Leaf Us Your Well Wishes

Many brides have been finding alternatives to your traditional guestbook for their wedding.  Ideas such as benches, thumbprint trees, and rock messages give us brides inspiration every day.

Thumbprint Tree / Image via Weddingbee

A while back, when I was searching for guestbook ideas, I came across a link on Martha Stewart Weddings, where she listed out some different guest book ideas.  One of the ones that stuck in my head was this one:

Envelope Guest Book / Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

I thought that this was such a cute idea.  The one thing that I didn't like about it, however, was that the envelopes were still stuck in a book - something that I thought would never get opened after reading through it once, and would just collect dust on a shelf, or worse, get packed away in a box of sentimental items and never very infrequently seen again.

So, I brainstormed different ideas, and came upon one that resolved all problems.  I decided that since leaves were kind of our theme for the wedding, and we were using them on invitation paper amongst other things, that I would arrange the envelopes in the shape of a leaf.  This would allow the guests to write us little notes, put them in an envelope, seal them, and then give us the opportunity to hang the piece of artwork on the wall in our new house. 

For paper, I decided to go to my trusty website, Paper-Source, and peruse the envelopes they had available.  I was looking for some that I thought I could layer nicely, and that the flaps weren't too large, so I ultimately decided on coin envelopes, and to match them with everything, I chose the three main colors of our wedding: orange, yellow, and green.

"Baby" Envelopes in Poppy, Sunshine, and Clover / Images via Paper-Source

Today, since we still haven't moved, I figured I should take advantage of the long weekend, and get some wedding related tasks done.  So, after unpacking a few wedding boxes, I got to work with laying out my envelopes on a piece of foam board for sturdiness.  

I used some cans of tomatoes (even though I hate tomatoes) as a weight to hold the base in place.  The extra large cans were perfect for holding the envelopes where I put them.  I staggered the envelopes unevenly, making sure that each one was able to close and open without interfering with another.  

Starting the layering process (with tomatoes) / Personal Picture

I started at the bottom, and filled in the middle first, just laying everything out as I thought how it should be placed.  As you can see in the picture above, I also added a stem to the base of the leaf.

Getting towards the top of the leaf (and some more tomatoes) / Personal Picture

Towards the end, I had to remove some envelopes and replace them with different colors, that way the top of the leaf didn't end up being all yellow envelopes, which is what I ended up with at the end, despite having the same number of envelopes in each color.  

Finished layout / Personal Picture

Next, I used Uhu Holdit to place each envelope on the foam board.  Because I didn't want to remove every single envelope completely to put an adhesive on it, I decided to use this putty, and place little rolled up pieces of it on the corners and centers of the envelopes, where I thought would hold each one in place.

Uhu Holdit putty / Personal Picture

It took about an hour to get every envelope stuck down completely, but I didn't think it actually felt like an hour.  

And here's the finished product!

Finished Envelope Leaf Guestbook / Personal Picture

I plan on trimming the foam board to make a rectangle just around the leaf, and then I will place it on an easel at the wedding.  After the wedding, I will cut the foam board to match the lines of the envelopes in the leaf pattern, and then hang it on the wall in the office.  

I also bought coordinating business cards from Paper-Source, which fit perfectly in these envelopes, so our guests will be writing us little notes on the business cards, and then finding an envelope of their choose to put their message in.  I'll use glue dots, put on at the last minute, to seal the envelopes shut.

Anyone else doing a non-traditional guest book?  Where did your inspiration come from?