For a novel way to keep a record of who came to your wedding, set out this poster with individual spaces for friends and family to sign. Later, you can frame it for art that’s truly priceless. Just print our template and fill in your own details.

This couple had a large illustration of a riverbank printed on their guest book along with the words "let your love flow like a mountain stream." Guests added "river rocks" by stamping their thumbprints into the book and signing their names.

The photo booth at this wedding produced two strips of images: one for partygoers to keep in a takeaway frame, another to place in the couple's guest book along with their well-wishes.

A collection of postcards pictured places special to the couple. In lieu of a guestbook, well-wishers wrote their sentiments on the cards. Note by note, the maid of honor will mail them to the couple throughout their first year of marriage.

This couple had guests pen their sentiments on a tablecloth. The bride later embroidered over each entry and used the tablecloth at dinner parties.

Thought-provoking guest books that pose single, specific questions serve as dinner table icebreakers at your wedding -- and turn into keepsakes you'll want to display in your home and reread on every anniversary. Notebooks, Start Here; "Adventure" paper, by Nat Geo, from Eastern Mountain Sports; "LePen" pen, by Marvy, from Lytha Studios.

Bride, Lauren handcrafted her guest book out of envelopes, into which guests were asked to tuck notes and well wishes.

Tailor a guest book to your wedding style. Each of these starts with the same blank journal. Clockwise from left: Book-cloth-wrapped covers leave the red spine to peek out. The second book is covered entirely in paper and stamped with a monogram; satin ribbon serves as a bookmark. The third is left uncovered but accented with a felt band and big red button. What do guests use to write their well-wishes? Bright-red pens, of course.

A guest book doesn't have to be in the form of a book. The bright hues of these small gift cards can't help but beguile the eyes of wedding guests; their small size gives well-wishers just enough space to write a sweet thought, quip, or hope; and the envelopes, allowing for privacy, encourage them to get a little sentimental.

Transform a store-bought album into a guest book that has a handmade feel. Use double-sided tape to affix envelopes in assorted sizes and colors to the pages of a plain-paper photo album or scrapbook. Leave cards and a pen on a table for guests to write wishes. When they're done, they can tuck their cards inside the envelopes for the bride and groom to enjoy later.

Inspire guests to express themselves artistically as they write down their sentiments on your wedding day. At the reception, set up a table with craft and office supplies -- pretty card stock, colored pencils, an array of stickers -- and invite guests to embellish their notes with fun designs. Finished cards can be placed in a clear glass bowl and arranged in a scrapbook later.

Set out an old-fashioned typewriter with long sheets of paper for guests to write good wishes to the bride and groom as the feeling strikes. Look for inexpensive vintage machines online or at thrift stores or flea markets; they come in colors to go with any palette. After the wedding, tie into a scroll with ribbon.

Set up a lively guest-book table with patterned paper in bright hues. Guests pen notes on origami paper, then seal them with a sticker. The banners above are also made from origami squares -- no fancy folding required.

File this under A for adorable. Instead of a traditional guest book, use cards from an address file. Our set, by Lovely Design, contains handmade ones from vintage papers, so each is unique. Set cards on a table with a sign asking friends and family to jot down messages; once they've penned their notes, they can file their card alphabetically, leaving you to merely flip through all the warm wishes that range from A to Z.

At the top left, a linen guest book is embossed with a personalized message.

A guest book is made for personal notes -- why not personalize the outside, too? Buy a cloth-covered unlined journal, or have one made with your own fabric.

Let guests' well-wishes take flight on paper doves. These birds are traditional symbols of love, happiness, and harmony. Anchor bare branches (these are manzanita) in a large, sturdy vessel filled with stones or gravel. Use wire to secure nests, available from craft stores, to branches. Set dove cards -- available precut -- in a dish. Place pencils alongside your tree with a sign asking guests to inscribe a card and to place it in a nest.

Self-adhesive photo corners were attached to the pages of a vintage accounting book in advance so guests could easily slip pictures into place.

Rather than signing a traditional guest book, guests at Maria and Robert's wedding were given postcards with the bride and groom's address printed on the back to fill with good wishes during the reception and drop in a copper mailbox displayed in the lobby. The cards are to be mailed the next day by a friend of the couple so that the newlyweds will return from their honeymoon to a brimming mailbox.

In lieu of a guest book, guests are asked to write on squares of linen, which will be sewn into a keepsake quilt for Liesl and Kevin.

Robin and Matt's guest book is made from large sheets of paper that were cut, folded, and then stitched together. Miniature envelopes in light blue, muted gray, and ivory were adhered to the pages with double-sided tape, so that friends and family could slip personal notes inside of them and then seal the envelopes with stickers in contrasting colors.

At the guest-book table, family and friends could express their hopes for the newlyweds as well as receive a written wish from the couple. Guests wrote their notes on coral cards and placed them in apothecary jars. In return they could draw a wish from another jar.

For a guest book, this couple followed a Japanese custom by asking guests to tie their sentiments to tree branches with ribbons. Here, branches are adorned with crepe-paper buds and blossoms and placed in a porcelain vase. Expressions like "Prosperity" and "Good Marriage" were written in Korean and Japanese and hung ahead of time to decorate the branches.

Instead of having a traditional guest book, this couple set up a special area for loved ones to write sentiments on note cards during the cocktail hour and reception.

Shannon and Nathan's fabric-covered guest book is surrounded by glass candleholders wrapped in vellum and printed with Virginia postcard designs.

Instead of signing a guest book, friends and family are invited to write their good wishes for the couple on cards drawn from woven-pandan boxes. The notes are then placed in a large seashell-filled vase tied with a vintage silver ribbon.

On every table is an individual guest book; three sheets of card stock were folded, sewn at the crease, and backed with book cloth using double-sided tape. The table number was printed on card stock and tied to the book with ribbon woven through slits at the edges.

Paperweights decoupaged with roses anchor a parchment-color paper scroll for family and friends to sign, a vintage ribbon fastens it closed. Above it, snowberries and garden roses are arranged in an antique blue-enamel loving cup.

Guests write well wishes to the bride and groom on colorful note cards and drop them in a keepsake box.

A leather-bound book is set out before the ceremony for guests to sign.

Well-wishers wrote their congratulations in pink ink at Chloe and Matthew's reception.

Anne and David's guests dropped their wishes into an etched glass jar.