Unique, contemporary ideas for preserving wedding memories through guest books

Traditionally, wedding guest books served to help a bride and groom keep track of all the guests. This is to send thank-you notes and start a formal address book. Today, wedding guest books have come to be more symbolic keepsakes to preserve memories and photographs. In recent years, unique, custom-designed, and themed wedding guest books have also become popular bridal shower gifts.

If you are seeking alternative or unusual wedding guest book ideas, keep in mind that guest books need not necessarily be in book format. There are plenty of mementos that showcase names, inscriptions, and well-wishes of guests that can be displayed prominently in a home rather than hidden or stashed away on a bookshelf.

Here are three inspiring wedding guest book ideas to get you started.

Unique, Contemporary Wedding Guest Book Ideas:

1.  Select a tapestry, plaque, or wall art item to serve as a guest book

Rather than opting for a traditional wedding guest book, consider purchasing a plaque. You can also check out wall art items or tapestries that could be elegantly framed and later hung on a wall in the couple’s new home.  Consider a tapestry embroidered with the couple’s name and wedding date.

2.  Create a Personalized Piece of Pottery

One particularly unusual contemporary wedding guest books is to have a potter or sculptor. This can create a clay vase, serving dish, vessel, or decorative item. Have all the guests carve their names into the clay before it is fired. Then, send the pottery to be fired and glazed. 

This unique home decor item will also be a functional piece. A personalized serving platter may be used for meals with friends, while a vase may be used to display flower bouquets in the couple’s first home. The only drawback to this type of pottery guest book is that it is fragile and could be easily broken.

3.  Create a Scrapbook or Polaroid Photo Album as a Guest Book

Ask wedding guests to bring along a memento or photograph of their treasured memories with the bride or groom as part of their wedding gift. Collect these photographs and arrange them into a scrapbook-style wedding guest books. 

Or, for more interactive wedding guest book ideas, have a few disposable cameras and Polaroid cameras available for wedding guests to snap pictures during the ceremony and after-party. These photos can be immediately incorporated into the wedding guest book. One important tip is to select a wedding guest book that contains slots or spaces for photos. 

Regardless of what type of wedding guest book you decide on—pottery, tapestry, scrapbook, or variation of any of these combined with a traditional guest book … the most important thing is to make sure that every guest signs it!  The item won’t be much of a treasured keep sake if it only bears a few sparse signatures.  To ensure that everyone has time to sign it, put a wedding member in charge of bringing it along to the rehearsal dinner and reception.