polaroid camera on the table and every wedding guest takes a picture with it. The photo is printed virtually instantly and can then be hung in a frame to create the guest book.
Guests can choose to write a personal note on the front or back of the photo. Encourage them to make the photos as silly as possible, you want to laugh at them in the future.
If the hanging frame seems too complicated then just use a traditional photo album as the guest book, it will serve the same purpose at your wedding and be an easier guest book to store!
It is worth noting that you can take this a step further and hire a photo booth for your wedding day. This will allow your guests to take a photo for your guest book and keep a duplicate for themselves.
2. Message In A Bottle
Another great idea for a guest book on your wedding day is the message in a bottle. The premise is that every guest will write a message on a piece of paper, roll it up and then slide it into the bottle.
Of course, there are variants of this theme to ensure your wedding guest book is perfectly tailored for you:
- Use miniature bottles so everyone has an individual bottle; you may have to drink the alcohol first!
- Make everyone write a traditional goodwill message celebrating your wedding.
- Turn it into an advice guest book by requesting that everyone give a piece of advice on their note.
- Make a dream by asking all your wedding guests to write where they think you will be as a couple in one year. You’ll have to wait a year to read these notes!
The variations to this guest book theme are really only limited by your imagination.
3. Create A Plate
If you have a love of crockery then you may like this idea for a guest book. All you need is a few plates and some good permanent markers. The exact number of plates to make a guest book will depend on the number of wedding guests, make sure you have some spares!
Invite all of your wedding guests to sign on the plates and leave a message, if they wish. Instead of your guest book gathering dust on the shelf, it can gather dust on display for all to see.
It’s a great way to remember that special day.
4. Magic Spells
This is a particularly special idea for a guest book if you’re into Harry Potter or any other magic-themed universe. In fact, you can choose to do this is several ways, depending on your preference.
Guests can be asked to create spells on archaic looking paper, which will give you a long and happy life together. Alternatively, you can supply them all with home-made wands and ask them to sign the wands, allowing you to display this unusual guest book in the fashion of your choosing.
Another option is to incorporate the magic spells, or another theme for your wedding, with the Polaroid guest book. In effect, your wedding guests will have the opportunity to dress up and take a photo of themselves for your guest book.
If you want to take this guest book a step further use a video camera or tablet instead. Every wedding guest can then video themselves and leave you a message for the future.
If people aren’t sure about creating spells you can always have some pre-prepared for them and just leave a space for them to sign or write a message.
5. Sands Of Time
If you don’t mind a little mess then this is a great guest book idea, especially for any children at your wedding. All you need is some cardboard, glue, and sand or even glitter.
People can write their name or a short message in glue and then pour the glitter/sand over it. The problem with this guest book is that it can take time for all the wedding messages to dry. You’ll also need to wrap them all in something like cling film to ensure the glitter and sand stays where it should.
An alternative is to have small bottles which can be filled with different color sands and glitter. People can write their name on the jar and seal it closed, giving you a persona and creativity memento as your guest book.
6. A Puzzling Piece
If you plan it right then your wedding guests can focus on the guest book between the main event and the evening party. This will help to ensure everyone has put an entry in your guest book without disrupting the wedding party.
The idea is to buy or create a large wooden puzzle, there is no picture! You can leave it together and get every guest to sign it, or you can separate all the pieces, giving each guest a piece each to sign and deposit in the guest book jar.
You’ll then have the fun of putting it together and hoping all the pieces are there!
7. Board Spiel
A simpler approach to using wood is to create a wooden board. A heart shape is often chosen because it represents love on your wedding day. Of course, the board can be in any shape.
In the middle of the board you’ll need to write your names and the wedding date. You can also write the words “guest book” at the top although this isn’t really necessary.
You then have two choices to complete your guest book, depending on your preference:
1. Write On It
Using permanent markers or perhaps a good quality pen, your guests will be able to write their name and a short message directly onto the wooden guest book. This can then be covered with a clear varnish and preserved for all eternity!
2. Add Hearts To It
The alternative approach to this guest book is to create small versions of the large board. If you opted for the traditional heart-shaped wooden guest book then you’ll need lots of small wooden hearts.
You’ll also need to add a frame to the edge of your large heart, ensuring the smaller ones are held in place.
People write their messages on the smaller hearts and add them to the board. You can then cover the wooden guest book with something to ensure you don’t lose the small hearts.
8. Jenga Tower
If you’ve ever played Jenga you’ll know how frustrating and fun this game can be. But, you may not have considered turning it into your wedding guest book!
The premise of the game is the same but instead of guests playing it, you set it up and leave pens with it. The challenge for all wedding guests is to remove a block, write a message on it, and then place it on the top; without knocking it over!
By the end of your wedding night, your Jenga guest book could be standing tall or might be scattered across the room! The actual result is likely to be linked with the amount of alcohol being consumed at your wedding!
It is possible you can make this more entertaining for you and your wedding guests while retaining its function as a guest book. Simply place a message on each block challenging the reader to do something before they leave their message.
The return message can be traditional celebrations or a challenge for the bride and groom in the future.
9. Date Night Challenge
The advice style guest book has become an extremely popular approach at weddings. In essence, all these types of guest books work in the same way, happily married couples, not so happily married couples, and singletons all leave words of advice for the happy couple.
The wedding couple agrees to open one piece of advice a day/week/month and to do what it says. They may even need to report back if the advice giver has identified themselves in the guest book.
This is fun as a guest book but also serves a valuable purpose as it should help a young couple to overcome any early obstacles.
If you’re feeling cheeky you can even add your own challenges to the guest book, just to make sure your partner does keep working at the relationship long after your wedding day.
The mode of leaving advice depends on your preference, simply notes in a bowl, the message in a bottle, or perhaps sealed envelopes in a ballet style box; the choices are endless.
10. Quilted love
If you’re into crafts then you may like to force your wedding guests to try their hand at some crafting. Of course, you’ll need to keep it simple and quick or you won’t have many entries in your guest book!
The quilt is a great guest book idea as you can use it on your bed or simply keep it safe for the future. The idea is that every wedding guest signs a piece of fabric, adds a message if they wish, and then, using the sewing machine provided attaches it to a quilt.
Hopefully, all your wedding guests will be able to follow the simple instructions that allow them to sew the fabric to the quit in less than a minute.
If they don’t you may be left with a pile of fabrics to sew yourself! While this may not be the aim it is still worth doing as the quilt is a wedding guest book idea you can use it daily and appreciate it forever.
11. Fingerprinting
You’d think we’d have run out of ideas by now but there are still a few more great guest books to consider!
Fingerprinting is an interesting way to create a guest book and should be fun. However, you will need to weigh up people’s response to having their fingerprint taken before you decide this is the right guest book for your wedding day.
You can choose to use paper or fabric and you’ll need some ink pads and an effective way of removing the ink from people’s hands, otherwise, it won’t be just the guest book that is covered in visible fingerprints!
Every wedding guest puts a fingerprint or some other inking on the fabric and writes a message underneath; you can then review the guest book whenever you like or simply use it as a tablecloth!
12. Sign The Wedding Dress!
This idea is not for the faint-hearted!
You can choose to make your wedding dress the guest book. The theory behind this is that most wedding dresses end up in storage for years and never get used again.
Even if you got married again and hadn’t used your wedding dress as a guest book, you’d probably get a new dress.
This approach is similar to the last day at college, encourage all your guests to sign your wedding dress before the day is out and then you can keep it as a guest book as well as a permanent reminder of what you wore on your special day.
If you’re not brave enough to do this to your actual wedding dress then consider using the groom’s shirt or a spare dress as the guest book.
Final Thoughts
The only real limit to getting a fantastic and unique guest book is your imagination. Your wedding day is supposed to be one-of-a-kind, you want and need to have a guest book that captures the moment perfectly.
Ideally, the wedding guest book should remind you of the people you were and how far you’ve come since. It’s more than just the start of your married life together, choosing the right wedding guest book will create a lasting memory for you and all your friends.
Take your wedding guest book ideas from here and create the perfect one for your magical day.
Also, read this guide on how to choose a wedding colour scheme.
More guest book ideas:
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Marketing Manager at Poptop – UK Leading Events Planning Concierge Service