a book to hold our promises

There comes a time in wedding planning when you morph into semi-professional writer. No, I'm not talking not wedding blogging - I'm talking about writing your vows! These are your vows, so the caliber of writing is generally a bit above 7-th grade english class.

The vows are kind of like the crux of the whole ceremony - everyone's dying to hear them, especially your fiancé(e)! I've always thought it a shame when a groom pulls out a folded piece of notebook paper to recite his vows. I have to admit, though - it is quite heart-felt to think of your fiancé slaving away over his words of promise, number 2 nibbled to pieces, whittled to the eraser, and stuck behind his ear!

Still, everything else in the wedding is planned in detail - shouldn't the presentation of your vows be equally beautiful?

Plus there's the rest of the ceremony - will our officiant read from memory? from a 3-ring binder? from a folder?

Ever since I saw this picture (below), I knew it would be the perfect volume to contain our vows and the words (that we're going to write!) from our ceremony.

source

The only issue is the sticker price - it's well worth the $80 tag, but a bit steep for me.

Recently, the seller of these awesome books was featured in an Etsy behind-the-scenes video:



While I certainly don't claim to be as talented as Margaux Kent from theblackspotbooks, I think binding a simple book for our ceremony is totally doable!

I've seen at least one other Bee display their vows/ceremony words in a hand-made book:

source

Unfortunately, Mrs. Lovebug never blogged about making her ceremony book :( (hey lovebug! more recap posts! ... a year later! :) ).

I've done a little research into this crazy book-making thing, and this is what you need:

1. an awl or needle to punch holes into the pages
2. heavy thread (linen thread is best)
3. thickish paper (cotton would be great for this project)
4. thicker paper (like cardstock) for the cover - I'm going to make a soft-bound book, hopefully like the ones from theblackspotbooks!
5. PVA glue (basically, glue that will hold for a long time) - in the esty video above, she uses neutral pH glue
6. a bone folder
7. linen tape
   
8. a rotary-blade guillotine (unless you want to rip the pages for a more unfinished look, like with theblackspotbooks).
9. ruler or straight edge
   
10. optional - fabric for lining the inside of the covers
11. optional - leather for the cover

I found a great tutorial for basic book-binding and a great resource for supplies online - I think this is going to be a great project! I'm going back to the states for work in late June, so I'll either get the supplies I need then, or have them mailed to me (ouch $$...) sooner. I'm thinking it could be awesome to leave a couple of pages for our wedding invitations and maybe some pictures - who knows, it may turn into our wedding memorabilia book!

How are you going to present the vows and words from your ceremony? Do you have any advice for a first-time book-binder, long-time crafter? What would you fill the rest of your pages with?