A nice wedding book is a gift the couple will cherish forever. Here are a few tips to get you started in putting one together.

Prepare

In order to make your wedding book complete, you really should try and attend every event that is associated with the wedding. If your book is to be a gift, and you weren't invited to every shower or were, for instance, only invited to events related to the bride, you will have to find some collaborators. Get in touch with people who are attending or did attend the events you were not able to and get as many photos as you can (this will naturally not apply to the bachelor and bachelorette parties). The more people you can get to contribute, the better.

If you should happen to run into someone who had the same idea as you to present the happy couple with a wedding scrapbook or photo book, see if you can work together on one book or at least try and cover different parts of the wedding process for your separate books. One of you, for instance, could concentrate solely on photos, while the other can gather different sorts of physical mementos and spend more time collecting quotes, stories, anecdotes, and that sort of thing.

Putting It Together

If you have never put together a scrapbook or photo book before, see if you can find a basic class at your local community center or something to get you started on layout, etc. There are also lots of resources online, and you should be able to find a YouTube video or two that can get you started. Things to keep in mind from the outset are to use acid-free papers (these help to preserve the photos and mementos), as well as taking the time to have a good look around online for such items as craft punches, quality scissors, matte papers, stamps, and the like.

Depending on how far back you want to go, and what kind of cooperation you get from the couple and their friends, you can even start the wedding book from when they first started dating. You could, for instance, get a matchbook, menu, or photo from the place they had their first date, or from the place he proposed, and sort of move on from there. You should strive to be as complete as you can, but it's unlikely you will be able to include every significant event. As long as you realize this from the outset, you should be okay.

Binding It

There are many options out there when it comes to choosing a binding style for your wedding book. Putting all the pages together in a 3 ring binder is an easy, if inelegant solution. Double loop binding might offer a little more permanence and a classier look. You could also, depending on whether you are doing a scrapbook or a photo book, choose the permanent, hardcover look and feel of thermal binding. These machines are fairly inexpensive and easy to use, meaning you can have your own machine on hand to use whenever you choose. Take a look around online or make a trip down to your local print shop to see what options are out there.

Laminating book binding Binding Machine binding equipment Binder 3 ring binder