Guestbook Alternatives

If there is one thing I learned from my debut three years ago, it is this: guestbooks are worthless. I know, I know, it sounds harsh, but that is the reality. My guestbook has been read ONCE since my 18th birthday, and in the years since then it has been sitting lonely and collecting dust on a bookshelf at my parents' house.

The concept is lovely - your guests leave you a wonderful message, and years later whenever you reminisce, you will pull out that guestbook and read those those messages. Harsh truth: you won't. Maybe you'll pull out the photo album, or if you're really bored, you may even watch the video. You won't read the guestbook.

Why is this? First of all, it's boring. It's a plain, hardcover book full of lines, people's names, addresses, and a short stock-message. If that is what my wedding guestbook will be, I want no part of it.

Instead, I've been trying to find creative alternatives to a guestbook. Something I will actually enjoy reading in the future, and even more importantly, something my guests will enjoy signing. I hate to break it to you, but people DO NOT enjoy signing plain, boring, lined white paper guestbooks. They want to have fun. You will get much better, more heartfelt messages out of them if they enjoy writing it.

Many brides have already caught on to this, so the internet is abounding with new ideas. I've seen platters on which guests engrave their names, Wishing Trees, Rolodex guestbooks, and more. I even read a blog about a bride who used her grandmother’s collection of antique Reader’s Digest books to create a vintage-style guestbook by pasting blank pages and photos of the couple throughout it. She then had everyone sign in the blank pages, in the margins of the text, over the text - wherever. It was a really cute idea and one I considered adopting until I decided it would be much too cluttered for my tastes.

One idea that is really popular lately is using a photobook. Using engagement photos or even photos of the bride and groom through different stages of their life and relationship, you create a book, incorporating blank pages for guests to sign on. Blurb is a favorite service, but there are many others out there. Guests will enjoy looking at the photos, and the yearbook-style feel makes it fun for them to sign. It also has more long-term potential than a traditional guestbook, as it can be used as a coffeetable book in your new home afterward.

Another idea I love is having guests sign notecards instead of a book. The cards can all be placed in a basket at the entry table or a single card can be placed at each table setting. The card can be left blank, or you can print a question on it for the guest: "What is your favorite memory of the bride and groom?," "What is your advice to the newlyweds?," "What do you wish for the newlyweds?," etc. I really think notecards are a nice idea because they're personal and private, so guests will feel more comfortable writing what they want. You can set up a nice box or basket (I've been thinking about using a vintage mailbox or birdcage) for the guests to drop the cards in when they're finished.

Whatever idea I choose to use, I want to make it my own. I think my favorite idea is the notecards, but I've been trying to think of ideas as to what to do with the notecards afterward. I don't want to be left with just a box of notecards because, like a traditional guestbook, it WILL collect dust. I plan on having a backyard-style photobooth, so I think what I may do is make a scrapbook of the guest's booth photos and notecards. I love photos and feel that amateur, candid photos offer something that professional photos don't, so I also plan on having disposable cameras set at each table. If I do, I may include those in the scrapbook as well.

So what do you think? How do you feel about guestbooks, and are you considering another alternative to the traditional guestbook?