Dusting off the wedding guest book
Lately, I’ve been traveling beyond the studio to be part of experiences surrounding paper, creativity and art such as a private workshop for making wildflower inks. Sometimes the experiences are actual events, such as a wedding like this one in La Quinta.
In addition to designing and producing the wedding invitation and the day-of menu place cards, we also created something I hold near and dear -- an Archive Album Guest Book experience.
Some wonder if a wedding guest book is even relevant these days of digital everything. I'm here to tell you -- we dusted off the old experience and put a new shine on it that directly reflects what people today crave -- a tactile experience, and a way to creatively and actively connect with one another and the wedding couple.
I enlisted the help of my son Odin who is very creative himself and the right personality to guide people to their own creativity. We traveled south from Westlake Village and after a few snack stops along the way, arrived at this gorgeous wedding destination.
We were on site for Shelby Heitman & Andrew Scott's wedding at The Emerson Estate, a fabulous date farm in La Quinta, to guide guests with their creativity and messages in cards hand scribed to the couple.
We set the oversized table with stacks of handmade cards letterpress printed with meaningful icons chosen by the bride and groom, fountain pens with colorful inks, an assortment of dried flowers and a wax sealing set up, and then let guests express themselves on their chosen card, and slip there love note in an archival book we had pre-produced in the Soolip studio.
Guests could choose from a variety of handmade papers with letterpress printed icons reflective of the couple's interests, embellish them with a cheerful array of colorful dried flowers, and further elevate their contribution to this keepsake album with a traditional wax seal on the spot. We then took the album back to our studio to complete it with images taken by the talented Yvette Roman, pressed floral elements from the bride's bouquet, and all the other paper elements -- wedding invitations, placecard menus and Save-the-Dates. The result was a priceless keepsake for Shelby & Andrew filled with handwritten words of love that captured the energy and heart of their special day.
