How to Create a Book of Poems for Wedding Guests

A unique book of poems created for a wedding favor is a delightful gift. The book will be created by the bride and groom as a memento for their guests. The book will contain famous poems the bride and groom find significant and will also contain original poems written by the bride, groom, and friends and relatives. Any poem that the wedding partners find important may be included in the book. The book may also contain pictures of the bride and groom taken by friends or relatives.The poetry book will be a symbol of the love that the wedding celebrates. It will also contain several blank pages at the back of the book for signatures and notes to be added at the wedding reception.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Typed poems
• Book paper to construct a book or a computer disk to send the manuscript to a printer
• Photographs to add to the book

Ideas to Create a Poetry Book

1. Pick a theme for the poetry book. Will the theme be love? Or will the book document the place or the year the couple met? Will the book be humorous or will it be romantic? Pick a theme for the book before you start collecting or writing poems. Then alert wedding guests to the project and let them know you would like them to contribute a poem for the book.

2. Decide how many pages you want the book to be. Breakdown the page count to determine how many pages will be used for poems and how many pages will be used for photos. Then sort through photos of the bride and groom to include in the book. Collect photos from friends and family and list the name of the person who took the photograph under the picture. Try to include a poem or photo from each member of the bridal party to make everyone feel included in the project.

3. Edit the poems and either type them or send them out to a print shop to be type set. Then ask several people to proofread the pages of poetry. Read through the poems several times to ensure they are free of typos. Decide if you want to use art on the same pages of the poems. If so create a sample page showing the poem and the picture in the position where you want them. Create a sample book by placing the sample pages in the order in which they will appear in the book. Put the sample pages away for a few days. Then go back and read the poems again for a final check of any errors.

4. Create a page about the relationship of the bride and groom to include in the book. You may place it at the front or the back of the book. The page might describe how the couple met, where they grew up, their favorite dates, where the marriage proposal occurred, and any other interesting facts about the relationship. You may want to include photos on or near this page. Another idea is to include a pocket or two at the back of the book for a CD of favorite songs of the couple or a photo CD. You might also want to include a pack of flower seeds or a tree seedling in one of the pockets.

5. A poetry book is a very special gift to give wedding guests. Be creative with the project. There are many beautiful type faces and colored papers to choose from. The project will give the wedding party a way to feel like part of a team before the wedding. The finished book will be a very special reminder of the wedding day.

Tips & Warnings

• Start the book well ahead of the wedding to ensure you have time to finish the project well before the wedding day.
• Put together a sample book and mull over it for at least a week to make sure you don't have any new ideas later that you wished you had included.
• Let the book reflect the tone of the wedding. If the wedding is romantic use romantic poems. If the wedding will be whimsical go for a humorous book.
• Make sure everyone from the wedding party is invited to include a poem or photo in the book.

Resources

[vallain]

on 7/8/2009 Really nifty idea for a wedding momento for the guests.