Hand made Guest Book

[BethElena]

Is/has anybody made their own guest book? I originally bought one, but the more I look at it, the more I dislike it.

I want to use the guest book at both the wedding & the reception. Any pics of hand made ones?

[MrsWilson]

I made mine from pictures of us over the 6 years we dated.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5dc09b3127cce90289469fed700000016108ActHDNi1YuI

[BethElena]

Thank you for the idea! That's kind of what i'm going to do, just a smaller book. Thank goodness the new Joann Fabric's just opened up with TONS of paper choices! :)

Thank you for your help!

[Sarah6690]

I don't have any pictures of it yet, since I haven't put it together. But we did a photo guest book. I made a sign telling people what to do. Had someone take people's pictures as they came in. And had cards made up for people to write a message on. Now, I need to put the whole thing together in a scrapbook I bought. Let me know if you want to see any pictures and I'll find some for you.

[Sazoo]

I put photos of me & DH (then FH, obviously) into a Kolo photo album - one picture per page) & set it out at our ceremony & reception for guests to browse through & sign a congratulatory message to us somewhere in the margins around the pictures. This was a great way to display some of our engagement pictures, but I also included some non-pro pictures of the two of us together so it would cover the entire time we'd been dating.

It worked out pretty well...except that since I didn't have enough pictures to finish the album, some people just flipped through the pictures & then went to the first blank page towards the back & started writing congratulations messages to us line by line (like you would do in a standard guest book). :rolleyes: Oh well - a lot of people signed on the photo pages as we intended, so it's all good. :D

Here are some pictures of our book (these were taken before the wedding, so no messages from guests, obviously):

http://images.snapfish.com/3443598%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A%3B9%3D493 %3DXROQDF%3E2323593%3C4%3A788ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3443598%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A%3B9%3D4 93%3DXROQDF%3E2323593458636ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3443598%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A%3B9%3D493 %3DXROQDF%3E2323593453583ot1lsi

[BethElena]

Thank you Sarah! And thanks for telling me what the guests do....Now I will have to have a couple "decoys"...have family members write in the book first, so that the guests will know what to do ... :)

[maplekitty]

Those scrapbook ideas are so cute!
I wanted something that we would have and flip through regularly. I originally wanted a picture coffee table book of beaches. However, I found that was harder to find than I expected. Then one day at Chapter's I was rumaging through the clearance table and came across this cute *little* book on LOVE. It has beautifully painted sketches of a "cartoon" couple that coinside with the passage on different themes on love. I picked that up for 4.99 and it will be our guestbook.

[Sazoo]

Those scrapbook ideas are so cute!
I wanted something that we would have and flip through regularly. I originally wanted a picture coffee table book of beaches. However, I found that was harder to find than I expected. Then one day at Chapter's I was rumaging through the clearance table and came across this cute *little* book on LOVE. It has beautifully painted sketches of a "cartoon" couple that coinside with the passage on different themes on love. I picked that up for 4.99 and it will be our guestbook.
What a great idea - I love it! :D

[Chile]

*delete*

[BethElena]

Wow! More neat ideas.

[tgray99]

We had a book made on the Adobe Photoshop Publishing Website:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce9c68b8e3dfd500000016108AZs3LFk0bNP
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce9c68b8e05ee600000016108AZs3LFk0bNP
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce9c68b8e1dfd700000016108AZs3LFk0bNP
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce9c68b8ee5ee800000016108AZs3LFk0bNP

People signed it with a Sharpie sort of like a yearbook:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4dd39b3127cce9c68be0dac6d00000016108AZs3LFk0bNP

[BethElena]

Oh neat! I really like that idea!

[ALeonard]

Tara, how did you make that cute book?? I looked at the Adobe website, but became quickly confused! :o Any tips?

[tgray99]

Thanks! I found the idea in the Wall Street Journal, of all places!

ETA: I think Shutterfly offers the same type of book now.

http://web1.shutterfly.com/img_/summer/pbook_start_PH.jpg
Elegant coffee-table Photo Book measures 8.75 × 11.25"
Wide variety of layouts allow up to 6 pictures per page
9 page styles, including “Wedding”, “Baby”, and “Kid”
Suede-finish and satin-finish covers in assorted solid colors
Prices starting at: $29.99

PS. Don't I know you from Meagan;s journal? How's their baby?

[Vegastrtle]

Those scrapbook ideas are so cute!
I wanted something that we would have and flip through regularly. I originally wanted a picture coffee table book of beaches. However, I found that was harder to find than I expected. Then one day at Chapter's I was rumaging through the clearance table and came across this cute *little* book on LOVE. It has beautifully painted sketches of a "cartoon" couple that coinside with the passage on different themes on love. I picked that up for 4.99 and it will be our guestbook.

That was sort of our experience as well...we wanted a picture book of Tahiti (honeymoon location) but found nothing we liked. I was at Petco and found an advice book from dogs (has adorable pictures). People had fun finding the advice they wanted to give in the book.

[ALeonard]

PS. Don't I know you from Meagan;s journal? How's their baby?
That's right!! Megan, Derek, and Dean are all doing great! He's such a precious little baby! :)

Oh and thanks for the info from shutterfly. Loving it!

[Sazoo]

www.snapfish.com makes those types of photo books now too, as does this MyPublisher site:

http://www.mypublisher.com/default.php

Here is some other information about making these books from other people who've made them:

http://www.theknot.com/co_profileview.htm?profilename=MyPublisherBio

http://www.groszkihome.com/Ideas/page11.html

I think they look really cool. :) & I wish I'd found out about them before my wedding last summer!

[BethElena]

Great idea! I went to Sony Image Station (http://www.imagestation.com) and they're having a sale for $20.99 until the end of the day today on their albums! Can i finish it by midnight?? :)

[tgray99]

My Publisher is who we used. Tell Megan that Tara and Aidan said hi!

[islandgirlsj]

I made guest books for some of my friends for their weddings, as well as my own. I took the idea from the poloroid guest book idea.
They turned out really nice.
Here are some examples. Wedding
Guest Books (http://www.endlesspossibilities.biz/Custom/Guestbooks/Guestbooks.htm)

[Kellie]

Those scrapbook ideas are so cute!
I wanted something that we would have and flip through regularly. I originally wanted a picture coffee table book of beaches. However, I found that was harder to find than I expected. Then one day at Chapter's I was rumaging through the clearance table and came across this cute *little* book on LOVE. It has beautifully painted sketches of a "cartoon" couple that coinside with the passage on different themes on love. I picked that up for 4.99 and it will be our guestbook.

Hey Sarah,

How did this end up working out? Did people just sign on top of the pictures? I was thinking of doing an Alaska picture book and having guests sign in it.

[Rosebud]

Kellie- I recently attended a wedding at the Hotel Del Coronado. The bride & groom used a photo book about the history of the hotel as their guest book. It was maybe 50 oversized pages-- a coffee table book. The guests just signed anywhere there was a bit of blank space in the book. It worked out fine. It was left open on a table at the entrance to the reception with pens next to it and a little sign saying "sign our guestbook."