Sign-in Scrolls: The Alternative Guestbook

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

In Chinese culture, a common practice at weddings is to have a scroll available for guests to sign. After the wedding, the newlyweds would either frame or hang the scroll in their new home. Unlike a traditional guest book which is usually stored away and rarely gets open, a hanging scroll "guest book" is a unique way of displaying the sweet words and well wishes of friends and love ones. Most often the scroll is backed by red silk brocade, fine paper for writing and features a double happiness symbol. I have seen other variations available online and in some specialty stores in Chinatown but I was looking for something more personalized as I wanted to have our names, monogram and wedding date on the scroll too. I stumbled upon ArtfulBeginnings' custom work via Etsy (of course!) and quickly fell in love with her designs in wedding scroll invitations and vintage hankies. She is going to construct our "guest book" using a cotton sateen fabric and hand paint the borders in gold to match one of our wedding colors. The size of the scroll is approx 14 x 30 which should be sufficient space for our guests count (180ish) I'm also going to provide guests with colorful fabric markers for writing. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. And yes I will post pics!