Ohmygosh I love how our guestbook came out! Like - love love it! Wahoo! A friend of mine had their engagement session printed up into a photo book and had their guests sign that. Perhaps you've seen that at weddings? Well, wouldn't you know I somehow got a code for a *free* photobook? I think I got it from signing up for something somewhere along the way...perhaps at a bridal convention? Anyway, we ordered a Shutterfly photo book of our engagement session last Monday. And it is just spectacular. It's totally narcissistic...yes yes...I know...but...whatever.
Originally, we were going to go along with the whole "Polaroid Picture" guestbook - an idea I found in blogland and became instantly addicted to. I even got myself a dope Polaroid camera! But as our guest list slowly increased...I realized we needed a LOT of film. More film than we could really afford. I had no idea how pricey polaroid film is. Whoa.
I was a little bummed that this wouldn't work out - I thought the idea was RAD! Up until last Monday we were still gonna go for it. But...the reality of our budget hit me...as I realized there were other things that we could use that money to pay for. It's SOOOOO easy to want to give into the whims of the wedding world. It's hard to pull away.
There are about a zillion different places on the web to make an engagement photo book. Some photographers sell them along with the engagement session - but from what I've seen they can be rather expensive. I used Shutterfly, and it was easy - and the product came out beautifully!! I've ordered photo books from Kodak before too, and they had beautiful cover options, but I liked Shutterfly's paper/layout design selection better. Those are my 2 cents. (Plus, with my coupon code, I only had to pay a few bucks in shipping...which rocks my face off...and by making a new Shutterfly account, we automatically got 40 free prints or something amazing!)
Did you have a guestbook?
*note: I appreciate all the nice comments some of you left for me yesterday. REALLY. Little funks are few and far between, but when they hit...it just effs up the whole day. Today I looked in the mirror and felt like I was glowing :-) And the huge zit on my chin was gone. Ha!! I love you bloggy friends.
OMG! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! You guys have FABULOUS engagement shots! This was an excellent way to put them to use! I LOVE IT!!
ReplyDeleteI love it! I've been lurking on your blog for a while now, we're getting married in the mountains in Colorado so you've been a huge inspiration, and this is just one more idea I may steal from you! Best wishes on your wedding this weekend, and I'm sure you'll be a *gorgeous* bride!
ReplyDeleteWe did a video guestbook...the videographer shot all of our guests sometime during the reception...it will be our surprise when we're done traveling!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how yours came out...thanks for the input on shutterfly, i want to make a photo album for my mom...but they all seem so expensive!
Thanks for this post. I found something similar on a Web site called Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/make/books - I will check out Shutterfly, too, and see which option is cheapest! Your engagement photos are so dreamy. What a great way to show them off. xoxo.
ReplyDeleteWe made our parents wedding books from Shutterfly for Christmas. They LOVED them. I thought they came out better than the Kodak ones we did.
ReplyDeleteI did do a guest book...an Ansel Adams print book for all to sign. I wish the idea you have and others I've seen do it was on my brain last year! That's okay though I'm in the process of assembling a book from MyPublisher (got a gift card for my birthday) and I'm compiling all pictures from my showers, bach partay, rehearsal, wedding and honeymoon...it's going to be massive but I'm sure we will love it and I hope my future grandkids find it fun:)
ReplyDeleteThere are a million ideas for weddings nowadays. Someone is probably dreaming up 100 new ones while we're reading this blog. There are far more details in weddings than there used to be. The internet has sped up the rate and volume of inspiration. It's wonderful, but don't let the plethora of ideas drive you crazy! ;) Jes, don't worry - you have accomplished a very personalized wedding for sure.
ReplyDeleteSheer awesomeness. I'm about to make a photobook of reception photos from a friend's wedding, think I'll go for Shutterfly now!
ReplyDeletesign that thing with a fine point sharpie other pens will bleed and be ugly! Also for my family album every year I use blurb.com -- really nice archival paper option and hardcover option.
ReplyDeleteThat is a freaking awesome idea!!! I wish I had thought of it! We didn't have engagement shots but I'm sure I could have scraped together some shots of the eight years we were together before hand. Brilliant I tell you, brilliant!!
ReplyDelete(and no, I didn't realize how awesome it is to have a guest book until I didn't do it.)
Coming in way late... My fiance had this idea as well! Where did the guests sign? Did you have blank pages in the back?
ReplyDelete