A wedding guestbook alternative should be unique and a reflection of you and your spouse to be.

The first thing guests see when they walk in the door at the wedding reception is the guestbook. It’s been a tradition for hundreds of years – and for good reason.

While well-wishing at weddings will never go out of style, the way couples ask that their guests leave them messages is always evolving – and for couples who love whiskey, a real barrel head guest book is a brand new way to collect and display the loving stamp of approval from friends and family.

We offer online tools to build the perfect guestbook for your wedding and also offer design help if needed.  Just reach out!

Kissing Couple Holding Wedding Guest Book Alternative

Why do you need a Wedding Guest Book?

Believe it or not, the wedding guest book tradition comes from a legal background. In the times before Instagram accounts, wedding hashtags, and even photography itself, guest books were a legal document affirming those who were witness to the event, in case it was ever needed in court.

We no longer need them for that function. Guest books gave way to marriage certificates, which now come with their own lines for witnesses to sign. By the time we switched to more official documents, guest books had already become a lasting custom for American weddings, and not just for the sake of tradition: the signing of the guestbook is still a very important ritual.

Guestbooks help you remember who was present when you said your vows, who partied with you late into the night, who laughed and told secrets with you in the photo booth, who traveled so very far to be there with you and your partner, who gave you meaningful gifts and sage wisdom as you embarked into married life.

Wedding Ceremony

It may not seem like you will need a guest book. You may look around your wedding and think to yourself, “How could I ever forget who was here with me?” But years down the line, that will change. While the most important people– your bridal party, your parents and grandparents, siblings and their families– will always remain at the forefront of your mind, you may forget the others: work friends that you love, cousins who you cherish, or even old friends from growing up who you thought you could never live without.

On top of that, your guest book becomes a literal document of love. Think about it: in twenty years, when your friends have scattered across the globe, your family has grown, and, most importantly, your eldest family members have moved from this life to the next, a simple signature and message from a loved one on the most important day of your life can bring tears to your eyes and a warm, beautiful memory to mind.

Each person named in your guestbook is someone who is close enough to your heart that you wanted to spend the money and effort to have them there. They are the people who you have laughed with, cried with, gone on adventures with, and spent the most important, white-stone moments with throughout your whole life. Whether they are an aging family member, childhood friends who have traveled from many miles away, or even coworkers who put up with the worst of human existence alongside you, they are important and they deserve to be commemorated.

And on an even more basic level– they help you remember where to send your thank you notes!

Which type of guestbook is right for my wedding?

If you are here, you probably like whiskey or bourbon, and the obvious choice is one of our Custom Bourbon Barrel Guest Books.  But we realize that there are differing tastes so let’s take a look at all the options.

If you search for wedding guestbooks online, chances are you are going to become very overwhelmed– there are thousands of different options. We’ve narrowed them down into different categories to help you decide what’s best for you and your spouse before the big day:

So, what should you look for in a guest book alternative?

There are a few things that stretch across all wedding themes.  You’ll want something –

  • Classy but still represents you and your partner and your interests;
  • That people will have room to write more than just their names on — such as well wishes, marriage advice, and memories from the night of the party;
  • You can share and put on display so you can relive these memories every day, not just put on a shelf and reminisce on every twenty years;
  • That is a form of art that you are proud to display in your home, and even prouder to have friends and family see at your wedding;
  • That isn’t trendy, that you won’t look back on with regret; something that goes with any form of decor, even as the rest of your home decor changes throughout your life;
  • You can customize and make truly you;
  • That is a part of your heritage and has a rich and storied history.
  • Considering all of these parameters, there really is only one option – The Bourbon Barrel Guestbook

Wedding Reception

What’s so special about a Bourbon Barrel?

Bourbon Barrel HeadLike the wedding guest book, bourbon is a part of American heritage, and more importantly, a very traditional part of American weddings. From the burying of the bourbon to sharing a tasty and warm treat with your wedding party, bourbon is meant for celebrating, and there is no more important celebration for Americans than a wedding. In fact, many distilleries and brewing companies now serve a double life as a wedding venue.

But even if you don’t have a distillery venue local, even if you aren’t going burlap and lace for your theme, even if you’re having a dry wedding, a bourbon barrel guest book is a rustic, classy, and traditional guestbook for any couple.

And these barrels are real, MADE IN THE USA.  No mass produced made-in-China junk.  These whiskey barrels are 100% authentic distillery-used, hand assembled and up-cycled and then laser ingraved all right here in America.

Before they distilled the good stuff, they were 100% American white oak, which is a requirement for bourbon barrels in Kentucky.

They have served their lives enriching and perfecting the taste of many of your favorite spirits, and now they are ready to come home and enrich your home decor with memories of the most important day of your life.

Vineyard Wedding

How can I Customize my Wood Guestbook Alternative?

We wanted to make this process as easy as possible, while still giving a full-range of design capabilities to make the bourbon barrel truly yours.

Follow these steps:

  1. You select from one of our whiskey-inspired designs. We put these together with the help of a professional graphic design to ensure you would have something you’d be proud to display for the rest of your life.
  2. Fill in the fields with your own information: the surname or surnames-to-be, the names of those who intend to wed, the date of the blessed ceremony, and any other details.
  3. Pick which information you’d like to display based on your own personal preferences. Maybe you’ve decided not to share a last name– that’s totally fine. You can instead include your individual names. Or maybe you don’t want to worry about the location, but the date is what’s important. Also fine! It’s entirely up to you. You can even add in a quote or saying that’s important to you as a couple, if you want. This is your masterpiece; we’re just putting it together for you.
  4. Change the font and positioning. Try it all over the place, and feel free to get a little crazy. You may come up with something unusual that you really, really like.

And that’s it! You send it our way, and we send your product back in time for you to say your vows. You still get the pleasure of customizing your own guest book, but we handle the trouble of putting it together for you.