Oh boy, this is a project that I have been dying to blog about, and have waited pretty long because I wanted to make sure it would work before proceeding with the explanation of the idea. =)
Long story short – well, it won’t be that short, but anywho – early in my crazy idea and planning phase, I was struck my a novel idea in one of the many wedding magazines I perused of using an art photography book (i.e. Ansel Adams kind of sweeping, majestic black and white photo books) and supplying an array of colored pens to sign to create a guestbook masterpiece.
+= awesome!
So, to Barnes & Noble and BORDERS I went, to search for a suitable large, coffee-table style book that suited the purpose…sadly, to no avail! Most of the books that I found that had fun, cool pictures had a. way too much text in them (which I thought was interesting, considering they were photo books, but I digress) b. not enough pages or c. just weren’t the book I was looking for for some reason or another. At that time, I thought I should scrap that idea completely in favor of having a blank book, full of pages left for guests to write whatever they wanted to, without being restricted to lines or sections…so they could draw their own pictures!
But then, after reading about other guest books, in the copious amounts of wedding blogs and websites (I tell you, wedding inspiration can be dangerous!) I quickly was sold on the Polaroid concept of including candid shots with the guests inside the book, like so:
(photo courtesy http://www.weddingo.co.uk)
…until I found out how EXPENSIVE it would be! See, I already have a polaroid camera, but the film, that’s always been spendy, has become even harder to get a hold of since they stopped production of it. So, it was back to the drawing board momentarily, because as soon as I got to thinking about it, the Polaroid POGO printer popped into my mind!
The Polaroid POGO, for those unfamiliar, is basically a teeny-sized instant digital printer that uses ZINK technology (read: no ink) to produce images transmitted from cellphones or digital cameras. Take a look:
Now, that method for the guestbook still wouldn’t be “cheap,” but at $12 for 30 prints, it’s a much better bargain than the old school Polaroid, and the new prints are 2×3″ with sticky backs that would pop right into the book. I was pretty excited about the idea then, but had a few concerns in mind about this method, namely:
- We’d have to leave out the POGO printer, along with a digital camera…which would be okay, since I obviously trust our guests, but there’s always that ‘what if’ element.
- Reviews that I read mentioned that it might boggle the minds of the not-so-techno-savvy, which could cause…
- … the need for roping in a guest for the not-so-fun honor of ‘Guest Book Attendant’ for the course of the reception.
Nevertheless, I was still enamored by the concept, and did some more research – come to find out that in June of 2009, a new model in the POGO line was to be released; an instant digital camera that prints right from the device!
To me, that was perfect; I’d get to have the camera there, next to the book, so guests could sign in in style, and if needed, it could be plugged in, but since it was only one device instead of two, we’d avoid an ugly A/C adapter tangle. And since it’d be printing right from the device, I could rope in an attendant to just keep an eye on changing cartridges every 30 shots.
So, that was set, and then it came back to the book itself; how would it be presented, and how could I tie together my many, varied ideas into one cohesive guestbook?
Stay tuned for pt.II of the GUESTBOOK saga!
Omg, that’s alot of research going on. That camera thingy would be awesome. I’ll do my best in rallying people or just grab the darn camera myself and go crazy 🙂