20 Wedding Guest Book Alternatives (#10 is our new favorite)
We’ve scoured our back catalog of real weddings as well as other online wedding sources we hold near and dear. Scroll down to go directly to our round-up list of 19 creative wedding guest book alternatives that are a tad more exciting to read through than a standard guestbook.
A wedding guest book no longer needs to be pen and bound paper. The form and shape of the traditional guest book has morphed to match changing wedding trends and tastes. Sure, the purpose of a guest book is to capture the names and well wishes of those special individuals who actually attended your wedding. However, we’ve seen many creative ways to accomplish this goal beyond pen and paper.
Let me ask you: which guest book idea is more exciting?
1) A standard hard cover book filled with blank pages; or
2) A giant bottle of wine that guests can sign using a gold color felt marker
For Love & Lavender’s own wedding, we opted for option #2!
L & L’s Wine Bottle Guestbook
Below is the picture of the unique wedding guest book Love & Lavender used at our wedding – a giant wine bottle! My husband and I love sharing a good bottle of wine now and again. So when Andrew went to Osoyoos for his bachelor party, he simply had to pick up a Jeroboam bottle of wine from one of his favorite Canadian wineries (Road 13 Vineyards).
Mind the eclectic mix of aluminum foil, wood popsicle sticks, and other sundry items on the table. They were all part of the wedding hunger games we devised as part of our reception.
What is a Jeroboam?
No, not a type of wine, it’s actually the official name for a wine bottle size … FOUR bottles of wine in one to be exact! That left plenty of surface space for our guests to write their names and well wishes using gold and silver color felt pens.
A Meaningful Guestbook
The plan is to let this particular red wine blend age to perfection, and then uncork it for one of our bigger wedding anniversaries surrounded by special family and friends. Its a meaningful guest book and one that we can enjoy and share years later. Let’s face it, four bottles is great to share between a husband and wife, but I can only imagine the morning after.
When it comes to your own wedding guest book, put on your brainstorming hat and choose something that is meaningful.
- Maybe you like wine like us and want to use an even BIGGER wine bottle size
- Perhaps you are soccer coaches and want your guests to sign a soccer ball
- Or, if you both love art your guests could sign a special piece of artwork
Whatever you choose as your wedding guest book, don’t have another dust collector sitting on a book shelf.
Creative Wedding Guest Book Ideas
Drumroll please! Creativity and weddings are a natural match. And when it comes to wedding guest book alternatives, in recent years we’ve seen some pretty creative and imaginative ideas here on the wedding blog.
Add a bit of fun to your wedding day by coming up with a unique alternative idea for a guestbook. Let us know if you have a favorite once you’ve gone through the list!
1) Wishing Tree Guestbook
Place beautiful cherry blossom, manzanita, or magnolia branches in a pot. Make cards with ribbons attached and ask guests to write their well wishes or advice and hang the cards on the branches. Makes for a pretty keepsake for around the house afterwards
Manzanita Tree by Efavormart
Wedding Tree by Trees 2 Art
2) Postcards/Mailbox
Assemble postcards of the city or state where your wedding is held. Ask guests to sign the back of a postcard and slip it into a unique mailbox. This guestbook type would be perfect for a travel-themed wedding!
White mailbox listed on Amazon
3) Fill in the Blank Pages
We la-la-love this idea. Have guests complete a fun wedding mad libs. Grab you own fitting Wedding Mad Libs from Etsy.
4) Fingerprints Tree
Such a sweet and unique idea! DIY your own background by drawing a tree with lots of empty branches on a poster. At your wedding, place a sign asking guests to “leaf” a fingerprint and sign their name.
If you don’t have the time or skills to DIY this project, get yourself a fingerprint guestbook tree from Wedding Stationery Des
5) Typewriter Guestbook
It’s not a new idea, but we still love vintage typewriters as guestbooks. Provide direction like asking guests to share some words of wisdom, and you’ll get more interesting responses. Yup, you can still buy a vintage typewriter on Amazon!
6) Sign the Poster
Get a poster that means something to the both of you. Ensure the poster has a large border edge space for guests to sign. Leave instructs for guests to write a message and you’ll have a wonderful keepsake for years to come!
Custom wedding guest book print with frame by An Artsy Affair
7) Polaroid Guestbook
Another spin-off of the photo booth guestbook is to let guests take Polaroids of themselves, mount them in a book, and sign next to their photo.
Find a Fujifilm Instant Film Camera on Amazon for a reasonable price.
8) Map / Globe Guestbook
Write instructions on a chalk board asking guests to “Send you Across the World” by writing their names and a favorite world destination – what a fun idea! You could also ask them to leave you some “Worldly Advice!”
Guest Book Map by Marsh mallow Ink LLC
The State Love Map by Miss Design Berry Inc
Guestbook Globe by Nearly Scripted
9) Wine Themed Guest Books
Oenophiles (those who really enjoy wine) such as Love & Lavender will love this wedding guest book alternative! Guests can either sign their names and messages directly onto a bottle or via custom wine labels. Years later, pop the cork and drink to celebrate a milestone wedding anniversary. A wine theme guest book provides both a fun idea on your wedding day as well as an event to dream about and look forward to in the future.
Wedding Guest Book Labels by Label with Love
10) Save your Corks
My husband and I collect corks from bottles of wine that mean something to us. In fact, Andrew’s boutonniere was made out of the champagne cork that we drank on the night we were engaged. Read more about that particular unique boutonniere here.
If you like to save wine corks too (I Google’d and couldn’t find a cool name for this type of collector!), another idea to incorporate into your wedding guest book is pictured below. Guests sign a cork and place it into a shadow box.
Initial Wedding Shadow Box by Everything Etched AZ
11) Wood Working Skills
Are either of you good at wood working? If so, use your talents to create a magnificent masterpiece such as the bench pictured below, which guests can sign. Certainly a hefty keepsake that you can add to your backyard and use for many years. If you are not so talented in the wood working field, you could always pretend and find one off Amazon.
12) Sign a Guitar
Does music play a big part in your life? Share your passions with wedding guests by having them sign a musical instrument, like a guitar.
13) Create a Custom Guest Book
Okay this idea is hugging the line of being a standard guest book …
Nonetheless, use your engagement photos to create a custom made book that your wedding guests can sign. I think it will be a treasured keepsake for you as a couple. I’m sentimental, so I actually think this is one of my favorite guest book ideas of all!
Create your own custom book with Mix Book.
14) Wood Slab Guestbook
A rustic wedding needs a guest book to match the theme. Nothing says rustic woodsy like a tree trunk slab. Have your guests sign a custom make wood slab for a keep sake you can hang on a wall … or in your husband’s man cave.
Rustic Guest Book Wooden Slab by Mintage Designs
Wood Slice by Tricia16designs
Wall Letter by All Wood Too
15) Games Guestbook
Who doesn’t love a good board game? Incorporate games into your guest book theme and get guests to sign their very own Jenga piece. Ah yes, brings back fond memories every time I take one from the bottom and stack it on top!
Jenga found on Etsy
16) Custom Puzzle Guestbook
Maybe you don’t play board games, but you are always up for a quiet time with a puzzle. Get a custom puzzle produced, and let guests know to sign, “Without you our puzzle isn’t complete. Please sign the back of a piece.”
Puzzle by Wedding Craft Shop
Photos from Pink & Sage Wedding at The Phoenician Resort
17) Heart Drop Guest Book
Heart Guest Book Drop Top by SoulCraftyGarden
18) Rock / Shell Guestbook
Pet rock anyone? This may seem like a weird (and potentially free) idea. However, perhaps you both enjoy strolling along a beach and have collected numerous special rocks or shells along the way. A fun and different idea is to have guests each sign a rock or shell. Add them to your garden or keep them in a vase as a fun memento.
19) Football Guestbook
Sports fans or sports coaches will certainly love the idea of a pigskin at their wedding. Get your guests to sign a football, soccerball, or basketball to keep as a memory of your big day.
Photo from Bowen Island Wedding
20) Recipes for Love
Last but not least, rather than giving a couple your best wishes I really like the idea of giving them advice on relationships and love. Let guests fill out their own recipe card for love.
Photos from Milk & Cookies Styled Shoot
21) Your Lyrics Record
Music lovers we have you covered! With your first dance or wedding song lyrics written on one side and a drawing of a vinyl record where all your guests can leave a sweet message on the other, this will make a great keepsake to hang in your home.
Lyrics Record by DesignCreatives
I hope you have a better idea about your wedding guest book options! Please let me know in the comment section below what you ended up choosing for your wedding day.
Absolutely love your blog 🙂
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoy it!
We did the matted frame that everyone signed. However, I like some of these other ideas.
What a great collection of guestbook ideas! Thanks for sharing!!!
Those are amazing ideas. I like the tree one the most 🙂
Love the chalk board photos, what a fun idea 🙂
Great ideas! Especially love the wishing tree and the typewriter.
Had actually never heard of the “vintage typewriter” idea before. My favourite suggestion here though is the chalkboard and photos! What an imaginative way to capture not only everyones thoughts on your day but you also have an original keepsake with a picture telling a thousand words.
in the UK we don’t tend to use wedding trees but I love the idea of using them instead of a traditional guest book. They can be placed into a scrapbook after the wedding with photos of those who wrote the wishes making a stunning memory book.
Really great ideas! I am going into wedding planning and with this economy it demands money saving creative plans. The wishing tree is my favorite!
Very creative. Love the Polaroid and tree guest book ideas.
I love these ideas, I hope some of my future bridal clients have them at their weddings!
Absolutely love these ideas! Brilliant – gonna so have one of these in my own wedding!
I have had my eye on the polaroid guestbook idea for a while. I love that one with the black pages and silver writing! Just need to find a polaroid camera and book now 😉
Very creative – thanks for the inspiration! I particularly liked the message tree…
Nice collection
really liked all the ideas very very much useful for an event manager to please their client..thank you very much.. stumble upon!
Absolutely Love Love Love these ideas. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I liked the chalkboard thing. Nice
these ideas are so creative and adorable!
Really unusual, fun and stunning guest book ideas. The typewriter is beautiful and would create another talking point for wedding guests!
Awesome blog! I’m getting married in two months but constantly looking for new ideas!
Absolutely love your blog.
So beautiful. Great ideas too.
Oooh, my favorite is the one with the pink typewriter. That is seriously cool.
I never thought of creating guest books like these before. VERY creative content!
This looks like something straight out of Etsy, great ideas though.
Charming! I adore the post cards!
great round-up! i’m digging the pink typewriter.
-e.
Super clever ideas!
Very cute ideas, I esp like the chalkboards and the fingerprint tree is so cute!!
I really love the idea of the postcards and the mailbox however I’m not so sure about #8. 🙂
+2 for the typewriter! Just did a whole article on vintage and retro wedding ideas, this would have been great to show! Such a fun idea… and I love the pink!
My writerly self is still in love with the typewriter; I plan to use it despite its nearly passe status. Ha.
XO
Carly
All this is Grace and Charm
I love the wedding tree and the postcards.
I really like the idea of getting pictures of everybody on the wedding day along with a word of advice or just a story, awesome idea!
loving all these ideas especially the typewriter!
favs are the wedding tree with thumbprints and the photobooth guest book!
Great ideas! I love the chalkboard idea also incorporating the photo booth!!
Really good ideas here! I’m seriously considering the postcards, we have a family tradition of sending them so it’s kind of perfect.
thanks for taking the time to share this