Handmade Guest Book

The wedding guest book. Guests sign it (if they rememeber) and then it disappears into a box never to be seen again. But that doesn't mean it can't be cute!

When searching for a guest book for our wedding, I was astonished at how expensive these little books could be - especially when one realizes just how much alike they all look! To add to this frustration, each time I sent a link of a possible guest book to the future hubby, he would say, "It's so wedding-y." Hmmm.

I would have made my own guest book, but I have no idea how to work with paper or book bindings. Well, there's only one place to go when looking for a unique take on the traditional: http://www.etsy.com/. If you are not familiar with Etsy (and everyone really ought to be!), it is a website for people to buy and sell handmade items. It rocks. You have no idea how creative people can be until you have looked through this site.

After a couple hours of searching, I found this treasure:

The flower design resembles hydrangeas (perfect!), it's affordable, and the binding just screams, "I am handmade, beautiful, and awesome!" It was made by Etsy seller MadeByMatchGirl, whose books are professionally made, unique, and whimsical. The book's 108 pages are perfectly blank, allowing each party attending our wedding to sign on one whole page. I am going to buy several pens in varying dark colors so that guests can not only sign their names, but also doodle a little something special to make their messages to us more personal.

Here are some other lovely guest books from Etsy that caught my eye, although they are a little more expensive.

This one is by Etsy seller lilyelle. (The fabric pattern is called Dandy Damask.)

This one is by Etsy seller CreativeBridal.