The non-guestbook!

[Mandarine]

Hi girls,

I''ve been trying to think of ways to have a guestbook I will actually be able to see and enjoy. Here are some of the ideas I''ve had or I''ve liked...let me know what you think please, or if you have suggestions:

1) Get plain white and black rocks and spread them on the table. Get some black and white sharpies and ask guests to write on the rocks and drop them for us. After the wedding I can get a nice vase, fill it up with the rocks and put some tall branches or something. I love this idea...but:
* How much can you write on a rocks?
* Any idea where I can get bigger rocks?.
* Would the sharpie be strong enough to hold the notes or do I need to do something to the rocks afterwards to preserve them?.

2) Go to one of those pottery places and pick up a few pieces (maybe a Sanrgia type of Jar to go with the theme! or a cool plate for tapas!). Get guests to sign it and then after the wedding go and have the store fire up my pieces!. I like this idea, but should I decorate the piece first?...maybe with mosaics or something? or paint the backgrounds a terracota color so when they fire it up it doesn''t look so plain?.

3) A regular guestbook (a friend of ours gave us one)...I feel bad not using it, but I wanted to do something more unique. I guess this is still on the table though.

4) The big frame where people sign all around your picture. I like this idea too...it doesn''t get me as excited as #1 or #2, but it''s cute...

Anybody else has any ideas or suggestions to make these better?

Thanks!!!!

M~

 

[labbielove]

i always liked the idea of a quilt square- each guest signs a piece of fabric and you can then have them sewn into a quilt.

the pottery idea is cute but to be honest, in our house i''d be afraid one would get smashed and then you''ve lost part of your guestbook!

the rocks are also cute, but not sure of the logisitics of that during a reception- but you could test the sharpies. people may not be inclined to write as much though

we ended up using a kodak gallery photo book that a friend gave us as a shower gift. it has different photos of us on the right side, blank white pages on the left. there are different love quotes underneath each photo.

i love this, because people wrote a lot (we had the DJ announce it a couple of times during the reception), and we are huge book people so we will enjoy flipping through it from time to time.

 

[Mandarine]

awww...I love the quilt idea! Thank you Labbie!. I''m just not a quilter!...are there people that do this inexpensively?. Do I just cut regular good old fabric? What kind of pens do I give them?.

I like the photobook idea too and through Kodak Gallery it shouldn''t be too expensive. I actually have gotten photobooks made from them before and they look really nice!

I didn''t think about the pottery getting smashed!...that''s a good point!

Thank you! Keep the ideas and suggestions coming girls

M~

 

[april diamonds]

We are probably going to get one of those serviing platters that you can write on with a special pen, bake it in the oven for 10 mins to "set" the marker, wash it and it's ready to use! (this way we don't need to go to the store to have it fired) Plenty of room to write, unique, and USEABLE!

I love the photoframe ideas, I've seen tons of them, but personally I don't like the ratio of matting to the photo size, plus I've seen ones where people don't sign "evenly" around the picture and it bothers me...yeah i know i'm a bit nutty.

We're also going to have a friend walking around wihth a poloarid asking people to pose as they arrive, and they can write their names and msg next to the pic in a big blank album I'm going to have sitting out. (along with their contact info).

the rocks idea sounds neat...although a little heavy. haha

 

[misysu2]

Here''s a cool idea I heard: buy a big scrapbook and send each guest a sheet. Have the decorate it while they''re at home, with notes, drawings, photos, etc. and they bring it to the wedding ceremony and put it back in the scrapbook.

 

[Haven]

Labbie--I was going to recommend the quilt and the photobook ideas! They both make really beautiful keepsakes.

Mandarine--What about using a small-tipped paint marker for the stones? They should work really well, although I bet a Sharpie would write on stones, too. I love this idea, and it would look really pretty with all the stones set out on a table during the reception.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Mandarine,
I like the rock idea a lot. I''d use a paint pen and then shellac or polyurethane the stones after. You can get spray-on urethane. lay the stones down on newspaper, do one side, let it dry completely. Turn them over and do the other side.

 

[Mandarine]

Thank you girls!!!

I really do like the rock idea as well. I just think I can have this in a nice vase as you enter the house so we are always surrounded by all kinds of positive messages!. I like the idea of spraying them so the writing doesn''t come off. Maybe I can find larger stones somewhere...but I''m ok with a short message too

I''m not a cheesy kind of girl...but maybe we put a cute little poem that says something to explain guests that they need to write on the rock....and that Love "rocks"? haha, ok that was pretty cheesy!...lol

Top contenders are the rocks, the quilt (although not sure I can find someone to make a quilt for me!) and the ceramic.

M~

 

[happy in love]

I also saw in one wedding magazine that a couple had guests sign and decorate a small tile (like the ones from a pottery painting place) and then had them all set and framed to hang in their house as wall art.
I think it is a really cute idea depending on your guest count Too many guests might mean a finished product that is WAY too big to hang anywhere. Anyhow, just a thought.
I really like the sangria pitcher, you could do a whole set, the pitcher and glasses and get pens from michaels that paint on the glass. It might be a cute display item when all said and done.

 

[TravelingGal]

Did someone say NON GUESTBOOK? Here you go!

 

[jcrow]

i like the rock idea, but if you have a lot of older guests like we did, they may have trouble writing on a small rock. just a thought.

we did a wish card guest book. i got pre-cut cards from paper-source that matched our other paper products. i got sterling silver pens from whiteaisle.com and the florist provided a large tall vase to put the written cards in. i also printed up a little poem with an explanation. everyone got it and loved the idea. since the papers were bigger than a business card, guests wrote more than just their name, which is what i was really hoping for!

 

[Jas12]

This is what I did and ppl luved it (or at least they said they did, hehe)

I like to do a lot of graphic design type stuff on the computer so I made up a ''mat'' on card stock paper with rounded corners that had a place to write the guest''s name on it, several lines below for good wishes, stories or advice and then an area to place a picture. I provided guests with a polaroid camera, film, pens, glue dots (to adhere the pictures to the card-stock mats) and a wodden box to place the finished product--it was farily professional/elegant looking for a DIY project

At the end of the night I had a keepsake box full of my guest''s pictures and comments--i love re-reading them

 

[onedrop]

Mandarine, I am with you, the whole standard guestbook thing didn''t appeal to me. I like the rock idea, which is very creative, but like someone else mentioned I''d be concerned about logistics.

We had a DW with at most 30 people. The guestbook for this ceremony was a photo book where we had a Polaroid camera, and each couple or single guest took a picture and then slid the pictures into the slots. There was space on each page to write a message. It''s cool because we have a visual and written representation of our guests.

For our post-wedding reception we did the photo frame thing, which worked out well. We just photocopied a wedding picture and put that in the space where the real picture will go and then we took off the glass cover and left that at home.

 

[Mandarine]

arghhhh

PS just ate my long post to responses to each of you!!!. Don''t have time to re-write it...but thank you all!!

I love some of your ideas!!! If you have pictures, post them!

With 65 guests or so (and not a lot of older people) I think the rock idea might work

Thanks!!

M~

 

[zoebartlett]

Hi Mandarine,

I have a suggestion...

My sister did this for her wedding and I think I will too. My mom bought all different postcards (you can choose funky, ecclectic, romantic, floral, scenery, etc.) and had a basket of the cards set up on a table (where the guest book would be). Each guest or couple or family took a card and wrote a message to my sister and her now husband. After the wedding, either my mom or one of my sister''s friends collected the postcards and sent one card to my sister and her husband each week. After a while my mom began sending a few at a time, in order to make sure that they got all of the postcards by their first anniversary. My sister even asked her photographer friend (who''s doing my wedding also) to create something to put them in. You could frame them, put them in a photo album, use a few to decorate memory boxes, etc.

 

[Pandora II]

We are hiring a silhouette cutter. They do one for the guest in a little folder, and a copy at the same time for me. We will ask guests to use a page each - or per couple - and then fix the silhouettes in above their names.

Still have to find an appropriate book...

 

[Fancy605]

I like the rock thing! Sounds cool!

Instead of sharpies, you could use oil based paint pens. The writing will stay. I have stadium cups that were decorated using those type of pens, and I''ve run them through the dishwasher. They still look fine even after that.

We had a Polaroid guest album. Some cousins of mine took photos of guests as they arrived (couples and family units shared a photo). Then they had a page to write a note on. The pages were then added to an album. I love how it turned out. The problem is, instead of doing this at the church, we did it at the reception, and quite a few guests never had a chance to participate. Still, I love the photos we have.

 

[monarch64]

TG, I remember your visitors'' book thread like it was yesterday, hysterical!!!

Mandarine, Love the sign-the-rock idea, that is one I haven''t yet heard of! The quilt idea is wonderful as well, but commissioning a full size quilt to be made will be expensive ($800-$2k depending on whether it''s hand or machine quilted, etc.) so maybe you could consider doing a wall-hanging or lap-quilt instead?? A wall-hanging could be maybe 3x5 feet...would be less expensive. My mother is an avid quilter and has done several wedding quilts for people she knows pretty well, she''s reallllly good and spends a lot of time on her "art," and has a waiting list of something like 50 people who want an original piece from her. Do your research on the person you potentially commission, make sure to look at their previous work just like any other vendor.

 

[Harleigh]

Hi Mandarine!

I love the rock idea! A gal I know did a similar thing, but I for the life of me cannot remember what she had people write on them! I know that on one side she had them write their name, then maybe a little quote, but the rocks weren''t too big, so I can''t be sure. I wasn''t at the wedding and only saw them briefly afterwards, so if you want, I can email her and ask.

I know she got her rocks through Oriental Trading company, but I just saw really nice smooth river rocks at Dollar Tree yesterday when I picked up shells to go with the "Beach" theme for my wedding. I know most craft stores carry them, as well, so you could pick up a bag at least once a week with a 40% off coupon! You could have plenty in hand by February, and I think no matter what you have your guests put on the stones, it will be a wonderful sentiment and memory every time you look at it.

I also like the photo matte idea...I have just always liked that and always wanted one for myself one day!

I also like the different photo pages, but much like April, I cannot stand when people don''t fill in evenly...still not sure how to get around that!

I don''t know what I''ll take with me for guests to do in Hawaii...I know not all of them will be able to make the reception a few weeks later, so I know I need something for both. I just feel like we are already going to have to take so much stuff with us to HI, what won''t take up too much room or weigh a lot???

Can''t wait to see what you end up doing!