The days of every wedding reception going “by the book” are over—and that includes the guest book. The standard album has long been the traditional way to collect well wishes and loving thoughts from your guests at your wedding, while flipping through the bound pages of a guest book has been the traditional way for new partners to spend one of their first night’s together in wedded bliss.
But while there’s nothing particularly wrong with a guest book, it’s perfectly fine to want to try something new. Perhaps you’re worried that a book will get lost on a shelf with dozens of others or collect dust in the back of your bedroom closet. If these thoughts are rolling through your mind, put a personalized, creative spin on this cherished keepsake of a wedding tradition. Gather messages in a way that feels true to you and your partner’s event—and in a way that you’ll love returning to time and time again during your marriage.
As with most opportunities to personalize your wedding, opting for you and your partner’s specific interests is the way to go. You could be film buffs or jet-setting world travelers or music aficionados or wine enthusiasts or home decor devotees—anything can be incorporated into your non-traditional wedding guest book. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most interesting ideas!
If you and your partner are nothing more than a pair of adventurous globetrotters, then this might be the perfect way to collect well wishes from you guests. A globe guest book is especially perfect if you’re planning a crafty, DIY wedding, a travel-themed wedding, or a destination wedding. Love makes the world go round, so why not have your guests scrawl messages across the actual world?
Another marvelous way to express your love of travel is to have your guests leave their handwritten sentiments on postcards. The postcards could feature various locales on you and your partner’s travel list, all presented in one of those postcard display racks. For an added DIY touch, your guests could even deposit their postcards of love in a white mailbox you’ve situated in the station.
Maybe you want to ditch the concept of guest message entirely and go for a more visual collection of memories. If that’s the case, encourage your wedding guests to leave their mark on your wedding with a Polaroid selfie. Here, you can set up a station just as you would for a guest book—the difference is, instead of often illegible notes, you’ll be left with an array of often hilarious selfies. And afterwards, you can collect the photos and build your own special scrapbook of selfies.
This one is perfect for game-night fanatics, and it illustrates the point that with alternative guest book ideas, anything goes. A personalized Jenga set sees your guests sign individual game blocks with their messages to you and your new partner in life—it’s that simple! Not only is it a unique approach to a “guest book,” but it can also be a fun way for guests to get together on the wedding night. Then, you can relive the love of your wedding night each and every time you play this popular party game.
Of course your wedding is going to be out of this world, so consider utilizing a constellation map as your wedding guest book. Perfect for space geeks, stargazers, and art lovers alike, a constellation map festooned with sentimental musing from your family and friends could make a wonderful wall accent throughout the home you share with your partner. Then, on a clear night, you newlyweds can venture outside to literally count your lucky stars in the night sky!
This alternative approach to a guest book has your guests write down date night ideas for the newlywed couple. Date nights are incredibly important to maintain after you get married—and some of the best sources of date night ideas just happen to be your wedding guests! Your family and friends will jot down fun and creative ideas and place them in the date night jar in an effort to help keep the romance alive for years to come.
Let’s say you’re getting married at a vineyard or you just happen to really, really love to get cozy with the love of your life and a bottle of wine—well, it’s yet another fantastic opportunity for a personalized way to collect your guest’s notes. There are lots of ways to use wine corks in your wedding, but the idea here is to take the corks from wine bottles, frame them into a heart shape, and have your friends and family commemorate your wedding day by signing the individual corks. Once again, this is another piece that easily transitions from wedding feature to home decor mainstay.
Here’s a lovely keepsake that can be displayed as a reminder of your wedding day. A personalized shadow box, complete with the newlywed’s names and maybe even the wedding date, is set up just as if it was a guest book. But rather than keeping guests’ notes in a book, family and friends can hand write their notes on scrolls of paper or even wooden hearts, which they would then drop into the shadow box. Another magnificent home accent piece!
Yes, you can even have your guests write their messages with fabric markers in the individual squares on a quilt—this way, when you and your partner are getting cozy on a chilly night, you can read some of those lovely well wishes from your wedding night. Choose a quilt that matches your wedding theme! Also, take this idea a step further by making it a true DIY project: Have your guests sign various swatches of cloth and then have the squares stitched together after the wedding for a truly one-of-a-kind keepsake.
If you’re a total bookworm who loves nothing more than getting lost in a story—and your partner feels the same way—take a copy of your favorite book and have your guests write their messages on the individual pages, hereby displaying your love of all things literary! Your family and friends will choose to either write in the margins or directly on the printed pages—it’s up to them! And if you’re something of a wordsmith, choose to have your guest book be a dictionary instead! This novel idea will definitely find a cherished spot on your home bookshelf.