A creative alternative to the traditional guest book

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If you're looking for an easy DIY wedding project, that's also a great way to shake up your guest book then let us introduce you to the Fingerprint Tree. The Thumbprint or Fingerprint Guestbook is a cute take on the traditional wedding guest book and a way to make a really personal piece of art at your wedding. You can of course buy one, but if you're on a budget, we've made a gorgeous free DIY Fingerprint Tree template for you to download at the bottom of this page. It's A3 in size, which will give you plenty of room for a lot of guests to make their mark, and the tree is drawn out, but as there is no text at the bottom, there's plenty of space for you to add your names and the date. There's an A4 version too for smaller weddings!

Instructions for Printing your DIY Fingerprint Tree

Download a tree below ( we also have an A4 version for smaller weddings)
Open the file in whatever image editing programme you have
Zoom out (the file is huge)
Type in whatever text you want at the bottom - your names and wedding date - (in A3 your font size will be 150 or more) and change to whatever colour you like
Then Save As new file
Send to a professional printer if you want to create a really fancy print out, or you don't have access to an A3 printer.

What You Will Need for the Wedding...

Printed Tree
Inkpads
Fine black ink pen
Babywipes
Bin (for the babywipes)
Picture Frame

For inkpads we used these really cute ones from Dewdrop called VersaMagic - the shape of the pads looks perfect for the tree. Buy these from Irish online craft shops like Cork Arts Supply or Etsy. For the frame, pop to IKEA and get a Ribba frame, even as a temporary measure, you can buy a different frame later (it may get damaged, better to get something cheap). Put the tree in the frame and remove the glass. If the mount gets smudged with ink, then you won't have spent a fortune.

Make sure you have a few fine nib good quality black pens ready - you do not want Uncle Mike writing his name next to his thumbprintin blue or red and ruining the tree.

Have babywipes (and a bin) handy. Nobody wants inky hands with fancy outfits or to have to run to the bathroom to clean up. Also the ink can be a bit resistant to water and soap, so babywipes are good for removing.

If you love the idea but would like a bespoke version or an alternative to a tree - balloon bicycle for example - check out our post on Fingerprint Trees, there are lots of suggestions for places you can find other designs.