Our dear friends Amy and Drew celebrate their one year wedding anniversary today. This time last year, my husband Tony and I headed up to Chicago for their big day.
Tony and Drew have been best friends since middle school, and Tony was the best man in their wedding (just as Drew was the best man when Tony and I tied the knot). For my contribution to the festivities I created a custom wedding guest book, which was filled with Polaroid pictures and messages from guests.
I made a handbound hardcover guest book with landscape-format pages. Amy and Drew wanted each page to be large enough to hold a Polaroid photo and a handwritten message.
The book was displayed on a large wooden table near the entrance of their wedding venue. Several Polaroid cameras and a box to hold the photos as they developed sat along side the guest book. And the table decor was completed with an awesome print from Hatch Show Print that they picked up on one of their trips to visit us in Nashville.
Amy and Drew picked out some great film from The Impossible Project that had golden, rounded edges. The photos really looked great against the textured, light gray pages and the black photo corners. They requested a minimalist design for the covers — black bookcloth paired with black handmade paper and black thread for the exposed binding — so the photos inside the book would be the focal point.
I don't often get to see exactly how my handmade books are put to use once they leave my studio. But I love it when I get the chance. I really enjoyed seeing guests interact with the book and pose for pictures at the wedding, as well as writing in the book myself.
And when Drew and Amy came to visit us in Nashville again earlier this month, they brought their guest book with them. I had the chance to flip through the finished book, filled to the brim with photos and congratulatory messages. There's nothing better for me than to see one of my blank books transformed into a treasured keepsake, and I was honored to be able to create such a book for my friends.
To see more examples of how my handmade books have been filled and enjoyed, check out the inspiration page on my website or explore the #myusedbook hashtag on social media.