How to fix a ruined guest book...(help!)

[thatdisneygirl]

I'm jumping the gun a little bit here. I'm posting everything in order in my TR over in the subforum, but I need help with something quickly. There's a thing that went wrong at the wedding and I'm not sure how to fix it. Since it needs to be fixed before we go to Napa in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd pick your brains now instead of waiting until I "get there" in the trip report.

So, our wedding day was wonderful...more so than either of us imagined. We were blessed with good weather, good food, good people, and each other. That being said, of course something went wrong. But I wasn't exactly prepared for this kind of something to go wrong and now I don't know what to do.

You know the guest book? I was happy about it when we ordered it forever ago and when it actually came I was really really happy about it. The people at Blurb did a great job and I was careful not to let anything happen to it until the wedding since it is our only prints from our engagement session. We got it down there ok and my girls set it up at the reception so that it had its own little space. All through the night, people came up to me and told me that they loved it and they had never seen anything like it. So, when we got back to the hotel (very late) that night, I took a sneak peek to see what people had written to us.

And I ended up being very disappointed.

At some point during the reception, Craig, one of Kyle's groomsmen, took a sharpie and drew a mustache and a beard on me in one of the pictures. I don't have any explanation beyond that. I suppose he was drunk and I assume (or hope, really) that it was supposed to be funny. I'm not sure if he got confused and thought it was a yearbook or didn't realize that this book was a really big deal to me or what, but he did it and now it's there and I don't know what to do.

For a while I tried to be light about it. I mean, I sincerely doubt that if he had known how upset I would be about it that he would have done it. And, after all, it is just a guest book. Most people don't even open them again after the wedding. The fact that it's the only record of our engagement pictures is sort of my own fault. I mean, I took the only record and I laid it out at a table with markers. You could sort of say that I was asking for it.

That being said, it just broke my heart and I can't look at the guest book without being upset. So obviously I need to fix it. Here's my question: how? I've come up with the following ideas but I can't decide:

* Pay $40 for a new guest book and either replace the picture or just ask people to sign again at the other two receptions, ignoring that we had a guest book on our wedding day.
* Print out the photo on photo paper and glue it over the picture. (I'm worried that this will be too bulky, especially because the page is near the center of the book)
* Cut the page out and glue it to the last page of the book so that I can keep the signature and message that someone else wrote on the other side.

Obviously the last one is the easiest. The only thing is that I designed the book pretty carefully so that the facing pages would go together and I know that I will always think about what happened when I get to the part where a page is missing. Plus, I liked the photo that he drew on and if I glue it to the back of the book, we won't have it anymore.

I don't know. Should I just suck it up and get a new one? Should I fix it somehow? Or should I try to laugh it off? I know I'm really lucky that this is the worst thing that happened at the wedding, but I could still use a little help here...

 

[kingLouiethe1]

So sorry to hear about that! That was kind of immature, I will have to remember not to do the same at some point in the future.

I think I would go with printing out a replacement photo and mounting it over the old one is my favorite fix. Any chance in time it won't be so upsetting?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I'm a librarian and we daily try to save books idiots use as their personal sketch pads. Often we can't save the books because ink just doesn't come out, but we have picked up a few tricks.

I don't know if these will work for you because I don't know what type of paper it is on. If you try anything, please, please, please test it on similar paper first to see how it will react. I don't want you to ruin it more!

I have found that hand sanitizer works very, very well at removing sharpie. Squirt it on the ink, wait a few seconds (no more than 5) and wipe it off. It might take one or two tries. The downside to this is that, depending on the type of paper, it could (and probably will) wrinkle the page because it does get wet. It also might remove some of the ink used to print your picture. We mostly use this on covers and glossy surfaces that can withstand the gel without absorbing it. We sometimes follow that up with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but that is likely to rip the paper and fade the ink.

Dry erase marker can also be used to remove sharpie. We use this on our media items (dvds, cds, etc.) and occasionally the cases. Scribble over the sharpie with the dry erase marker and it should wipe right off. I've never tried it on paper, though, and I doubt it would work on most papers because of the marker format.

Another option might be printing the page out and getting the book rebound to include it. You could also include the page with the message at the end. This might be more costly than ordering a new book because book binders are a dying, highly-specialized breed and your local Kinkos or Office Depot would quite likely butcher it further. Your local library will probably be able to help you find a good book bindery.

Do you think Blurb might be able to rebind it with a fresh, clean page for you? It might be worth asking about-- especially since your blog is so widely followed and you've given them some publicity!

Printing a new page and then pasting it down might be the easiest option, but it would add some bulk and you would also have to cut it down a bit on at least three sides because of the way books are bound and how it causes the paper to fall. The pages might look like the same size, but if you unbound a book and held the pages next to each other, you will find they vary a lot, even up to an inch or more in some cases. The book is usually bound and then the edges are cut all at once to give the appearance of being uniform. It is hard to explain, but stick a piece of paper in a regular book as close to the binding as you can, then close the book to see how it would stick out, even though it seems to be the same size. I'm making it sound worse than it probably would be, but it is something to think about. Plus, you run the risk of inferior tape or glue puckering the pages or yellowing or even losing stickiness over the years and the pages coming apart. Even acid-free scrapbooking tape isn't as great as it claims. (I help restore old books-- sorry if this is too much.)

Could you print and frame a copy of the picture he drew on? That way you would still have a nice record of it and you might be able to one day look at your guest book and laugh about it....

Finally-- could you ask him to buy you a new book? That way you could have the book with the messages and then a book with just the pictures to preserve your engagement photos.

I hope that helped you in some way! I've followed your blog for awhile and I hope to be able to follow in your DFTW footsteps someday soon. Congratulations to you and Kyle and best wishes for your happily-ever-after!

 

[BecBennett]

There's nothing I can add to this, except to let you know that I would feel the same way, and possibly be out for blood...



I hope it all works out.

 

[polynesianbride]

WOW I am soooo sorry this happened I wish I had some special trick to share but I don't... I don't think you're overreacting, I would be very upset as well I guess is nothing works to save the page I would cut it out and paste it on the back so you save the current album as best you can... Since you have 2 other receptions I guess I would pay to have a separate album made for that and hope no one else tries to be funny In time I'm sure it will still upset you but hopefully instead of it will just be.

 

[malibustacey]

wow i cant believe someone would do that- if it was me- i would go ape. Even if it was for fun, he still had no right to do something stupid like that in your book. If you gave him permission to go ahead and draw like a kid on the book then it would be okay- but you didnt!

Im so sorry for you. I hope other people didnt see the funny side and i hope that they will be on your side. I think that AuroraBorealis has some good ideas so maybe give them ago. I'm so sorry- for me- the photos would mean so much to me and for someone to do that- i'd be so angry at them!- even if it was for fun and he was mucking around!

 

[Lindsay22]

The Roots took your e-pics, right? Can they help in any way. I would be LIVID if someone did that to my guest book. LIVID.

 

[wendy46001]

I don't know. Should I just suck it up and get a new one? Should I fix it somehow? Or should I try to laugh it off? I know I'm really lucky that this is the worst thing that happened at the wedding, but I could still use a little help here...

I'm more of a what’s done is done person
while i'd be i really believe in a few years your anger will pass

So i say don’t toss or pull apart the book from your wedding, its a special token

Why not try and make it better by adding to the art work...while its not funny put a sharpie top hat oh hubby...maybe make yourself into a
or add some stickers....it wont be perfect...but you can at least change it into something you can live with

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

I would just print out a replacement on sticker paper. It may not bethat great but at least it is covered and you wont have to go through the trouble of ordering another... Sorry about that...