Polaroid cameras and guest books

[Bambina]

Has anyone out there used polaroid cameras as an addition to their guest book or planning to? I''m really wanting to have something interactive, but only if it comes out as good as what''s in my head right now. I don''t want to spend the money on dark pictures that will eventually fade. Any experience with this?

Bambina

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We just went to a wedding on Friday that did this (they had 2 books for about 75 guests). I thought it was a really cute idea. The pictures looked good. Not sure if they will fade over time though. The DJ made a few announcements reminding people to do this.

 

[ellaila]

Yep, we just did it, and it''s the cutest thing!! We''ve got great photos of all our guests, and their personalities come out so much more than in a regular text-only guest book

I''ve looked at it so many times in the past two weeks already, and it makes me smile every time!

A friend made our book, and it''s gorgeous -- she used all different papers and scrapbooking stuff. Each page was unique and just beautiful! I''ll try and post some photos ...

 

[ellaila]

Ok, some photos! Forgive the flash in some ...

 

[ellaila]

My nieces

 

[ellaila]

To clarify, hubby''s name is José, but his nickname is Quique, which can also be written as Kiké -- hence all the different names in there! It really is just one bride (me!) and one husband

 

[ellaila]

And since not all the pages were filled, we''re going to fill the blank pages with other things, like other photos from the wedding and mementos -- like the menu

 

[ellaila]

And one other cool thing that we did was that we took the leftover vellum "love quotes" (like the "My heart is ever at your service" shown here -- it basically comes in a notebook of like 50 or something) and put on each guest's dinner plate. They're all different and all lovely, so it was really cool -- it was kind of like a fortune cookie, where everyone was asking everyone else, "What does yours say?" My Martha Stewart of a husband actually thought of doing that -- what a smartypants!!

 

[ellaila]

Ok, and just one more ... even we got in on the Polaroid action!!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

In the book I saw the pictures slid between the pages for a really polished look. I think it was Msflutter but someone has these really cool pages that were scrapbook style where people wrote different things about the couple (ah, hard to explain).

 

[ellaila]

Oh, and these pages have a clear sheath that goes over them (you can see it in some photos, but I took it off in some to try to get less glare) to protect them. I have no idea if the Polaroids themselves will fade in time though ... I hope not!!

 

[jas]

Ooh, where did you get the vellum love notes? Did your husband make them? I LOVE that idea!

 

[labbielove]

Oh my gosh- i LOVE this idea-
definitely want something where the folks can write us a personal note and to make sure I have a photo of everyone.

this may have already been discussed- but i''m curious as to how this got accomplished- was there someone at the reception passing it around,
or was the camera and book on the guest table with the blank sheets?

i know many people would do it, but for those that don''t on their own, how did you make sure you got their photo?

i have a friend who is outgoing enough to go around to the tables and make sure it''s done, but i don''t want my guests to feel accosted or annoyed! i was thinking if I or hubby got on the mike and stressed how important it was for us to have these,

or- how about this- if people want us to kiss (clanging glasses) we only do it if they''ve done the guestbook?!

 

[labbielove]

RE. the fear of the photos fading over time-
wondering if Polaroid photos scan in ok? if so, you could scan into your PC, and then upload to snapfish or take to walmart, etc. to get the digitals printed out. and/or save them on your harddrive as a backup version.

 

[ellaila]

Date: 10/3/2006 8:46:46 AM
Author: jas
Ooh, where did you get the vellum love notes? Did your husband make them? I LOVE that idea!

Hey!

I was so proud of my man when he came up with that idea

I thought it was a great way to use up the leftover sheets, and I also love the romance it brought to the table! Some of the sentiments are just truly so beautiful. They're all written in different fonts (all black on the clear vellum), so they looked really nice on the tables too with the candle centerpieces we had! Oh, happy memories!

We got them at Michaels or AC Moore -- in the scrapbooking section. They look like this:

 

[ellaila]

Date: 10/3/2006 9:26:14 AM
Author: labbielove
Oh my gosh- i LOVE this idea-
definitely want something where the folks can write us a personal note and to make sure I have a photo of everyone.

this may have already been discussed- but i''m curious as to how this got accomplished- was there someone at the reception passing it around,
or was the camera and book on the guest table with the blank sheets?

i know many people would do it, but for those that don''t on their own, how did you make sure you got their photo?

i have a friend who is outgoing enough to go around to the tables and make sure it''s done, but i don''t want my guests to feel accosted or annoyed! i was thinking if I or hubby got on the mike and stressed how important it was for us to have these,

or- how about this- if people want us to kiss (clanging glasses) we only do it if they''ve done the guestbook?!

Yeah, that was a bit of a hassle to be honest, but we had a small wedding, so I didn''t mind going around and asking people if they had taken their photo/signed the book yet!! Just be sure to have LOTS of film because people will definitely want to take some photos home with them (and I admit, we''re guilty of doing that at a friend''s wedding too!). In today''s world of limitless digital photo-taking capabilities, you forget that film comes to an end, and once it''s gone, it''s gone!

 

[ellaila]

Date: 10/3/2006 9:28:17 AM
Author: labbielove
RE. the fear of the photos fading over time-
wondering if Polaroid photos scan in ok? if so, you could scan into your PC, and then upload to snapfish or take to walmart, etc. to get the digitals printed out. and/or save them on your harddrive as a backup version.

The only thing is that the photos are glue-sticked (glue-stuck?) into the book when people sign it -- people want to see their finished result, you know? So I''d be afraid to take the Polaroids out after they were glued in since Polaroids can peel apart.

But I''ve got Polaroids of me when I was a kid from the 70s, and they still look fine, so I''m not really worried that anything bad will happen to these!

 

[Bambina]

I''m thrilled at such a positive response. I had first been thinking of doing it very sleek with the polaroid you slip into pages like Tacori was saying, but then I moved into having it more personalized like Ellaila (they turned out so cute!)--where each person/couple could make their own scrapbook page with different "fixings" that I would provided. I can''t take credit for this...I saw it on a wedding video that my coordinator made me watch (even though I told her I couldn''t afford a videographer and we would have a family member with a camcorder and call it a day). Anyway, I digress. This couple had their guest make their own scrapebook pages with a polariod picture and emblishments and then they hung them with ribbon on a silver twig like tree. I''m not sure if that make sense, but the effect was really beautiful. I imagine that at the end of the night they would take down the pages and put them together in a scrapbook album. I thought it was cool that everyone could enjoy the pages --not just the couple. I hope to do some thing like that.

I envision a sort of craft table during the cocktail hour where people could work on their creations with a glass of wine on hand.

So you''ve all conviniced my I think I''m going to breakdown and get a polaroid camera--now I just have to figure out which one. I think they have some that don''t fade as much.

Thanks.

 

[eks6426]

I did this too for my wedding. I had a friend handle the picture taking. She was also the scrapbooker. She had a list of everyone attending so she could make sure she got everyone. My wedding was not that bigt--around 75 people. She precut journal paper in our wedding colors and had people write us little notes and took their pictures. (Having the writing on separate pieces of paper gave her more flexibility in doing the scrapbook design). She asked each person to write about a memory or story about us (as a couple or individuals). Most people were really stumped on what to write. She numbered the pictures & the notes so that she could match them up later. She assembeled the whole book...scrapbook style while I was on my honeymoon. It turned out fabulous.

You definitely will want someone to make a few annoucements to get people to do it. We put the guestbook photo table near the drink area...so most people saw it.

I think the idea of letting people do their own scrapbooking is interesting, but the success will depend on how crafty your guests are. Mine would have never done it. It was hard enough to get people to write more than "Congratulations."

Good luck!

 

[ellaila]

Date: 10/3/2006 2:06:40 PM
Author: IslandDreams
I did this too for my wedding. I had a friend handle the picture taking. She was also the scrapbooker. She had a list of everyone attending so she could make sure she got everyone. She precut journal paper in our wedding colors and had people write us little notes and took their pictures. (Having the writing on separate pieces of paper gave her more flexibility in doing the scrapbook design). She numbered the pictures & the notes so that she could match them up later. She assembeled the whole book...scrapbook style while I was on my honeymoon. It turned out fabulous.

Wow! That''s great! It definitely helps having crafty friends, doesn''t it?