James Allen News Center

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life. You’ll be beautiful and the center of attention on your special day. Chances are you’ll have photographers, videographers, and family members recording the festivities.

 
But even though you’ll have a beautiful wedding album to cherish for years to come and show your grandchildren, a funny and heartwarming wedding video to play to your friends and relatives, a lovely wedding dress you can pass down or save as a keepsake, and a lovely engagement ring wrapped around your finger...when it comes to retaining wedding memories, there's nothing more endearing than a personal wedding scrapbook.

A personal wedding scrapbook is meant for your eyes only. It chronicles your special day, and the physical and emotional journey leading up to it, in a way that is unique and meaningful to you. A wedding scrapbook can contain anything you want it to, from the serious to the humorous, from the fancy and ornate, to the rough and unpolished. It can include clear-cut keepsakes and abstract pieces.

The most important thing to keep in mind when creating a scrapbook is to be true to yourself. Because your personal wedding scrapbook is meant for your eyes only (you may choose to create an additional, more conventional scrapbook to show family and friends), you should only include objects and memories that are meaningful to you. You don’t have to worry about what other people think and you don’t need anyone’s approval. This is your magical scrapbook.

Here are some ideas on what to include in a wedding scrapbook:

Notes: handwritten notes and phrases you penned at some point during your wedding journey. This could be a sticky note with a poem or clever turn of phrase that you jotted down one day, a guest list with revisions, an envelope with a lipstick mark, a piece of paper where you practiced writing your new last name, the piece of paper or napkin on which your fiancée wrote his phone number or email address down for the first time, your favorite quote, etc.

Personal Photos: these could be as personal as self-portraits you took with your smart phone in the bathroom mirror, photo booth pictures of you and your fiancée or bridesmaid making funny faces, childhood photos, photos of loved ones who have passed on but were are your wedding, in spirit, etc.

Keepsakes: sky’s the limit with keepsakes that are special to you. These could be the price tag from your wedding gown, the concert ticket from one of your best dates with your fiancée, a recipe for a great meal you cooked your fiancee, a magazine ad or newspaper clipping about bridal makeup that inspired you, etc.

Decorative details:  decorations are the funnest part of the personal scrapbook process. Sky's the limit when it comes to adorning your book. You might include stickers, appliqués, flyers, postcards, photos, paper crafts, glitter, pompoms, fabric, etc. You can color in your scrapbook with marker, crayon, paint, pastel, charcoal, etc. You can be as tame or as wild as you like when it comes to decorating your scrapbook. Your scrapbook can be romantic and include Renaissance motifs, made to look like an underwater scene complete with mermaids, goldfish, and kelp, or be a duochromatic punk and pop-art inspired object d'art. No one will be judging you.

The more time passes after your wedding, the more sentimental weight your wedding scrapbook will have. You may choose not to reference it often, but it’s good to know it’s there when you’re feeling nostalgic.