Wedding guest book ideas: 30 alternatives to the classic book
Thirty guest book ideas grouped by the keepsake you want to end up with, from Jenga blocks to audio phones and digital messages.
Updated · 7 min read·By the DropSnaps team
Quick answer
Popular wedding guest book ideas include a photo album or instant-camera guest book, a print or map guests sign, Jenga blocks or jigsaw pieces, letters to open on anniversaries, an audio guest book on a vintage phone, and a digital guest book where guests leave a message with a photo from their own phone. Choose the keepsake you'll actually look at again.
Questions people ask
What can I use instead of a wedding guest book?
Jenga blocks, a jigsaw, wooden hearts in a frame, a signed print or map, a bottle of wine to open on an anniversary, an audio phone or a digital guest book. Pick something you'll display or use, so the messages don't sit in a drawer.
What do you put in a wedding guest book?
A message for the couple: congratulations, a memory or something you love about them, and a wish for their future. A prompt on every page, like "Your best advice", helps guests write more than their name.
What should a guest book sign say?
One line that says what to do, for example: "Leave us a message: sign the book, or scan the code to write a note from your phone."
A guest book is the one wedding keepsake your guests make for you. The classic lined book still works, but plenty of couples now want something they'll actually look at again: a print for the wall, blocks for a game night, a box of letters to open on an anniversary, or voices and photos instead of signatures. Here are 30 ideas, grouped by the kind of keepsake you want to end up with.
How to choose a guest book idea
Three questions narrow it down quickly:
What do you want to keep? Something to display (a print, a plate, a puzzle), something to read (a book, letters, cards), something to hear or watch (audio or video), or something you can scroll through on your phone.
How much time will guests have? A signature on a print takes ten seconds. A heartfelt letter or a voicemail takes a few minutes and works best with a quiet corner and a prompt.
Who will look after it? Anything with pens, film or a phone needs someone to keep it stocked and to remind guests during the evening. Ask a bridesmaid, an usher or a sibling.
Classic guest books, upgraded
A book with a prompt on every page. "Your best advice", "Your favourite memory of us", "A song for our playlist". Prompts get guests writing more than "Congratulations!". Our list of what to write in a wedding guest book has 100 to choose from.
A photo album guest book. Print your engagement photos into an album with space underneath each one. Guests write next to the photo they like.
A fingerprint tree. Guests add a thumbprint leaf in coloured ink and sign it. It makes a lovely framed print.
A signed print or map. A print of your venue, the place you met or a map of where your guests travelled from, with a wide margin for signatures.
A fabric tablecloth or quilt square. Signed in fabric pen, then used every anniversary dinner.
A giant card or canvas. Easy for children to join in, and it looks great hung at home.
Keepsakes to display or use
Jenga blocks. Guests write a message on a block, and every game night afterwards reveals a few more.
Wooden hearts in a drop-top frame. Each guest signs a heart and drops it into the frame.
A signed record sleeve or vinyl. Perfect if music brought you together.
A signed guitar or instrument. For the couple who play.
Wine to open on an anniversary. Guests sign a label or write a note for the case, and you open a bottle each year.
A globe or map with pins. Guests pin where they live or where they want you to travel next.
A signed plate or platter. Ceramic pens, baked at home afterwards, and used every Christmas.
A jigsaw puzzle. Each guest signs a piece; you put it together on your first anniversary.
A family tree frame. A tree with space for every guest's name, framed for the hallway.
Interactive guest books
Date-night cards or a jar. Guests suggest a date idea for your first year. Pick one out each month.
An instant-camera guest book. Guests take a photo of themselves, stick it in and write underneath. It's one of the most popular alternatives: see our guide to Polaroid guest books.
A photo booth guest book. Guests stick one of their booth strips in and add a message. Pair it with a few photo booth ideas.
A typewriter station. Slow, noisy and a lot of fun, especially for older guests.
A time capsule. Letters to open on your first, fifth or tenth anniversary, sealed in a box.
Fill-in-the-blank cards. Mad-libs style: "The secret to a happy marriage is ___ and plenty of ___."
Prediction cards. "Who'll be first to cry?", "Where will they be in ten years?", to read together a year later.
Postcards to send later. Guests write a postcard and you post one to yourselves each month of your first year.
Voices, videos and photos
An audio guest book. A vintage telephone guests pick up to leave you a voice message. Hearing your grandparents' voices years later is something a book can't give you. See our guide to audio guest books for how they work and what they cost.
A video guest book. A camera or tablet in a quiet corner, or guests recording a ten-second toast on their own phones and adding it to the event's photos and videos.
A digital guest book. Guests scan a QR code and leave you a written message from their phone, with a photo if they like. It sits next to everyone's photos from the day, guests who couldn't come can sign it too, and there's nothing to lose at the venue. See digital guest books.
Messages on the big screen. A live photo wall can show the guest book too, so messages appear on the screen at the venue during the evening.
A QR code on every table. One card that collects both photos and messages, so nobody has to queue for the book.
A shared playlist. Guests add a song that reminds them of you, with a note about why.
Letters for hard days. Guests write a letter "to open after your first argument", "on a rainy Sunday" or "when you need a laugh".
A digital guest book keeps messages and photos together
How to get every guest to sign
Put it where guests wait: by the drinks reception, next to the table plan, or near the bar. A table by the door gets missed.
Add a sign that says what to do, in one line: "Leave us a message: scan to sign our guest book", or "Grab a pen and tell us your best marriage advice".
Give it a host. One person who hands out pens, keeps the instant camera loaded and nudges tables that haven't signed.
Remind people twice: once after the meal and once in the morning-after message. A digital guest book can still be signed the next day.
What to do with it afterwards
Read it together the week after the wedding, before life gets busy. Frame the print, play the Jenga, open the first time-capsule letter on your anniversary. If your guest book is digital, save your favourite messages and photos together before the event's time runs out: they make a lovely first page in your wedding album.
