I had debated for a long time, perusing Pinterest for a food guest book idea. I liked the fingerprint tree or balloon ideas, but at the same time it did seem like the best way to remember the people who came since to be honest, I probably wouldn’t be able to identify people by their finger prints!
I also considered doing the writing on a Jenga set because I was trying to have all of the fun lawn games etc. (Which despite having a giant Jenga and other various lawn games, no one played any of them at the wedding).
I also liked the idea of using a calendar and having people sign on their birthday so then I would have documentation of everyone's birthday I was supposed to remember.
The traditional guest book was considered, but dismissed. People are already writing cards, No need to make them re-write the same sentiments and then (if they are like me) sign their name in an illegible manner so I have no idea who the note is from anyway.
My mother-in-law was VERY upset I was not doing a traditional guest book. She was like, but how are you going to get everyones addresses and phone numbers!? Of the weddings I have been to I have NEVER written my address/ phone number or any other contact information in the guestbook. If I was supposed to, I am sorry, I failed and was completely ignorant to this practice. Furthermore, if I had wanted to collect this data it would have been a lot more useful BEFORE the wedding and before I sent out invitations to everyone at their addresses. Also, to everyone that keeps telling me how great it will be to get everyones addresses for the invitations nce this will be used for the “Holiday Card list” – I do not send out holiday cards. Maybe I would send out an Ecard- but christmas cards are really just a waste of paper in my opinion. Cards in general are a nice thought, but really I read them, maybe leave them up for a week because I feel obligated, and then recycle them. Save your 41 cents. Just send me an email.
In the end, I decided a picture says a thousand words and to just use the photobooth as a "Guestbook"
In order to encourage everyone to get their pictures taken I made a note in the wedding programs to make sure they visited the booth.
Photobooth:
I looked in to renting a photobooth, especially when there were groupon type of deals for some of them, nonetheless, they were at least $1000 to rent. Considering the fat that Jordan is a ‘photographer/ videographer’ with lots of camera equipment and has various coworkers I figured we could harass for a favor – I decided we could make it work on our own.
I put myself in charge of acquiring the props. I looked online at Etsy which had quite the selection, but the cost was a bit much.
Again, thank goodness for Pinterest and google! Check out my "wedding: photobooth" pinterest page for specifics!
I found a bunch of free templates to use, some of the best being from Oh Happy Day blog and Get Creative Juice blog
My supply list included:
• Black foam core board from craft store (This was more expensive than I thought it would be ~$6 I discovered after the fact that Dollar Tree sells foam core for $1 for a smaller sheet, but only comes in white so it would have stuck out more.)
• Hot glue gun and glue (I already had the gun, so I just picked up some sticks for ~$1 at Walmart --I KNOW I shouldn't support Walmart, but that is another story entirely.)
• 12” wooden dowels (also from Walmart about $1/ pack of 10, I bought 3 packs).
• Printer
• Sticky felt (My sisters company moved offices and was going to throw away a ton of craft supplies, she rescued it and gave it to some of her teacher friends and myself.)
To put them together:
1. Print out your props on a printer.
2. If the print was already colored (Like the Oh Happy Day ones) just glue them right on to the foam board. If not, you can cut out colored paper or in my case stick felt into the shape and then glue onto the foam board with a spray adhesive.
3. Using an exacto-knife on a cutting board, trace the shape to cut through the foam board.
4. Using a glue gun, attach the wooden dowel to the side of the prop and wait until it dries.
I printed out a photobooth sign and framed it in a dollar store frame.
I rounded out my props I made with random things I had around the house from old halloween and dance constumes such as Bunny Ears, Giant glasses and a biker hat.
For the booth itself we just used a black back drop and a bench in our garage and some of our photographers (we had Jordan's Uncle and a few of his friends doing out photography) use their cameras and lighting equipment.
Everyone seemed to have a fun time and the pictures came out great for the most part!
Some people found their own props to use as well
And some people did not even use props!
There is my very handsome daddy and his girlfriend Valerie
Even Jordan's 80 year old great aunt and uncle joined in!
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