You’ve seen the guestbook from your parents’–or grandparents’–wedding. Somewhere. A trunk, a box, a drawer–of stuff that people keep for old times’ sake. Stuff they don’t use, but just don’t feel right getting rid of. They aren’t going to sit around by the firelight and thumb through it–probably ever; it is not the most riveting reading material, even for them. It might be a kitschy thing to set out at their 50th-wedding anniversary–and maybe even use the extra pages to have guests at THAT party, right in the same book (if they can find it). But other than that, largely because it’s an object unto itself that is of no interest to anyone else, it goes directly from wedding to storage.
Just as it’s a nice idea, as you grow older as a couple, to take a peek at your wedding photos from time to time over the years (hopefully together, perhaps on an anniversary), it might be nice to give your guests’ signatures a 20-second perusal during such rare moments of sentiment as our busy lives allow. But because of the very fact that it’s a separate item (not quite interesting enough to go look for), it remains in that box or drawer, getting musty-smelling and therefore not even fulfilling its intent as a souvenir of the day.
If the guest book were to be dug out, the number of signatures in it would likely make it appear that your wedding was a pitiful affair (which would be a good enough reason to throw it out, in itself), because–honestly, do even half of the guests ever bother to sign them? Or do they sidestep them to get to the food or the bar? How to remedy this sad state of affairs?
In recent years, a number of ideas have surfaced as alternatives to guestbooks per se .
The first, and probably most common alterntive, is a matted picture of the couple (it’s fun to pick a silly photo that will give everybody a laugh, perhaps of the two of you costumed for Hallowe’en), centered in a very large white or light-colored matte, set out on a table for the matte to be autographed by the guests. Use fine-point black Sharpie markers so the signatures stand out. Being dragged back and forth between people for signing, will mean that this “dummy” photo will probably be bedraggled. After the wedding, replace the photo with a favorite wedding photo, and frame the finished result for hanging.
Another idea is a decorative plate (see example), also intended for hanging or display, which comes with special pens for your guests to use in signing it. These come in a large range of prices, depending on whether you select ceramic or the finest of porcelain. These are not for food-service use in the future, so do know in advance that they’re for decorative purposes only.
If you’re having a smaller wedding and are a tradition-lover at heart, consider printing up a page (or 2 or 3) such as the one pictured above, created on Photoshop. If you do have more than one page, pick up a pair of decorative antique-brass brads at a craft shop, and attach the pages together through evenly-spaced small slits cut with an Exacto knife near the top. The would sit in place of the guestbook on a table near the entryway with a beautiful pen set–but these can be taken apart later, and will fit in your wedding album or scrapbook–so you’d run across them from time to time when looking at your wedding pictures, instead of relegating them to “the mildewed box”.
Finally, when your guests sign in at your wedding, what are they really signing? Give them an opportunity to leave you a message or give you a piece of advice before they sign their names! These, too, can be homemade on a Photoshop-type program and printed out six or eight to a page in designs and colors that enhance your theme. Set one at every place setting–extra table-setting enhancement–and perhaps 2 pens per table. Be sure your bridesmaids know to tell any guests who ask, to place them in your card box on your gift table; and ask the bridesmaids to pick them up those left on the dining tables at the end of the reception, to be placed in the box. This way, you and your new mate can have a few chuckles when opening wedding cards, and at least you’ll see and read every signature once–which is more than can probably be said for most old-fashioned guest books.
