Unique guest book ideas

Wedding guest books are invariably a terrific way to perhaps recall the special time you had with your guests at your wedding. It’s the first things about the wedding celebration your guest would probably see and give you a brief remark that you will appreciate everyday for a long time to come. Think about matching the theme of the guest book with the total theme of the wedding event.

Make a memory “book” loaded with heartfelt messages. The main factor to a brilliant guest book is actually a range of remarkable responses from your guests. Inspire them to express themselves. Let your guest write their best wishes, share their piece of advice, write a funny short story, compose a poem or recall a favorite memory. Indeed, these guest book ideas and alternatives are a perfect way to remember all of the people who help you to celebrate your big day. After the wedding party celebration, take them on your honeymoon destination and read them together with your new spouse.

Bored with the typical sign-in albums with listing of names where wedding guests basically sign and pass it around? Your wedding doesn’t have to be similar to everyone else’s. There are lots of creative ways to remember who helped you celebrate your extraordinary wedding day and record all the guests who came to share the joy of the celebration. Here are 20 awesome guest book alternatives for the wedding reception.

20 CREATIVE GUEST BOOK ALTERNATIVES

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01. Polaroid Scrapbook

Make sure the polaroid camera has plenty of film. Wedding guest can strike a pose then leave their photo on the guest book, together with their short message for the couple.

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02. Guest Book Puzzle

Either side on the puzzle features a portrait photo chosen by the bride and groom and have the back side for the wedding guest’s personal comments. Put the pieces inside a glass container at the wedding venue, together with a message requesting guest to autograph the incomplete backside.

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03. Wedding Caricature Sign-in Board

Bring life to your party celebration. You may wanna try hiring a caricature artist to draw the portrait of the bride and groom and let the wedding guest sign on it as they arrive. Wedding caricatures can be drawn up in full color or black line style.

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04. Fingerprint Guest Book

Design your guest book as a work of art. Just let your guest press their thumb to create leaves in which they will place their signature or message for the bride and groom.

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05. Typewriter Guest Book

Arrange an old-fashioned typewriter together with long pieces of paper for guests to type their good wishes as the mood strikes.

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06. Wishing Stones

An Irish wedding tradition wherein they have their wedding guests write their best wishes on smooth stones. Put together a wedding guest book table with plenty of pebbles and a glass vase filled up with water. After the guest signed with a permanent marker, they can put the stones inside the vase. This represent and bring back the tradition of throwing stones into a river or pool.

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07. Wedding Mad libs

Receive some marvelous and crazy feedback with these creative mad libs-inspired guest book.

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08. Chalkboard Message in Photo booth

Cut-out bubble shapes and coat it with chalkboard paint. Place them by your photo booth and let your guest write a short message before having their hilarious pose infront of the camera.

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09. Wine Bottle Guest Book

Now let your guest sign a bottle of wine with a glass marker and let them leave a note for the couple. Then let the wine be stored and kept in your new family home and be opened up during wedding anniversaries.

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10. Vinyl Record Guest Book Alternative

If you are a music junkie, it’s more fun to use the vinyl record as a guest book instead. Use it on a table at the wedding reception with silver or gold marker pens and encourage your guests to have their autographs.

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11. Photo Frame Guest Book Alternative

Celebrate your wedding day along with loving words of your friends flanked by your chosen wedding photo. Use an acid free fine point pen to protect your guest’s messages for many years.

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12. Guitar Guest Book Alternative

If you have a music band or simply love music, you might want to repurpose one of your guitar into a guest book. This can generate an awesome conversation when hang and display on the wall with a protective coat.

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13. Wine Cork Guest Book Alternative

For wine lovers, wine corks can be a guest book alternative for guest to write on.

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14. Guest Book Platter

Grab the moments of your wedding event with the best souvenir and genuine messages that you can treasure and display for a long time. A platter is indeed a great guest book alternative. Don’t forget to bake in your home oven to protect and seal on the messages.

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15. Wishing Tree Guest Book Alternative

A Wish Tree as an alternative guest book coming from a Dutch wedding tradition where visitors are provided with a sheet of paper. The guests write their wishes to the bride and groom and then hang it on the tree. This creates a stunning focal point. The tree is positioned at the entry ways towards the wedding reception to amaze your guests as they walk in.

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16. Guest Quilt

Another guest book idea is to choose a guest quilt. After it is sewn together, it reminds you of the people who come to your wedding day. Place a cardboard under the fabric to avoid the fabric marker from bleeding through.

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17. Jenga Guest Book Alternative

A different way to engage with your guest is to have them take a block of Jenga stick to write their message to the happy couple. Every time you play the game, it will bring back all the memories for years to come.

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18. Vintage Postcard

For those couple who have a timeless vintage or travel styled wedding, using vintage postcards as guest book complements it. Guest then compose their sweet wishes for the wedding couple.

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19. Engagement Guest Book

Engagement guestbooks are impressive considering that it lets you show off lots of the engagement session photos, while giving yet another kind of guest book to sign at the wedding reception. Spaces inside the guest book enable wedding guests to jot down sweet advice and best wishes for the couple while displaying the best photos from your engagement photo shoot.

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20. Wooden Slice Guest Book Alternative

Another guest book alternative is to have your guest sign a large wooden guest book that is almost the size of a tree trunk.

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A 'rocking' guestbook idea

How cool is this! Ask your guests to write their message on pebbles then after the wedding you can display them in your garden!

How To Make Your Own Wish Tree

From Here Comes The Bride

Here is what you need to recreate the tree shown in the picture:

8 Manzanita Branches: You can spray-paint them gold or silver, or you can leave it the way nature intended.
Crystal Garland for use on the tree and in the vases
2 Large Glass Hurricanes or Floral Vases
Ornament Hooks
2 pens for guests to write with
2 Large serving trays which can be used to display the wish cards before the guests hang them on the tree. (If you want the guests to be able to access both sides of the table you will need 2 Large serving platters 2 frames and 4 pens.)
1-2 frames: The frames are placed between the hurricanes on either side of the table. Inside the frame, place card stock with the wording: “Best Wishes Brides Names & Grooms Name.”
Wish Tree Notes: To keep it simple, you could have your invitation vendor create the notes in the same style and card stock as your wedding invitations, place cards, programs and guest cards. Or, you could choose card stock in any shape or color you want to fit the theme or look of your wedding. It could look like an actual leaf or it could be done in the shape of a sea shell or snow flake. You just want to make sure there is enough surface space on the card for the guest to write her message.

Useful tip: Make sure to get 15-20 extra notes more than your total guest count.

Here is how you would construct your Wish Tree:

1. Wrap the inside the hurricanes with the crystal garland in a circular direction so that you get a good base in which to place the manzanita branches.

2. Place the two hurricanes about a foot apart from each other on the table on which the wish tree will be displayed.

3. Arrange the manzanita branches in the hurricanes.

4. Take the remaining crystal garland and drape them throughout the branches. This could take some time and you might need to make adjustments. You just don’t want to have any huge holes.

5. Place a ornament hook on each wish card and display them on the table. You can use the a serving platter to display the cards on, like it is in the picture, or you can just spread them on the table itself. (This step was the most time consuming for me.)

6. Place the frames in the center of the two hurricanes

7. Place the pens on either side of the serving platter

Useful tip: To get the most sparkle out of your tree place it near a great light source or add a few votive candles around the tree.

Different guestbooks

Guests place their fingerprint in green, or coloured depending on the look you're after and sign their name next to it. This one is created to look like a tree





After the ceremony, ask someone to bring the aisle runner to the reception. Ask everyone to leave their well wishes by writing on the aisle runner and after the wedding you can hang it from a wall to display










Use a platter, plate, bowl or mug



















What about the good old paper table clothes? Use paper table clothes on your table and leave some crayons, pencils or textas in a pretty jar in the middle of the table. Ask everyone to 'decorate' the table for you











You could also use cardstock and a pretty bowl, vase or jar. After the wedding you can put the messages in a scrapbook with your wedding photos

























Use a sticker camera to make a photo guest book!
Enlist the help of a friend or family member to act as the guest book photographer. Because the photos come out straight away, guests can stick their photo in the guest book and write a message next to it. It can also be done with a Polaroid camera.



From Polka Dot Bride

Typewriter guest book

I saw this idea on Martha Stewart one day and thought it was great. Buy an old typewriter from an op shop, cash converters or see if a friend or relative has an old one laying around. Get everyone to type their well wishes on some pretty paper and when they are done you can scrapbook it, frame it, tie it up with ribbon like a scroll or display it in your wedding album

The Wishing Tree - Alternative to a traditional guest book

The Wish Tree is a Dutch wedding custom where guests are given a piece of paper, either shaped like a leaf or made of card stock. The guests write their wishes to the bride and groom and then hang it on the tree. This creates a gorgeous centerpiece and the tree is placed at the entrance to the reception to wow your guests right when they walk in.

After the wedding you can create a scrapbook with the wish cards. You could even find pictures of the guests who wrote each one and place it next to their wish.

Here are some inspirations for you...