A customised photo book as a guestbook

At first glance, a Pixum Photo Book designed as a guestbook may seem unusual: only background images, hardly any text, partly completely empty pages. Instead of a "completely filled" book with holiday photos or recipes, it might seem to be a photo book that still wants to be filled.

A nice idea: with a small introduction and plenty of space for the greetings and good wishes from the wedding guests, a photo book has become a personal alternative to ready-made guest books. Here is a checklist for your Pixum Photo Book as a guestbook.

1. Layout & design of the photo book: tips for the wedding guestbook »

The guestbook, the book cover decorated with a photo of the wedding couple, should open with a short introductory text. The guests fill the rest of the book with their personal entries - wishes, self-painted portraits of the couple and other creative ideas.

To avoid taking up too much space, leave some pages completely blank. Decorate edges of other pages with free professional illustrations. You should pay special attention to a pastel, rather low-contrast design so that the entries of the guests do not get lost between too vivid photos.

To ensure that all guests can easily leave their imprint in such a book, you will need a combination of a proper writing tool and the corresponding type of paper. Our paper types with extra matt finish are the best choice. A permanent marker or a marker pen will do their job very well and one does not need to let it dry. Using a ballpoint pen is neither a problem with the extra matt finish.

With a robust hardcover and the photo paper, extra matt which is also quite thick with 328g/m², you can add a luxurious touch to the guestbook - a suitable platform for the cordial, creative and personal entries of the guests.

Get the whole variety of the paper types and sizes in the Pixum Photo World software for PC and Mac.

The individual design of the guestbook has the advantage that you still can add lots of creative elements to it. For example, divide each spread into categories that guests have to fill in (or are allowed to fill in - that's in the eye of the beholder). Check the following examples.

1. Name suggestions for the offspring:

   Some funny or may be serious suggestions for the kids' names. Be sure: at least during the family planning, the guestbook will become a true reference!

2. Essential ingredients for a happy marriage:

   Whether married or single: of course, every guest has the patent recipe at hand, which lets the newlyweds stay happily married for the rest of their lives.

3. Lots of love wishes for the future are a must-have for any guestbook!

4. Do you know the ultimate dream honeymoon destination? One of the guests surely does!

5. Ideas for the first wedding day:

   One year has passed, you celebrate your first wedding anniversary. Leave the party planing to your dear guests but take it with a good portion of humor.

2. Step by step to the photo book as a guestbook »

To design your own photo book only need the free Pixum Photo Wolrd software or the Pixum online editor. This is how it works:

In the Pixum Photo Wolrd software:

1. Start the program and select "Pxum Photo Book" on the left upper bar.
2. Choose the shape, size and paper type of your future guestbook. Depending on your selection, this will automatically result in the cover and binding type of your photo book. You can change these settings again later, however.
3. For the elegant look of your guestbook, select extra matt photo paper and the hardcover, for example.
4. Then decide whether you want to use the Pixum assistant to design the draft or you prefer to design your own photo book.
5. Depending on the occasion, your attention is increasingly focused on backgrounds or on the page layout. After all, you want to offer your guests enough space and opportunity to share their wishes and ideas with the wedding couple. For example, create different sections per spread for the guests to fill in later. Also, cliparts as well as masks and frames offer creative freedom but should be used sparingly.
6. Change the size or paper type of the photo book by clicking on the cogwheel button at the bottom right corner. Save and review your photo book. Finally, add your artwork to the shopping cart and complete the order.

In the Pixum online editor:

1. At the bottom of this page, you will find the link to the online designer. You will first be taken to the product selection, where you can specify the details of your photo book: size, paper and cover type. Since you would like to create a classy and luxurious copy, we recommend the hardcover and photo paper. However, these settings are not final and can be changed later.
2. Click "Apply" to get to the creative part. Start the Pixum Photo Book assistant with the blue button in the lower left corner to get useful tips for the choice of layout, style and backgrounds.
3. You want to use design elements sparingly to suit the occasion, after all, the book is only meant to be the basis for the ideas and wishes of the wedding guests. With the available layout templates you can, for example, set a suitable frame in which the guests get creative. Give each double page a specific layout with different categories - each guest will fill these out later. Read more about this in the section "5 creative design ideas" above.
4. As soon as you are done with the design, put your artwork into the shopping cart. Check the photo book again in the preview window. If you want to change the size, format, paper or binding, then close the window and click on the grey bar in the upper left corner where you can see the details of your photo book.
5. Go to the shopping cart and from there proceed to checkout to complete your order.