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What Is a Wedding Journal?

Misty Amber Brighton
Misty Amber Brighton

Many couples wish to remember their wedding and the planning involved with it in a very special way. Keeping a wedding journal is one way of doing this. This memory book is similar to a scrapbook and can hold photographs and keepsakes from the reception. There can also be sections for the couple to record their feelings at various times throughout their engagement.

A wedding journal can be very simple or elaborate. Some couples choose to use a plain scrapbook and adorn it with stickers, ribbons, or other embellishments. It could also be made from a photo album or three-ring binder, with pages for photographs and others for writing notes.

A wedding journal may hold photographs and keepsakes.
A wedding journal may hold photographs and keepsakes.

Bridal stores sometimes carry books that already have sections to record certain events in. These types of journals serve a dual purpose. They help preserve memories associated with the engagement and wedding while serving as a planning tool for the bride. Many have calendars to help couples keep up with deadlines and appointments involved in the planning process.

Detailing the proposal and engagement ring are popular topics to write about in a wedding journal.
Detailing the proposal and engagement ring are popular topics to write about in a wedding journal.

Not only may a bride or groom record things in a wedding journal, but members of the wedding party may often do so as well. There may also be sections for parents or other family members to add their thoughts and feelings about the wedding ceremony. Some memory books could even have a space for guests to write good wishes for the newlywed couple.

A wedding journal also allows couples to save memorabilia from key events, such as bridal showers, engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, and the reception itself. Things such as napkins, invitations, and matchbooks could be preserved in this scrapbook. A flower from the bridal bouquet or other floral arrangement could be dried and added to this book as well.

Couples may want to add to their wedding journal even after the ceremony has concluded. Pages could be added to commemorate the honeymoon, buying a first home, or anniversaries. They may also want to expand the book whenever children are born.

Brides may carry along a journal to record appointments, important details, and dates for dress fittings.
Brides may carry along a journal to record appointments, important details, and dates for dress fittings.

Many couples find planning a wedding ceremony to be a hectic whirlwind event. Keeping a wedding journal is a good way to stay organized, and also record the process for their children and grandchildren. Each wedding is unique and is a reflection of the couple being married. This means a journal should likewise be unique and personal, so the manner of creating this book will depend upon the individuals involved.

Discussion Comments

pleonasm

@clintflint - That might depend on the person though. If you are a fairly well planned person or you gave yourself quite a lot of lead time on planning the wedding, it might be nice to be able to keep a proper wedding journal book from the beginning, where you can just paste in everything at the end of each day and then forget about it.

clintflint

@Mor - On that note, I'd also recommend that you keep all your little bits of memorabilia in a bag together, but don't try to put them into any kind of order until the whole thing is over with. A wedding journal is a wonderful thing, but it's not the kind of thing you want to be spending all your time on when you're actually in the middle of planning the wedding. Keep notes and keep whatever else you want to include, but don't try to make a finished product until you've got the space and time to do it.

Mor

I've noticed that the journals I like reading over all tend to be very short and very pithy, where I only record what is interesting. And that's usually about what people said or did and what surprised or delighted me, rather than details about planning.

Whenever I sit down to write a journal entry I always want to basically map out my entire day and what I did and when I did it, but unless you are making a wedding planner notebook, you won't care that you had to go to three appointments and one was canceled and so forth. You will care that the flower girl said something cute and the taxi driver was very supportive of chocolate cake over carrot cake and that your uncle promised he would swim if they couldn't get a flight.

I guess what I'm saying is that little anecdotes are what you'll want to remember, not the price of everything or how stressed out you are. And making note of these little anecdotes as they happen might encourage you to be less stressed.

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    • A wedding journal may hold photographs and keepsakes.
      By: goodluz
      A wedding journal may hold photographs and keepsakes.
    • Detailing the proposal and engagement ring are popular topics to write about in a wedding journal.
      By: habrda
      Detailing the proposal and engagement ring are popular topics to write about in a wedding journal.
    • Brides may carry along a journal to record appointments, important details, and dates for dress fittings.
      By: slast20
      Brides may carry along a journal to record appointments, important details, and dates for dress fittings.
    • Some wedding journals may have space for wedding guests to write small notes to the newly married couple.
      By: chicagophoto
      Some wedding journals may have space for wedding guests to write small notes to the newly married couple.
    • A wedding journal can be made from a photo album, with pages for photographs and writing notes.
      By: Photographee.eu
      A wedding journal can be made from a photo album, with pages for photographs and writing notes.
    • Members of the wedding party, as well as the bride and groom, can place thoughts and mementos in the wedding journal.
      By: Kzenon
      Members of the wedding party, as well as the bride and groom, can place thoughts and mementos in the wedding journal.
    • Some guest books are designed to double as a wedding journal.
      By: tr3gi
      Some guest books are designed to double as a wedding journal.
    • A wedding journal may include photos and memories from a couple's engagement.
      By: inarik
      A wedding journal may include photos and memories from a couple's engagement.
    • A wedding journal may include details about the bride's dress and overall look.
      By: fotoatelie
      A wedding journal may include details about the bride's dress and overall look.
    • Wedding journals help couples look back on events they may have missed during the hectic wedding activities.
      By: tayindigo
      Wedding journals help couples look back on events they may have missed during the hectic wedding activities.