Wedding photo guest book: instant camera or a printed book
Either guests take an instant photo and stick it in beside their own words, or they sign a book already printed with your engagement photos. Both need room to write, tested pens and a minder.
An instant camera station gives you a photo of each guest taken on the day. A pre-printed book is finished before the wedding and guests only write in it, which suits a long guest list.
Decide where the table goes and who looks after it before you design a single page. Those two answers shape everything else.
Make your photobook
Arrange your photos on A4 pages, check the proof and order a printed copy.
Running an instant camera station
Set the table on the main route guests walk between the ceremony and the drinks, in good light. Keep it away from the bar, where glasses end up on the pages.
Count film by group rather than by guest, because couples and families share one shot. Add spares for failed shots and for guests who want a second to keep.
Ask one friend, or the venue staff, to load film and keep things moving. Once the film runs out, an unattended station can sit empty for the rest of the evening.
Rehearse one complete entry: take a photo, wait as its maker directs, attach it, write and turn the page. Time that sequence to see whether one camera can serve your groups.
- Photo corners or double-sided tape, tried on the book's paper first.
- Spare film, kept by the person minding the table.
- A small bin for backing papers and film wrappers.
- A card showing where the photo goes and where to write.
A book printed with your engagement photos
Choose 15 to 25 engagement or older photos of the two of you and lay them out so that at least half of every page is left plain for writing.
Keep the writing areas light and plain. Dark or patterned backgrounds make signatures hard to read, and pale ink disappears on them.
If you design it in tbf scrapbook, set it up as A4 portrait or A4 landscape from the start. Those are the sizes it can be ordered in, after a proof check.
A book offered for photo printing is not automatically suitable for signatures. Obtain a paper sample and test the exact pens; otherwise use separate writing cards.
Room to write and pens that work
Measure one print from the camera you will use and draw each box a few millimetres larger. Give each box a writing panel at least as large beside it.
Test the pens on the actual page and on a spare instant print before the day. Some inks stay wet on a glossy surface and print onto the facing page when the book closes.
Keep writing areas clear of the gutter. Guests write across the fold when the book is open on a soft tablecloth, so give it a firm surface.
After the wedding
Follow the ink and adhesive makers' drying instructions. Test a spare written card against another sheet before closing the finished book; touch-dry ink can still transfer.
Photograph or scan each spread once it is full. The digital copy is what you share with family, and the record if the book is damaged.
Guests who signed without a photo can be paired later with an image of them from the photographer's set.
Steps
Two instant prints per page
Two boxes stacked on the left of each page, sized to your prints, with one writing panel to their right as tall as both together.
A spread for a family
One box for a family group in the centre of the left page, and the whole right page left plain for several people to write.
Engagement photo above, writing below
In the pre-printed book, one engagement photo across the top third of the page and the lower two thirds left plain.
Blank pages at the back
Allocate a photo-and-writing space to each expected signing group, then reserve a few extra spaces. Test the layout with an actual print and several lines of handwriting.
Questions
How much instant film do we need?
List the groups who may sign, then count one intended print per group and a chosen reserve. Divide by shots per pack and round up; a second copy for guests needs extra film.
Which is better, an instant camera or a pre-printed book?
The camera gives a photo of each guest but needs looking after all evening. The pre-printed book needs only pens on the day and copes with a large guest list.
When do we need to order a pre-printed guest book?
Early enough to check a proof and receive the book with time to spare before the wedding. Work back from the printer's delivery time.