A few weeks ago I surprised Emy and we drove up to PA to do an engagement shoot with her and Joe. I edited the images on the way home and ordered this Blurb album the next day so that they would have an engagement guestbook for their wedding day! When it arrived, I was in love with it and I realized I have never blogged about engagement guestbook options for my brides! Here’s the thing…. a lot of photographers sell really AWESOME leather bound engagement guestbooks. They are GORGEOUS! I made one for myself for our wedding and we LOVED it! However, these leather bound albums are a bit pricey. As a bride on a budget… I think I would have done things differently if I had had the options I have today. Blurb and Artifact Uprising are great alternatives to getting an leather bound engagement guestbook! Lets be honest, spending SEVERAL hundred dollars on a book that is going to be written on by guests is hard to swallow. So I recommend these other options! You can use templates and so you don’t need design experience. They are affordable, beautiful and perfect for guests to write in!! …. And if, by chance, a guest messes up or writes on an image, it doesn’t hurt quite as much because this was an $80-$100 book…. not a $750 book. There are other options out these as well… but Blurb and Artifact Uprising are my favorites!! Here are a few design tips for making your own engagement guestbook!! :

1. Design spreads using images that were shot in the same light and location with the same outfit! This will create a cohesive spread design!
2. Allow some WHITE SPACE for design purposes AND for space for guests to sign!
3. Simple is KEY! I rarely put more than 4 images per spread in my album designs. I think clean and simple is classy! :)