Bob Boyd, owner of Bob Boyd Photography, said his 11 by 13 matted albums are a popular choice because they allow the couple to display a variety of pictures while giving guests ample room to make comments.

Complete with an embossed metallic cover and a square opening for a photo, these books provide the bride and groom with a memoir to cherish for years. Boyd said he’s adding additional cover colors in the fall. Black mats dominate in popularity, which guests sign with metallic gel pens, but cream-colored mats are also available.

“There’s also the benefit of having professional photographs in your book instead of photos a friend has taken,” he said.
While some couples enjoy professional albums, others prefer to have their own sign-in book creatively and colorfully designed for them.
Suzzi Williams, owner of Pieces in Time Design, fashions sign-in books custom-made to fit each couple. Although her books range in size, the most popular one contains five pages: one of how they met, one or two of vacation pictures, and a couple other pages of pictures they’ve taken themselves. In a nutshell, this is a scrapbook queen’s dream.

Pages usually sport a double-matted picture and an extra embellishment, such as a ribbon, and guests sign on the white paper surrounding the photo.
Williams offers a variety of bindings and the option to place a picture and embossment on the cover.

Williams admonishes couples to be wary of taking on such a project by themselves without professional help.
“I think it’s important for them to know that a lot of people will tell you to do it yourself,” she said. “But it’s just an added stress and the finished product won’t be what you envision. Just like your pictures, use it as an investment — a long-term one.”

One option for couples who don’t care to have a book but would still like a remembrance of the guests who attended their wedding is a signature portrait. Many companies, including Bob Boyd Photography and Pieces in Time Design, offer this service by matting and framing the couple’s photo of choice. “A lot of brides want to take that to a more intimate event like a wedding breakfast or their rehearsal dinner so that their friends and family they have a more intimate relationship with can give them their condolences,” Williams said.

Boyd said couples have commented how wonderful it has been to have a signed portrait on a wall in their home that they can look up and see at any time.

Some families choose to give the bride and groom a quilt as a gift symbolizing the beginning of their new life together. One of these quilts could be a guest book itself. Instead of signing pieces of paper, guests use permanent fabric pens and write messages to the bride and groom on the quilt’s fabric. Darker colored pens work best, such as blue and black, and the ink will best show on lighter colored fabrics such as white, yellow, pink or orange.