Wish for a Better Guest Book
Posted by Denise on Oct 18, 2007. Filed under DIY Wedding Ideas, Real Weddings, Receptions, Stuff We Love, Trend Watch, Wedding Ideas
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I’ve attended two weddings this year where the bride and groom decided to move away from the traditional guest book and mix it up a bit with a Wish Tree. The Wish Tree is a Dutch wedding custom where guests are given a piece of paper, either shaped like a leaf or made of card stock. The guests write their wishes to the bride and groom and then hang it on the tree. This creates a gorgeous centerpiece and the tree is placed at the entrance to the reception to wow your guests right when they walk in. 
I got to assist in assembling a Wish Tree when I worked with Maxine Andrew of Instead of You at an event in September. I loved being a part of putting this together and seeing how it looked all aglow with the crystals sparkling and the heartfelt wishes hanging from each branch. 
…
After the wedding you can create a scrapbook with the wish cards. You could even find pictures of the guests who wrote each one and place it next to their wish.
Helpful hint: give yourself plenty of time to assemble the Wish Tree. It must be done onsite and can’t be moved once it’s assembled. The one in these photos took about two hours to complete from wrapping the crystal garland inside each hurricane to laying out the wish cards for the guests to hang. It takes some time, but the wow factor is huge.
— Denise Auerbach, Director of Vendor Sales
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Comments
Hi, for this wish tree, I recommend highest quality glass crystals. You don’t have to use Swarovski (the best of the best), however, Acrylic, which is a type of plastic, doesn’t sparkle as well as glass, but is indeed cheaper.
High quality Glass crystals are a good choice between the more expensive ones like Swarovski and the cheapest of the cheap. Why not take it up a notch and bring in some beautiful sparkle and rainbows instead of just “shine”. Glass crystals of high quality can be used very affordably. You can cut your cost by using smaller millimeter sized crystals. You can get great high quality crystals, in fact, the same gorgeous ones recently featured on the popular Platinum Weddings TV show on WE TV (same channel as Bridezillas, but the show is all class with no foolishness). They used our Ethereal glass crystals mixed with our Swarovski crystals and you can too (without breaking the bank!) You can get them at http://www.etherealdecor.com and make this tree even more memorable and amazing. Incidentally, 3’ - 4’ is a fantastic size to make a wish tree. You can also get full instructions on how to make wish trees, centerpiece trees, crystal wedding trees and more on our site (with details, pictures and video. I hope this info helps someone.
This looks like a wonderful alternative to a normal guest book, and it would definitely impress guests instantly as they walk into the wedding venue. The decorations used for the wish tree look beautiful and exquisite. I would surely consider using this idea for my own wedding!
We also did a wish tree for our wedding, and in place of crystals, we decorated with red origami cranes all over, with light pink wish cards & red ribbons.
However, while it looked amazing, we realized afterwards that we did not get very thought-out messages. So I’m glad we also did this as our guest book: it has madlibs, predicting the future and asks guest’s most memorable moment at the wedding:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/81989547/alternative-wedding-guest-book-fun-and
You can also do one for engagement party: http://www.etsy.com/listing/81944815/engagement-party-wedding-guest-book
I LOVE this idea, but am wondering if this replaces the guestbook, what do people sign at the church? I am concerned I will miss guests who only attend the ceremony and not the reception, and there wouldn’t be enough time to set-up/tear down at the church and then set-up again at the reception venue….thoughts??
Does anyone know how many feet, or how much garland was used to create what is in the photo?
Wow! I am really amazed! This is the first time that I hear about it. If only I read this one a year ago then may be I also apply this wedding guest tree instead of wedding guest book on my wedding. Such a good feeling reading each guest wishes for your wedding.
i love this idea, i am using this as the center piece for each table instead of flowers. I am just so unsure as to what size braches i should invest in, it is the focal point & i dont want it to look to small would the 18” 24” inch be a good size? has anyone bought the hand strung acrylic strands from (save-on-crafts.com) they look like they would be pretty & not break the bank.