Looking for a unique guest book with kooky candids of your friends and family? Using a Polaroid camera for snapshots is not only an entertaining way for them to add to your guest book, but a great way for you to look back on your wedding.
What you’ll need:
1. A Polaroid Camera – easy to find on eBay or a thrift store for around $10.
2. Film – When purchasing the camera make sure that the corresponding film is fairly easy to find. I’ve heard that Polaroid has actually stopped making film, but that Fujifilm still does.
3. A blank guest book – I found a pretty handmade guest book on Etsy.
4. Photo Corners - You can find them at Joann or Michaels. Surprisingly, guests will have no trouble figuring out how to stick their polaroid onto the guest book with them.
5. A fun or elegant pen – Depending on the paper you choose and the tone of your wedding, find a nice pen or scrapbook marker to have your guests use. You’ll want something that won’t fade easily over time.
Putting it all together
So you have the camera, film, guest book, photo corners and pens on the guest sign in table – will the guests understand what to do? They might need a little encouragement. Here are some tips for making sure the book is successful:
1. You may want to assign a fun friend to the task initially to make sure that it catches on. That friend could also be in charge of refilling the film. Believe it or not, the film runs out quickly and the guests have been known to think the camera broken rather than replace it with new film.
2. If you want all of your friends to have fun and not be bothered with a task, simply place a sign on the table that encourages photos and suggests that new film may be required once and awhile.
3. Take a photo of the bride and groom with the Polaroid and place it on the table…depending on how serious or fun your photo is, it could influence your guests’ photos! I knew a bride who wanted a guest book of silly photos and all of the guests took very serious candids! I thought perhaps if she’d taken a goofy shot with the groom, the guests would have followed suit.
Have fun! I’m sure your guests will! One final tip, be sure to place the table in a mingling area that is easy for the guests to find.
