Wedding Guest Book Alternative: Eight Ideas by Cost

Choose the alternative by what you want to keep. Words last longest on advice cards and letters. Faces live in photos. A signed print or puzzle hangs on the wall. Whatever you pick, set it at the entrance or near the bar with pens and a short sign. Ask one person to send guests over.

Guests write something worth keeping when you ask one clear question.

Asking guests for a line in a book is an old habit. Indiana University Libraries describes 19th-century autograph books that held signatures and messages from friends and family, with poems, humorous verses and short farewells. Your alternative does the same job. It just gives guests a better prompt than a blank line.

1. Advice cards in a box: low cost, high keepsake value

Advice cards for the wedding are small cards with a prompt. Guests write one tip for your marriage and drop the card in a box. You read them later, often on your first anniversary.

Cards with a prompt get better answers than blank ones. Try prompts like these.

• The best marriage advice I ever got was…
• Never go to bed without…
• Our favorite date night idea is…
• In 10 years, I hope you two…

Plan about one card per household, plus a stack of extras. Couples and families often write together. Turnout depends on where the table sits, whether someone sends guests over and how long the task takes. Plan for every household, and expect fewer if nobody directs guests. Set the cards next to a box or jar, with pens that write on card stock without smudging.

For the sign, try "Leave us your best marriage advice" or "Advice for the newlyweds. Fill out a card and drop it in the box."

We don't sell blank advice cards. Any plain card stock cut to a small size works, and a stationery store has blank place cards that do the job.

2. Advice for the newlyweds mad libs: low cost, a laugh at the table

A mad libs sheet is a short text with blanks. Guests fill in words without reading the text, then read it aloud. An advice version turns marriage tips into a silly letter to the two of you.

The game works best at the tables during dinner. Put one sheet and a pen at each table, and ask a table to read its version during the toasts if you like. For 120 guests at tables of eight, that's 15 sheets.

Our wedding reception games include a mad libs set with two texts, your love story and advice for the newlyweds. You edit both texts in the personalizer, and every word in square brackets becomes a blank with a small label under the line. Our games bundle is $10 per design and prints on plain paper or light card. Reception games as a whole are covered in the guide to wedding reception games.

3. Letters to open later: low cost, the most personal

Letters to open later ask guests to write to your future selves. Set out envelopes labeled for milestones: "Open on our first anniversary", "Open after our first fight", "Open when we buy a house".

Guests pick an envelope, write a short note and seal it. You get a stack of letters to open over the years instead of one afternoon of reading.

Your sign can read "Write us a letter. Pick a moment, write a note and seal it for later."

Keep the letters in one box after the wedding. The Library of Congress page on caring for scrapbooks and albums recommends wrapping keepsakes in acid-free paper. It also recommends a protective box, away from too much light. The same page recommends a steady 65 to 70°F, so a closet shelf in your home beats a hot attic.

4. A signed print or poster: medium cost, made for the wall

A signed print is a piece of art with open space for signatures. Guests sign around a drawing of your venue, a map of where you met or a simple frame. After the wedding you frame it and hang it.

Print it large enough for your guest count. Plan room for every signature with space between them. A print shop can print an 18 × 24 in poster on matte paper that takes pen well. Test your pen on a corner first, because some inks bead on glossy paper.

A sign that works here reads "Please sign our guest book print. We'll frame it and keep you close."

5. A puzzle, blocks or a wine box: medium cost, a game you keep

Some guest book alternatives are objects. Guests sign puzzle pieces, wooden blocks for a stacking game, or a wine box you seal and open on an anniversary. Each one turns signing into something you can use or play again.

Objects are the right pick if you want a keepsake that sits on a shelf rather than in a drawer. The catch is space. A puzzle piece holds only a name and a few words, so you get less advice than with cards.

Put "Sign a puzzle piece. You're part of our story." on the sign beside the box of pieces.

6. An instant photo guest book: higher cost, faces and notes together

A photo guest book pairs an instant camera with an album. Guests take a photo, stick it on a page and write a note beside it. Years later, you see who came and what they looked like that night.

Film runs out faster than you think. Count on at least one shot per household, plus test shots and retakes. Ask a friend to keep an eye on the camera and restock it.

The sign can simply say "Snap a photo, stick it in and leave us a note."

7. A photo hunt for the reception: low cost, photos from every table

A photo hunt is a list of moments for guests to photograph with their phones. The first dance, a toast in mid-air, a grandparent laughing. Guests share the photos with your wedding hashtag, so you get pictures your photographer missed.

The keepsake depends on guests sharing their photos. Put the hashtag on the sheet, and remind guests once during the toasts.

Our reception games include an I spy photo hunt with 6 to 24 moments and your hashtag. It works best alongside a short signed alternative, because photos carry faces but no messages.

8. An audio guest book: highest cost, voices you can replay

An audio guest book is an old-style phone that records voice messages. Guests pick up the receiver and leave a toast, a story or advice. You hear voices you'll never get back on paper.

Audio phones are usually rented or bought from a specialist. Older relatives may need someone to show them how it works. Pair it with a sign so guests know the phone is not a prop.

Try "Pick up the phone and leave us a message after the tone." on the sign.

Ask the rental company how you get the recordings, and when. Once you have the files, the Library of Congress guide to keeping personal audio recordings says to give them descriptive names. Make at least two copies and store them in different places, as far apart as practical.

How to choose your wedding guest book alternative

Sort the options by what you want to keep and what guests have to do.

Guests use the ideas that take under a minute at a spot they pass anyway. Signing a print, a puzzle piece or a card fits that. Mad libs reach guests in their seats, so nobody has to walk anywhere. Letters ask for a few quiet minutes, so expect fewer but longer notes. An audio phone can build a line and needs someone to show older relatives how it works. A photo hunt only pays off if guests share their photos.

The cost labels below compare what each idea needs. Low means paper and pens. Medium means a print shop poster, or a puzzle, blocks or a box you buy. Higher means an instant camera plus film for at least one shot per household. Highest means renting or buying an audio phone. Our signs pack is $15 per design and our games bundle is $10 per design.

The low ideas are easy to price yourself. Take the example prices from wedding invitations on a budget, which are 30 cents a sheet of cardstock, 25 cents of ink per printed side and 20 cents an envelope. A Letter sheet cuts into four 4.25 × 5.5 in cards, so 100 advice cards take 25 sheets. That is $7.50 blank or $13.75 with a prompt printed on one side. Fifty envelopes for letters to open later add $10. Fifteen mad libs sheets on light card come to $8.25. Replace the example prices with the prices on your own paper pack and ink cartridge. For a poster, a puzzle, film or an audio phone, ask the print shop, seller or rental company for a quote.

Want a printable guest book with pages to fill in, or a wedding guest book template for a bound book? Our shop is the wrong place for that. We don't make one. A notebook with blank pages does that job.

Guest book sign wording that tells guests what to do

Every alternative needs a sign beside it. Guests walk past a table they don't understand. The Emily Post Institute's advice on cell phones at the wedding ceremony suggests having an attendant direct guests to sign the book. It also suggests an attractive sign next to it, perhaps in a picture frame.

A good sign says the action in one line. The table below gives guest book sign wording for each idea.

What our shop sells for a guest book table, and what it doesn't

Most of these ideas need nothing from us. Advice cards, letters to open later, a signed print, a puzzle or blocks, an instant photo book and an audio phone all work with things you buy elsewhere. A sign you letter by hand does the rest. Two of our products help, and each one serves different ideas.

Our signs pack is $15 per design and holds 10 signs in the same design as the rest of your wedding paper. It serves every idea that sits on a table: advice cards, letters, a signed print, a puzzle, a photo book or an audio phone. Its guest book sign has the heading "Guest book", and you type the line under it, such as "Leave us your best marriage advice". If you want a different heading, like "Advice for the newlyweds", that sign won't do it. Two more signs can share the guest book table: cards & gifts, and a hashtag sign for a photo hunt. The other seven signs are unplugged ceremony, signature drinks with a bar line, favors, in loving memory, reserved, order of events and find your seat. Each sign prints at 8 × 10 in, on a full Letter or A4 sheet, or at 5 × 7 in. If you need one guest book sign and nothing else, a handwritten card in a frame does the job. The pack earns its $15 when you need several of these signs and want them to match your invitations and menus. It is also part of the day-of suite at $29.

Our wedding reception games are $10 per design and serve two of the ideas above. They are the mad libs set with its advice for the newlyweds text (idea 2) and the I spy photo hunt with your hashtag (idea 7). The same bundle holds five more games: a couple crossword, reception bingo, the shoe game, a word search and kids coloring pages. It suits you if you want the advice mad libs or the photo hunt and would play at least one more game. For the guest book table alone, the signs pack is the closer fit.

You can look at our guest book sign in all four designs before you choose.