Wedding Gift

[bolliel]

Hello everyone,
My brother is getting married, the first week of January. I want to make a special album for his wife and him. I want friends and family to write stories about them and for them and then combine this with pictures and make it like a book about their lives from when they were born until their wedding day.

Does anyone have great ideas for me on how to do this?

Please let me know, all ideas are more than welcome!

Linda

[Corgi Lover]

Well I did a similar thing for my uncle. The way I went about it was I emailed all family and close friends and asked them to write down their favorite memories/stories with pictures if they had any. I explained what I was doing and for some who didn't understand what a scrapbook was (other than a piece of paper with a picture glued down onto it), I attached an example page for them to see.

You could also do a scrapbook party - where you invite friends and family in, maybe in small groups, where you sit and reminisce about things and either write down the stories or tape record them. You can gather pictures at that time and maybe they want to help figure out how to make the album flow. It would be a fun little party with munchies and great story telling :) You could also have them sign a piece of paper to include OR when you finish the page from that person you could take it with an acid free pen and they could do the journaling on it or sign a note on it.

OR have a couple pages printed out for the wedding/reception and pass them around so that people can write a message or story or just send them their love! :) It would be kinda like a guest book but a little more in depth :)

[Tara]

I love making these kind of albums and I bet they will love receiving it. What a great gift!

When I've done this (never for a wedding though), I've learned that you'll get some very excited participants and some very reluctant ones ("I don't know what to write...my story isn't funny....I'm a bad writer...just do it for me...") so you are going to have to be very persistent!! I usually choose a deadline WAY in advance of when I need things (with the holidays coming you might want to set an early due date...so well intentioned people don't forget!). Some people get the stories to me by then...and then I have to go personally hound the rest of them. Sometimes that involves going straight to their house and making them do it right then. Just make sure to give yourself enough time to put everything together! :)

I guess what I'm saying is: ALLOW LOTS OF TIME!!! And have fun...this is such a great idea. If I get married, I'm inviting you! LOL!

[Merlin]

Use song titles on some pages: ie: "You must have been a beautiful baby" with a few musical notes on the page. Nursery rhymes are also good if no one has anything to write...add baby elements on the page. If you know where they are going on their honeymoon add some pics and the name of the place and leave room for them to add their own pics later. Be sure to take a pic of a tree in his/her yard...blow it up and put small tags on it with their family names, try to go back as far as possible with the generations...then it will be their family tree. Be sure to ask people if they remember what was happening on the day their pics were taken...it might help to jog their memory especially if they can't come up with a story. Most of all...have fun, they are going to love it and you as well.

[Gordman]

That's a very nice idea, I am sure he will be thrilled when seeing your gift, I would be. I always had trouble finding perfect wedding gifts for those close to me and I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. This forum helped me very much.