No two couples are the same. Weddings shouldn’t be cookie-cutter copies of each other. They should be personal and meaningful, reflecting each love story in a unique way. While trending posts and photos sometimes make it feel like couples have only a few options if they want to have a great wedding, there are so many ways to customize your wedding plans.
One great example is choosing a unique guest book. If a fancy book of inky autographed names doesn’t sound like one of the best wedding ideas ever to you, there are literally dozens of alternative options. Below are 46 of those that have found some celebrity recently – let this list inspire you to come up with your perfect reminder of the loved ones who celebrated your wedding day with you.
Fun & Games
Make your guest book alternative playful and fun. You’ll want to pull it out and play year after year!
- Autographed Jenga pieces
- Autographed puzzle pieces
- Wed-Libs: Mad Libs-style wishes
Picture Perfect
Choose a favorite picture or pictures of you as a couple. Rent or design a photo booth and keep one copy of the strips or Polaroids in a keepsake scrapbook while guests sign near their strips. Hired artists can quickly create beautiful silhouettes and caricatures too.
- Polaroid booth
- Photo booth strips
- Framed portrait or image
- Personal photo book
- Custom silhouettes
- Custom caricatures
Make it Personal
Honor your guests by including them in your guest book plans. Ask them to add their birthdays and anniversaries to a keepsake poster, or creatively hide their names in a seek-and-find puzzle that they can search and sign.
- Birthday or anniversary poster
- Word find with guests’ names (they find and circle their names)
Home Décor
Think of your new home. Can you use a gorgeous piece of custom furniture with your guests’ wishes inscribed on it? Do you have the perfect spot for a wall display of signed plates or giant monogrammed letters?
- Indoor or outdoor piece of furniture (bench or custom table)
- Wall displays
- Tablecloth
- Chicken wire in a frame with notes rolled up & inserted into the holes
- Giant monogram letters autographed in contrasting ink
Crafty Keepsakes
If you’re not a crafter yourself, websites like Etsy are full of really beautiful, personal guest book options that are practically works of art. Look for something that speaks to you there, or enlist a talented parent, aunt, uncle, or pal to help you create something special. Give your guests an opportunity to let their inner artists’ shine at a station that demands a little creative thinking.
- Guest quilt
- Thumbprint trees and stamped pictures
- Loose leaves or balloons made into a picture for framing after wedding
- Art, craft, or scrapbook station
- Mosaic or collections of signed small pieces to be included in a final piece after the wedding
- Decorative vase full of signed stones
- Autograph plates
Great Advice and Well-Wishes
A wedding is the perfect opportunity for your loved ones to share the secrets to their success with you, in many different forms.
- Advice/message/bucket list suggestions
- Advice attached to vintage keys (keys to your success)
Themed Weddings
Do you and your intended share a passion? How can you incorporate that into something lasting and beautiful? Below are some examples of popular themes with guest book ideas to match.
Music Lovers
- Signed classic vinyl records
- Autographed sheet music
Wanderlust or Travel Lovers
- Custom map prints (each person’s home state)
- Vintage Globe
- Vintage Postcards
Literature Lovers
- Book of poetry
- Couple’s favorite book or novel
- Dictionary (find a word that describes the couple and sign there)
- Decorative journals or antique books
Culinary Keepsakes
- Favorite guest recipes in a box or album
- Wine corks signed and displayed in a clear container
- Signed wine bottles (Also, Anniversary wine bottles – guests leave advice in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 year bottles and you open that bottle on your anniversary)
Hobbies
- If you can sign it, it can be a guest book alternate: surfboard, saddle, soccer balls, ping pong paddles, favorite superhero emblem – use your imagination!
‘Tis the Season
There are many ways to complement a seasonal color palette and personalize a guest book at a seasonally-themed wedding. These barely scratch the surface:
- Fall: autograph a craft (i.e. imitation) pumpkin
- Fall: have guests sign pressed leaves
- Spring: welcome spring with an autographed galvanized steel watering can.
- Spring and Summer: personalized garden feature (birdhouse, bird feeder, paving stones)
- Winter: ornaments for family Christmas tree
- Winter: Christmas tree skirt or tablecloth to be shared at the holidays
- Summer: beach house décor
- Summer: a kayak paddle, a life preserver, a piece of driftwood from the beach – whatever screams summer to you
The list of possible guest book alternatives could go on and on. You know your couple personality best – what will you choose to record your guest attendance and help remember all of the loved that was shared with you on your big day? We’d love to hear all about them! Comment or Contact us!