Innovative Ways to Capture Wedding Memories

The emotions felt during a wedding day — love, excitement, and joy — are often captured and preserved through traditional photography, videography, and a guestbook, offering a tangible reminder of those feelings and memories. However, those aren’t the only ways to memorialize your big day. We know that because we created the After The Tone wedding guestbook vintage phones, a unique and fun way to capture verbal well-wishes and souvenirs from your guests that you can play back for years to come. 

Let’s explain further why you should have one of our vintage phones at your wedding, along with a few other innovative ideas to make your wedding memories even more special.

Set Up an Audio Guestbook

While a guestbook or wedding memory box is a big-day staple, traditional books don’t fully depict the emotion, energy, and essence of the person writing them. That’s why we introduced the After The Tone audio guestbook, a unique concept that sets us apart. Our authentic vintage phones from the ’60s and ’70s will add retro charm to your big day, making it a truly memorable experience. 

When it comes to wedding day keepsake ideas, our unique phone guestbooks allow you to preserve all the well wishes and heartfelt messages from your loved ones. These memories will last a lifetime and can be listened back in the future — like every anniversary, for example! And because we know you have a lot on your wedding planning to-do list, we made it easy for you to get your hands on one of our phones. Here’s how it works: 

• Shipping: We ship you a vintage phone of your choice
• Set-Up: You set up the phone at your event (no wifi or plug-in needed)
• Record Your Memories: Guests record funny and heartfelt voicemails
• Ship Back: You ship it back to us using the provided box and prepaid label
• Receive Your Memories: A few weeks later, we send you digital and/or vinyl recordings of the voicemails that your loved ones left.

Create a Social Media Wall

By setting up a social media wall, you’ll capture a wide range of moments from your guests’ perspectives and provide a fun and interactive way for everyone to engage with your wedding!

• Create a Unique Wedding Hashtag: Create a memorable and unique hashtag that combines your names or wedding theme. Share the hashtag with guests on your invitations, wedding website, and at the event.
• Set Up the Aggregator: Create an account with your chosen social media aggregator and link your social media profiles.
• Design the Display: Set up large screens or projectors at the venue to showcase the social media feed. Ensure they are placed where all guests can see them, and create signage to encourage guest participation. 
• Preserve the Memories: Most social media aggregators allow you to download or archive the collected posts after the wedding. Use the archived content to create a digital or physical keepsake, like a photo book or a video montage.

Frame Your Wedding Vows

Framing wedding vows is a beautiful way to preserve and cherish the heartfelt promises made on your special day — especially if you wrote them yourself! It’s one of those wedding keepsakes you can look back on daily.

• Custom Framing: For the best results, have the vows professionally framed. A pro can help with matting, choosing the right frame, and ensuring everything is properly preserved. When considering the design layout, consider the aesthetic of your home. 
• Add Personal Touches: Incorporate elements from your wedding, such as your wedding date, location, or a small photograph. If you don’t want to go the typography route, frame the vows in your own handwriting or your partner's handwriting for a more personal touch.
• Placement: Choose a location where the framed vows can be easily seen and enjoyed, like a living room wall or a bedroom.

Capture Drone Footage

While you’ll likely have a traditional photographer on-site, drone footage can capture sweeping views and dramatic shots of your wedding location, giving you a unique perspective of your big day. 

• Plan Ahead: Confirm with your wedding venue that drone use is allowed. Some locations have restrictions or require special permissions.
• Hire a Professional: Hire a licensed drone operator with experience capturing events. They will know how to get the best shots and handle any legal requirements. Discuss critical moments you’d like captured, such as the ceremony setup, guests arriving, or the first dance.
• Coordinate with Your Planner: Inform your wedding planner and photographer/videographer about the drone to coordinate timing and avoid conflicts.

Press Your Wedding Flowers

You spent a lot of time and effort choosing the perfect wedding flowers (especially your bouquet, are we right?).  While the shelf life of your buds is only a couple of days, you can easily press a few of your favorites. Once dry, you can place them in a frame, album, or scrapbook. 

• Choose Fresh Flowers: If you decide to press your flowers, time is of the essence. Select buds that are fresh and not overly wilted.
• Prepare Flowers: Trim stems and arrange flowers on blotting or parchment paper.
• Pressing: Place another layer of blotting paper on top. Place flowers between the pages of a book and add weight on top — additional books should do the trick!
• Drying Time: Allow flowers to press for one to two weeks or until completely dry.

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One of the best guestbook ideas is an After The Tone audio guestbook. But don’t take our word for it. Check out the reviews from 40,000-plus of our satisfied customers! To help you out, we put together a list of FAQs and a guide featuring six pro tips for getting the most memorable voicemails out of your audio guestbook. 

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