Skipping the guest book...

Here is ours!

People will sign a heart then we will hang it on the wall!

I wasn't planning on skipping it, but this weekend I talked to my BM who got married last year and she said that hardly anyone signed it and she didn't even know where hers was now. I might still do it if I find a really good living social deal but it's not a priority.

I don't understand the people using big objects (tree trunks, wine barrels, canvas) as their guestbook. You have to look at that thing and lug it around forever.

@Julie, that is super cute!

@hellothere, that's what FH and I were thinking. We didn't want to keep a book because how often do people really take it out and look at the signatures?

We had a 6ft long propeller for guests to sign, lol. But FH is a pilot, and he likes his toys, so it works with our decor, and we have to lug all his shit around anyways, lol.

We did a shutterfly guest book. I used our e-pics and guests wrote us really nice or funny, or slightly off color (for fun) messages. It wasn't just full of signatures and from where they came. I love our guest book and have already read through it several times.

Another friend did a coffee table book of cool places in Alabama as her guestbook. People got creative with it and wrote messages all over the pages, some noting places they've been, etc. It was neat and more than just signatures.

We wanted to do a picture. One of those, black and white, spell out your last name with different objects as the letter pictures. People would just sign the matte board.

@Jaime the misspellings would annoy the hell out of me!

We got something similar to Julie's, except it's a tree with leaves that each person signs their name to. Provided there are no misspellings, I'm planning to hang it in our bedroom after the wedding.

@Jamie, I am concerned with spelling, and FH is concerned with terrible penmanship

Our venue throws in a free generic guest book so we are just going with that.

I did the same thing as Paris. I made a guest book from Shutterfly using our e-pics and other candid photos. People will hopefully leave us little notes as the book suggests. Then it's not just a list of names.

I'd just stick out anything for people to sign. It doesn't need to be creative. You can get cheap non-wedding themed guest books for about $5. If people sign it great, if not, just recycle it.

I suggested that I thought they were a waste of time, but some of the older people were appalled that I would even consider not having one- they seem to all be about keep record of things on paper. They felt like it was me saying that it didn't matter that they were there at all.

Our wedding was in December, so we had our "guest book" do double duty as our centerpieces. We had ornaments at the center of each table and a note asking guests to sign/leave a note on the ornaments with a silver Sharpie we provided. It was fun to read through them all as we put up and took down our tree, and we get to do it again tonight and for years to come.

I'm going to make a painting of a tree so guests can sign it.

I started with the intention of skipping the guest book/item idea entirely and I'm coming away with a ton more ideas...!!

We are having a photobooth- the pics will go into a photobook (and each guest gets a copy) and guests can write a message next to their pictures

@Valerie my fh is a pilot also and love the idea of a propeller for guest to sign that we can use after for decor where did you go to get yours?

We also did a shutterfly guest book. One unexpected use was that we received a couple of gifts with illegible or no signature on the card. We were able to compare the guest book signatures (guests also wrote where they were from and how they knew us) with the card hand writing to figure out who the gifts were from.

Do it, but pick something you love, something that will be displayed and enjoyed. I did not want a traditional Guest Book, I wanted to do Jenga - have people sign and put messages on the blocks. I thought this was a wonderful idea because it would be on display in our home year round and we would use often. FH insisted on a traditional guest book, so I gave in and boy do I regret it. Money wasted on a book w/signatures that isn't even halfway full, it is now sitting in our China cabinet w/the cake topper and flutes. Hubby just admires seeing our names and date engraved on the front. I should have put both out!