Guestbook Possibilities

I'm all for the theory of guestbooks at a wedding. A record of all your loved ones who shared in the special day? Yes. But the execution loses me. A generic list of people's names in a puffy ribboned book with matching pen? Not so much.

Our day-of-coordinator, who is also a wedding planner, suggested a wish tree when she heard about our woodland theme. These can be as elaborate or simple as you like, usually made with manzanita branches, where guests can hang tags with their messages. Here is an excellent tutorial with free card templates if you'd like to make your own. My concern with this idea is what would you do with it after the wedding? And how big would this be to accommodate over 100 guests?

Another option that fits our woodland theme is the fingerprint tree. I stumbled upon this idea on Etsy and there's no shortage of lovely people ready to create a custom tree for your wedding.

J nixed this idea right away. He agreed that the finished product makes a great memento of the day, but thought it was too much to ask our nicely dressed guests to play around with ink and moist towelettes. These trees have no room for guests to leave a message for the bride and groom, which I'd love to have, and our reception table isn't big enough to have a second book for notes.

Picture-related guestbooks are a fun idea with many ways to make it your own. I've been to several weddings where guests sign a photo mat that's used to frame a picture of the couple. Other photo options include creating a photobook with lots of white space for guests to sign (see this post on making photobooks) or having guests take polaroid pictures of themselves to place into a scrapbook with room for their messages.

The last guestbook I considered is a collection of cards that guests write their messages on and place into various containers, like a birdcage or mailbox. I love that this can work with any theme and the container can become a tidy little keepsake for display afterwards!

This cute recipe box really spoke to me. Sweet, simple and a little bit different!