Unique Wedding Guest Books

Traditional guests books can feel boring and outdated. Many brides and grooms wonder, what are we going to do with a book full of signatures after our wedding? Will we even look at it again?

In recent years, wedding designers, planners and couples themselves have come up with many creative guest books that are unique, interesting and more valuable to the bride and groom after their wedding than the traditional guest book.

There are guest books that can be used to decorate your first home together. They can be used in the kitchen, provide personalized wisdom for your first year of marriage or hold memories beyond just the names of your guests.

Lets start with guest books that decorate your home for years to come and remind you of that special day each time you look at them. Here are just four ideas, but I came across many more in my search to bring you the best home décor guest books:

Wedding Drop Boxes • Wedding Drop Boxes
Wooden Monogram with signatures • Coach House Woodworks
Poster or Canvas Print Guests Books
Rustic Heart guest book • Fran Johnson House

Up next we have words of wisdom, advice, well wishes and memories. This is just a sampling of what can be found through an online search:

Oak Box with wood hearts • Original Monkey
Wisdom, Advice & Well Wishes • Print these cards at home or your local print shop and purchase a box, basket, large glass jar or unique container to hold them after your guests fill them out. These will be fun to re-read in years to come. Beth Ann Erickson Designs
Memory Cards, same idea as above, but ask your guests to share with you and your spouse a memory they have of one of you or both of you. Beth Ann Erickson Designs

Photo Guest Books:

Polaroid guest books are very popular right now, as the Fuji Instax Mini Polaroid camera has just recently come on the photography scene. You can buy film for these cameras that have a space under the photo for your guests to sign their names or write you a special note. You can find film with white borders or a selection of colored or patterned borders. Once you have the camera and the film of your choice you just have to decide what you want the guests to do with the photos they take. You could provide a blank memory book, glue or tap and have the guest stick them in a book for you. Another option is to have a place for the guest to display their photos through out the reception. (As shown below.) This type of guest books provides you with photos of all of your guests that you can enjoy for years to come.

Cookbook Guest Books
This one is very easy to accomplish. Purchase one to three cook books you would use in your kitchen and have a sign made that asks your guests to leave a note next to a recipe they think you should try. Then through out the years when you’re using your cookbooks or looking for new recipes you will happen upon the notes. Not only do these create wonderful memories they are also very useful.

Some advice about guest books:

Much of the time guest books are over-looked by the guests and by the end of the wedding they don’t contain as many signatures, notes, photos or memories as youhoped. To make sure a majority of your guests sign or participate in your guest book, its best to have a friend or relative take charge of the guest book area. Ask them to collect presents and then request that the guests participate in the guest book. This will result in a more accurate accounting of who attended your wedding.

There are so many creative guest book ideas that I have barely scratched the surface. I hope this helps you to start thinking about what creative ways you can capture your wedding day and all of your family and friends who have taken the time to celebrate with you.

Visit my website www.bethericksondesings.com for more creative ideas, wedding, birthday, anniversary and graduation invitation designs and more! Feel free to contact me anytime for help with your next event!

Budget Friendly Fall Wedding Ideas

Hello Fall! Yes, I know it may not be autumn right now, but autumn is always just around the corner, and with it comes bright fall colors, changing leaves, cooler evenings, pumpkin-flavored everything, and of course fall weddings, and if you are planning a fall wedding, you will be looking for inspiration right now.

The idea of a fall wedding makes me smile. Ideas float through my head of pumpkin spice cake, apple and pumpkin pie, jewel-toned decorations in emerald, ruby, amethyst, topaz, sapphire, gold and silver, paper leaves, and the smells of Thanksgiving! So how does someone accomplish a fall wedding in a budget-friendly way? Let me supply you with a few tips and tricks that should help.

Color Theme:

The start to any beautiful wedding day is to choose a color theme that you love! For a fall wedding, I would suggest incorporating Gold or Silver and jewel-toned fall colors that represent you. A wedding can be any color combination that you dream of and as long as you stick to shades of your chosen colors, they will blend well together. You don't have to worry about them matching perfectly. I would suggest having one or two primary colors and a third color to use as an accent to the main colors. Some color combination ideas would be gold, topaz and emerald or silver, ruby, and sapphire. Don't let these two ideas limit you, as there are many color combinations that could be used. After choosing your color combinations the next step is to think about your invitations.

Invitations:

Invitations set the tone of your wedding and should be chosen early in the planning process so that decorations, coordinating signs, and printed items can be designed to match. One of the best ways to save money on your invitations is to stay away from high-priced invitation companies and look to smaller privately-owned companies. These can be found on Etsy or in your local phonebook. Once on Etsy, just search for DIY Fall Wedding invitations and you will find so many designs to choose from or just visit my SHOP page right here to view all my wedding invitation designs. Any of my designs can be adapted to your chose wedding theme and colors.

One of the great things about invitations from Etsy is easy communication with the designer, being able to customize wording and color (on most invitations). It's wonderful to work with a small shop that truly cares about your special day and providing you with the invitation of your dreams. You will also save time and money by being able to order your invitations from the comfort of your home and choosing your print options, such as printing at home or through a local print shop. In most cases means you will spend less on your invitations than you would from a boutique stationery store.

Decorations:

Now that we have the colors chosen and the invitations were taken care of, it's time to move on to the decorations! Decorations for your wedding don't have to be elaborate to make an impact. They can be made at home quickly and easily and still set the mood for your special day in a beautiful and simplistic way.

One idea that comes to mind is, is using leaves on the top of tables to bring the feeling of fall and to add pops of natural fall colors. The most budget-friendly way to do this is to collect leaves and coat them with Mod Podge to preserve them. (Instructions below) Then I would use these preserved leaves on top of a white, silver, gold or jewel-toned table cloth, with Mason jar candle holders and a fall scented or battery-powered tea light.

Another great addition to fall wedding décor is wood rounds (as seen above). These can be purchased from your local craft store or collected from family and friends who have fallen trees on their property. Wood rounds add height and dimension to your centerpieces allowing you to display candles, flowers, or dishes of food.

Arrangements of pumpkins and gourds next to your candles will also add a wonderful fall feeling to your wedding. These can be found at local farms, grocery stores, or craft stores.

I could go on and on as I have many more decorating ideas. If you need more suggestions or help to complete an idea you have, please feel free to contact me. Good luck with your fall wedding!

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How to Preserve Leaves with Decoupage:

Step 1: Gather leaves either from the ground or straight from the tree. Select vibrantly colored leaves that are somewhat dry but not brittle.

Step 2: If your leaves are still very green and moist, place them between two paper towels under a heavy book for a few days so that they dry a bit but are not brittle. If you don't need to dry them, move on to step three.

Step 3: Using a foam brush to apply decoupage (Mod Podge) to one side of your leaf.

Step 4: Place on newspaper to dry until it turns clear and is no longer sticky.

Step 5: Turn leave over and repeat steps 3 and 4.

Once both sides are done your leaves are ready to use!