Thursday, December 11, 2008

How I Tied the Knot: Blurb Guest Book

Previously in the post, tying the knot: reception details, I shared some of my favorite pictures of details from reception. Now, it's time to let you all in on the details behind one of our favorite details, the blurb book and lessons that I learned from that aspect of our wedding day. And, of course, some pretty pictures to display along the way!


I knew early in the planning process that I wanted to have a blurb book serve as our guest book. I incorporated our engagement photos into the layout along with pages left blank for our guests to sign and I couldn't have been happier with how the book turned out. Our guests loved seeing our engagement pictures and the book is now displayed on one of our end tables. So here's how I made ours:

I went with the standard landscape 20 page hard copy book with the dust jacket cover. We chose an image for the dust jacket cover and then customized the cover with our new "married couple" name and the date of our wedding. The spine reflected our new "married couple" name and "The Guestbook."
There were a number of photo layouts to choose from, but I stuck with just three photo layouts, which were displayed on every left-hand page of the book. The four picture layout was the layout that I used the most.
But the full page spreads were my favorite.
I incorporated this three picture layout from time to time.
In every layout with multiple pictures, I attempted to keep the pictures to either all color pictures or all black and white pictures...I just felt like it looked better.

Every right hand side of the blurb layout was blank, except for a light border. With 150 guests at our wedding, I assumed that 1 person per couple would sign our guest book and write a short little note to us. Therefore, I needed room for about 75 couples. Spacing it out I figured out that there was room on each page for about 8 people (couples) to sign/ write notes. Thus, I needed about 9 blank pages. So we went with a 20 page book (1 title page, 9 left pages with pictures, 9 blank right pages for writing/signing, and one final closing page). It worked out perfectly.

Here's a picture from our wedding day of the blurb guest book in action.
Lesson Learned #14: If you opt for a traditional plain guest book filled with lined pages, your guests will have as much fun signing it as they would signing their mortgage check. Take the time to create a personalized guest book. Make a blurb book, use the wish tree concept or have your guests sign a signature mat. Whatever you do, just give your guests something to do or something special to look at while they sign their names in your guest book. Bring a smile to their faces and their words will bring a smile to yours when you read their words in the years to come.
all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

22 comments:

Jessie@FitnessFamilyAndMore said...

Your guestbook looks great. I am thinking about to take something like that, too. I also like the wishtree, but I have a little bit time to think about it.

Unknown said...

it turned out so great!! I can't wait to get started on mine! :)

Adrienne said...

Love it!!!! I seriously can't wait to make ours, it is something I have really been looking forward to. I love how yours turned out - those pictures are amazing!!!

Mary Michal said...

Last night I almost posted a comment asking you to write about this, and then I saw on your twitters that you were. I love your guest book. My wedding is May 1, 2009 and I am definitely going to do this. I really love your 3 layouts too. Very classy.

Rachel H. said...

I did one of these, as well, and I can't wait to see how it looks when everyone signs it. I love it!

Candicelyn said...

OMG you're making me want a blurb book really bad, your great ideas are killing me (in a good way)! Love it!

startsinmynose said...

yeah, im pretty sure im stealing this idea from you.... :) how creative and what a nice keepsake for after the wedding....love it.

The Southbay Newlyweds said...

We just got ours in the mail! It turned out great!

Lisa said...

Yours turned out great! I'm in the process of designing ours right now, can't wait to order it!

LauraAnn said...

I loved your guest book Jess! The pictures were awesome and it looked so nice!
And thanks to that you inspired me to create a "story book" of our engagemnet with pictures from our engagement shoot as a Christmas present for our parents and family members!

Just Dandy Blog said...

I love your BLURB! I can't wait to show everyone mine!!! :)

The Southbay Newlyweds said...

hey..which route do you think i should go with the welcoming bags vs gable boxes??!! i threw a post up about them prior to my bridesmaid dresses...just curious to what you think!

Steve & Marie said...

i LOVE the blurb book! i've been following your blog and finally decided to start my own. i'm from indy too, so it's interesting to see all the ideas that you came up with and how it all worked out! your wedding was beautiful!! :)

My Dream Ring said...

That's a great looking guestbook! I really like it.

erica said...

Been wanting to do one of these for our guestbook for a while - seeing how great yours turned out gives me even more inspiration! Thanks for all the wonderful ideas!

Angela said...

I love love love this guest book! If I hadn't already spent a small fortune in polaroid cameras, film & accessories I would love to do this!

Kristal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristal said...

This is what I will be doing for my wedding as well. I do have a question for you though. What kind of pens did you have the guests use? I'm worried about smearing ink. Did you use fine point sharpies? That's what I'm thinking of doing.

hhgabriel said...

Love your pictures, love the look. Nice done.
I have two questions:
Can the guests write on the glossy paper? What kind of pens did you use?
Thank you,

Chelsea said...

Thank you so much for blogging about this! My wedding is in one week and we have a blurb book- I would have never known about this if it weren't for you and your awesome blog. Can you tell me what types of pens you used? Thanks!

Rachelle said...

how did you get that border on the pages that people signed? I can't figure it out!

Amber said...

im still waiting for my blurb book to arrive ... wedding in 9 days .. eep!! are you able tell me (if you remember) what sort of pens you used?
thanks so much !!