Wishing Jar Guest Book Idea

A wishing jar guest book idea is super fun. We did something similar for our engagement party with a "Wedding Advice" box. It was really cute to see what everyone came up with.

I was in the dollar store recently and saw this cute wishing jar. It was the perfect wedding guest book.

Of course, me being me, I know you can make it. Sure, sure. It was only a dollar at the dollar store, but what kind of blog post would this be if I didn't tell you how to make it yourself.

Wishing Jar Guest Book Idea

What You'll Need:

• Mason jar
• Jute cording
• Black card stock
• Silver marker
• Scissors
• Tag-shaped paper punch
• Single-hole punch

What You'll Do:

Use the tag-shaped paper punch to cut a tag from the black card stock.

You can, of course, cut this out with scissors too and not use the paper punch. That's fine. But let me tell you. We got a tag-shaped paper punch when we were wedding planning, mostly because we were planning a destination wedding for everyone but us. Almost all of our guests were traveling from out of state, so we have a lot of travel-themed accents. So we used this tag-shaped paper punch a bunch of times because it looks like a luggage tag.

But, after that, we've used it so much too. Every time Christmas rolls around, I pull out that tag-shaped paper punch and use it to make gift tags. So if you're hemming and hawing about buying a paper punch for wedding crafts, I assure you that you'll use it after.

Anyway ... cut the tag.

Use the hole punch to punch a hole in the top of the tag.

Draw some embellishments on the tag, then (if you want to follow this wishing jar completely), write the following on the tag: "Wishing jar: Add your wishes or messages to the wish jar"

Cut a long piece of the jute cording. Wrap it around the lid of the mason jar a few times, then string it through the hole in the tag. Tie it.

That's it. Your DIY Wishing Jar Guest Book is made. Well, that portion anyway.

For your wedding day, cut our large pieces of the black card stock. Leave the card stock, silver pen, and the Wishing Jar Guest Book out at the entrance table near the escort cards.

Your guests will see it as they pick up their escort cards and jot a wish for you and your husband.

If you would prefer to just buy a wishing jar, you can buy one below.



BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you rather make or buy this Wishing Jar Guest Book?

Photo Wedding Guest Book Idea (Make it from your engagement photos!)

UPDATE: Through August 18, you can get a free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly with the code FREEPB. 

At the very beginning of the wedding process, I said we wouldn't take engagement photos. I just didn't see the point to them.

And then we took them (because I wanted one for our save the date), and I wasn't sure what to do with the others.

Someone suggested making them into the guest book for the wedding. Photo sites have the same idea.

Shutterfly actually has a whole page dedicated to wedding photo books. There are examples of ones to tell your proposal story, ones specifically for guest books, ones for wedding photos, and ones for honeymoon photos. This is great for any stage of your wedding/wedded life. I absolutely love the idea of making a guest book with your engagement photos. It's a nice way to get a bit more use from them, plus you'll have a photo book that isn't filled with selfies.

My suggestion: Take your engagement photos, plus your favorites from Instagram, and your favorites that are housed only on your phone and make them into a guest book for your wedding. There are a lot of guest book ideas for wedding receptions out there, but this is one of the most special.

You can create the pages chronologically, which is a nice relationship keepsake. It'll be a lot more personal than purchasing a generic guestbook on Amazon. Plus, it will give your guests a little glimpse into your life and what you and your fiance are like, what you like to do, and just how happy you really are.

Place the book at your venue's main entrance, leave a Sharpie nearby, and hope that no one draws a mustache on your face.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Do you have a wedding guest book yet?

Want some non traditional guest book ideas?

DIY Date Night Guest Book

DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book

DIY Date Night Guest Book

Guest books can be such a great way for you to be creative. Yes, the word book is in the name, but that doesn't mean it has to be an actual book. You can get super creative, like making a wooden letter guest book or making a thumbprint tree.

Or, you could make our DIY date night guest book.

DIY Date Night Guest Book

My friend Allison gave me the idea for this when she put one together, and I just loved it -- loved it so much that I actually gave it to Pete for his birthday yesterday (filled out with date night ideas, of course).

What You'll Need:

• Card stock (I used four colors)
• Heart-shaped cookie cutter
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Gift bag
• Marker
• Tape

What You'll Do:

Use the pencil to trace onto the card stock with the heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Cut out the hearts. I cut three sheets at a time. If you're able to do more, go for it. You'll want one heart per guest, so you may have to cut a lot -- and cutting one at a time would take forever.

Write out two cards. Let one say "Date Night Guest Book" (so you can affix it to the bag) and the other is instructions.

Lay the cards and marker out near the entry to your reception so your guests can know to sign it.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make this DIY date night guest book?

DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book

Deciding on a wedding guest book can be so hard. The possibilities are pretty endless ... well, depending on how creative you are.

Personally, we ended up going with a book. I found the From This Day Forward guest book, filled with quotes about love that I absolutely fell in love with. It was simple and to the point. And that point, I just couldn't DIY anything else.

But I was absolutely floored when Tatiana started chatting on our weekly wedding chat -- #BridalBabble -- recently. She shared her amazing DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book with us.

How cool is it that they made it for their wedding?

You can make it too. Tatiana (who you can find at @tatianaa_mariee on Twitter) shared what they did with us.

DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book

What You Need:

• Board of wood
• Pencil
• House paint
• Band saw
• Sander
• Paint primer (optional)

What You'll Do:

• Draw the first letter of your new last name on a board of wood (using a pencil in case you mess up).
• Cut it out with a band saw.
• Paint with two coats house paint (in either black or your wedding colors) on both sides -- or you can use a paint primer if you aren't using house paint.
• Sand.
• Paint it again.
• Let it fully dry. Set it out at your wedding with metallic Sharpie markers for your guests to use when the sign it.

I absolutely love this. I'm so impressed with it being homemade. I actually saw this wooden letter guest book on Pinterest and thought, "There's no way I could have done that." And then, poof, Tatiana comes into my life to say, "I made this."

It just goes to show you that no matter what you come across on Pinterest, you can make it. There's a way to make it if you really want to.

If you want this, but you don't have the tools to make it, you can actually purchase wooden letters on Amazon. Then, just follow the rest of the steps to complete the project.

Be sure to tweet Tatiana at @tatianaa_mariee and tell her you saw her beautiful wooden letter guest book here.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you be able to make this DIY Wooden Letter Guest Book?

Guest Book Idea

Have you thought about a guest book yet? My mom made us a photo foam board and people signed it at our engagement party (well, except for the one person who merely just scribbled all over it).

I'm trying to think of ways that we be a little more creative with our wedding guest book.

Sure, you can buy a wedding guest book on Amazon, but those remind me so much of the ones that you use at funerals. And okay, yes, a wedding is a funeral for your single life, but I want something happier, something more personal.

A photo book, perhaps?

Shutterfly actually has a whole page dedicated to wedding photo books. There are examples of ones to tell your proposal story, ones for guest books, ones for wedding photos, and ones for honeymoon photos. This is great for any stage of your wedding/wedded life. I absolutely love the idea of making a guest book with your engagement photos. It's a nice way to get a bit more use from them, plus have a photo book that isn't filled with selfies.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What is your favorite guest book idea?

Pin Of The Week: Jenga Guest Book

I wasn't sure what to do for our guest book. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a cute idea. We actually ended up just going with a book. I found a guest book I really liked and we went with it.

If you're trying to come up with ideas, you'll love our Pin Of The Week.


Set out Jenga with a couple markers and ask your guests to sign a piece each. You can reread your guest book every time you play Jenga. That's so fun. Plus, Jenga is a lot cheaper than a traditional wedding guest book, so that's a nice way to save a couple dollars.

For more wedding pins, be sure to follow us on Pinterest.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What are you planning to do for a wedding guest book?

Review: Canvas Print Guest Book From Canvas Kudos

A Bride On A Budget received these canvas prints for review. All additional materials were purchased by ABOAB. All thoughts and opinions belong to ABOAB. This is a fictional bachelorette party. None of the people photographed were in Savannah on March 7 to 9 for this party. Any similarities are pure coincidence.

I'm not crazy about traditional guest books. For one thing, they remind me of the sign in books at funerals. Plus, you can't add too much personality to them. Your guests could draw photos where they sign their names, but that's about it.

Then, when your party is over, you take the book and leave it on a shelf to collect dust. You don't display it and enjoy it. You also can't decorate it and make it your own. If you want something to display, think about Canvas Kudos, a company we got to check out.

Canvas Kudos has a ton of canvas prints to choose from. Of course, there are wedding prints, but you can even find ones for birthdays, new babies, graduations, and more. Any occasion you can think of, you can find a print for.

I was looking at Canvas Kudos and fell in love with two of the prints: floating flutes and wedding bike.

Each of the canvas prints arrives with a permanent ink marker and hardware to hang the canvas when you're done.

The concept is simple. Display this at your party with a marker, have your guests sign. Easy. And don't worry, that "Write on me!" text isn't actually on your board. It's on the plastic wrapping that covers the board. The plastic is a great way to ensure that your board won't get dirty before your event.

I didn't want to just leave the canvas plain, though, so I rounded up a few arts and crafts supplies.

I grabbed stuff that I already had around the house: bachelorette party ribbon that was gifted to me, a paint brush, glitter, Mod Podge, and photos.

You probably have all this stuff in your craft drawer at home.

I made sure to arrange everything the way I wanted it.

And then I used Mod Podge to hold it all down. That stuff is amazing, by the way. Use it as glue on the back of your photos and ribbon, and then coat them on top as well.

Like, completely on top. But don't worry. It dries clear. It's just a way to seal down your photos and make sure they don't pop up at the corners.

Now, I would say be as careful as possible with it and try not to cover the entire board in Mod Podge, but it's okay. You can write on top of it with a permanent ink marker with ease.

I was planning on adding glitter to it but it started to get a little busy for me so I left it off.

After it's decorated, have your guests sign on the board with permanent ink markers.

What's great about technology is you can actually take photos at something like a bachelorette party, upload them from your phone to a drugstore, then pick them up less than an hour later. You can create your canvas and have it ready for your guests to sign (maybe on day two of the bachelorette party). If you do that, you can save room for photos of the rest of the weekend.

If you're using this for a wedding, you could either use photos of you and your groom from the past (or your engagement photos), or you can ask your guests to sign in the center and you can decorate it with wedding photos later.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Which canvas print guest book would you choose?