I Wanna ROCK With You...At Our Guestbook Table!

Early on in our wedding planning, Mr. Cola and I spent hours looking online for unique guestbook ideas (ok, ok, really I looked online for hours while he watched TV, and I'd just tell him what I was finding). We really wanted something different, not just a book that would sit on a shelf somewhere in our home after the wedding. So we looked at a ton of options, including something similar to what Miss Poodle is doing with a tree, platters that could be signed by our guests, and we even considered a wine bottle, like Mrs. Sunbeam used.

But the unconventional guestbook idea that really stuck out to us was a bride who decided to take rocks from her backyard fountain, and have guests sign the rocks. I thought this was about the coolest idea ever, and so we decided to borrow it, with a little modification!

Before heading to the bridal fair earlier this month, my mom and I stopped at Lyngso Garden Materials to scope out some rocks. The ones I liked best were the 2 x 3 inch La Paz:


We are going to have to go back and pick through the barrel of rocks to find the best ones that are flat and round, and will be perfect for writing on. And once they're cleaned off, they will be ready to be displayed on our guestbook table, along with this sign:


(Note to self: no DIY'ing is allowed while on cold medication. The first version of this sign didn't have a "d" in the word "wisdom." Thank goodness for blogging, because if I hadn't taken a picture of the sign and looked at it later, I would have unknowingly let this typo go to our wedding!)

So guests will know to sign the rocks with Sharpie markers like so (we will also have a couple rocks already signed in advance, to make it even more clear to our guests):
And after signing the guestbook, they will put the signed rocks in another one of our cute baskets:


After our wedding day, we plan to get a large clear vase for displaying the signed rocks in our home, with some tall dried grass or bamboo, similar to arrangements we already have decorating our home. Along the lines of this, but bigger, and with rocks in the vase:


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I'm so excited about our unconventional guestbook! This way, we will always have the thoughts of our friends and family on display as decor in our home!

And on another rocky note, while we were looking at guestbook rocks, we also looked at smaller rocks for the vases that will be used in our tall centerpieces and small cocktail table arrangements, which if you remember, will look something like these:
We brought along a vase and tried the 1/4 to 1/2 inch La Paz, but it was a little on the small side, and too grey:


So instead we'll be using these 3/4 inch Pami Pebbles that have more of a brown color, which will go nicely with our wood grain paper elements on the tables.


ROCK TIPS: If you're planning on purchasing rocks for any of your DIY projects, keep in mind that you don't need to pay extra for the polished river rocks if they will be underwater in an arrangement. Polished rocks are a lot more expensive, and when they're underwater you can't tell the difference! Also, be sure to bring a water bottle with you when shopping for rocks. As you can see in the above picture, the rocks in the center are damp (we didn't bring a water bottle with us, and had to dig down a little to find damp rocks), and the color is much more brown when the rocks are wet. We wished we'd had some water on us to pour on the rocks, to see the real color they'll be when submerged.

What are you doing for your guestbook, something more traditional or something unconventional? And are you incorporating rocks in any way as part of your wedding decor?

(unless otherwise noted, all pictures in this post are personal photos)