For the bride and groom

My husband and I surprised his cousin, Joy, and her fiance, Chris, with this book a few days before their Key West wedding.  I don't think Joy and Chris had any idea that I'd been working on a book for them, or that their family members had been secretly gathering photos for me to place in the book.



I chose bright tropical colors for this book, with a fun circular print inside for the endsheets, which I felt matched the tone for their sunny beach wedding. Photos are attached to all of the pages with photo corners, starting with a photo taken on their first date. I think guests enjoyed flipping through the book at the reception and seeing photos taken on their vacations abroad, their engagement weekend in Arizona, and their visits to vineyards closer to home.



Wedding guests wrote messages to Chris and Joy throughout the book next to the photos placed on the pages. My husband and I both signed near photos of them taken at our wedding a year earlier. So often when I complete a custom order, I ship the book off in pristine condition with blank pages waiting to be filled with photos and messages. This book was the first guest book I made for a wedding that I attended. It was so exciting for me to be able to see this book as it was was filled with memories, and to include my own message to the bride and groom on pages that I bound by hand.



After the wedding, there were still a few pages with room for messages.  Joy and Chris had another celebration once they returned home from their wedding cruise to visit with everyone who wasn't able to make it for the big day.  I imagine after that gathering this book is now filled and will hopefully be a treasured keepsake for years to come.

As my husband was helping me fill the book with photos, it was his idea to leave the last page blank so Joy and Chris could include a wedding photo in the book as well. I thought it was a great idea because now the book documents their whole journey from budding romance to wedded bliss.