*By Roxy*
Our planner, whom we like very much, keeps asking us about the guestbook. What are we going to do about the guestbook? A Polaroid guestbook? (My first reaction: But we’re hiring a professional photographer!) A guestbook of notecards requesting advice and good thoughts? (No thanks, that’s too precious.) George just called and told me it occurred to her that we could have people sign the fabric of our chuppah.
We were seriously wracking our brains trying to figure out what guestbook option would be most “us.” Until we realized that maybe it would be the most “us” not to have one at all: no forcing people to try to write something sentimental when they don’t feel like it, no discoveries of stupid stuff written by our drunk friends, no more struggling to come up with something special, and one fewer item to spend time and money on.
Much as I can see us treasuring our wedding photos and our ketubah, I don’t imagine us opening up the guest book to reread. I mean, everyone has had ample opportunity to give us their good wishes in writing, from the reply cards to the cards they’ll most likely give us on our wedding day. George and I are also minimalists when it comes to stuff, so with every guestbook idea comes the thought of yet another object we’ll be schlepping around for the rest of our lives.
But are we crazy? Does anyone out there truly treasure their guest book? If you do, let me know. Are we about to make a big mistake by going without?
Ahaha we just figured this out recently too. I fully intend to scrapbook all of our RSVPs and the cards we receive at the wedding; a guestbook starts seeming awfully superfluous. And can you even remember if there was a guestbook at any wedding that you’ve attended recently?
While I agree that a guest book is not necessary, my favorite idea if you decide to have one is a photo book. Whether you buy a coffee table book with gorgeous photos of your honeymoon destination, or have a book made of your engagement photos, a nice book that can be displayed around the house is great.
I’m a scrapbooker (not the weird sticker kind, the more modern clean lined kind) So I printed our “logo” on 2 pieces of white cardstock and cut them down to 8X8. Then I made a little sign that simply said “Welcome to our ceremony, please sign your name.” Its the last two pages in our album now and we enjoy looking through the names.
I’m forgetful but I think a whole book is overkill. This way we have a list of people who came to share our special day but I don’t have to read over a ton of quotes or advice. Worked for us.