Hello friends, Crystal from @thecrystallinaperspective on Instagram and Youtube. In today’s blog post, we will be starting a wedding memory journal. So, you’re engaged, now what? … You should totally cherish the memories. When I got engaged in November 2021, I immediately knew that I needed to come up with a way to cherish the memories forever. I didn’t want to do a scrapbook because that can get overwhelming at times but I did want to save every memory of this process! That’s when I thought, wedding memory journal! This memory journal project has no rules, just your vision to save memories. I started this process by reflecting on various memories from my engagement and that propelled me in the direction I needed to go.

Check out this video to see the process of creating this spread. 

I also created a printable to help you gather your thoughts. Grab the free printable from the blog to jump start you into this project. 

Other Wedding Memory Keeping Supplies You’ll Need:

• Archer and Olive Dot Grid Journal A5
• Archer and Olive B5 Neapolitan Dot Grid Notebook
• Paper Mate Flair Pens
• HP Sprocket Select Printer or Photo Printer of your choice
• Design/ Decorative scissors & regular straight scissors
• Photos
• Washi Tape
• Old packaging or decorative paper
• Stickers, TONS of stickers

Please remember to use the code CRYSTALP10 or my link to save on your Archer and Olive purchases. 

**With your supplies, look around your house and find things that you aren’t using. Use those things! Some supplies in this list do contain affiliate links where I receive commission at no additional cost to you.**

Let’s Create!

Finding love is something that is so pure and beautiful. It is something that most of us hope to get. Gaining that love and experiencing the process of engagement, wedding planning, and love is a plethora of memories. Memories that you want to remember forever! The best way to cherish and capture these memories is through a memory journal. Some people prefer a scrapbook but I love writing down the way things made me feel and my experience with them. If you find joy in journaling, then this is perfect for you! I love how I am able to share my memories and then add photos and embellishments to make the spread what I want. I decided to create a wedding memory journal because I wanted to store all of the memories- good and bad- around this process. For this particular spread, I started with documenting my engagement. My engagement was so perfect and beautiful! I felt like the only girl in the world- seriously! 

For this particular project, we will follow three simple steps. Layout our background, lay our photo, and embellish! Embellish isn’t just about lying stickers and washi, we will embellish with our thoughts of that memory too. I love how the Papermate flair pens make a bold yet beautiful statement on the pages of the Archer and Olive notebooks. 

Lay a BOLD foundation:

To start this project off, you must lay your foundation. An easier approach to laying your foundation is to gather a theme or color scheme that you want to work with. My theme was vintage romance! I received a vintage romance advent calendar for Christmas and used a ton of products from that kit including the packaging. So pick from a color scheme/ theme to aid in your foundation. The foundation can be a blank page that you add to, or you can add a decorative background from decorative paper or by recycling packaging from a package you received. I am adding a decorative background from some advent calendar packaging that I am recycling. I simply placed this background down on the page with some adhesive and that created the vibe that I was going for. So for each page that you create, start with how you want your foundation to look. You can use a stamp and stamp the background. You can use alcohol ink and a stencil. You can shade the background with the alcohol ink. The sky's the limit. 

Layer your photo on top of your foundation. This part is the fun part to me because you get to pick out the photos that are most meaningful to you. Not all photos will make the journal spread, and that’s okay because you can use them for the next spread. So for this particular page, I used my favorite photo from my engagement photoshoot. My engagement was a total surprise and the photoshoot for our engagement happened that same day. So, this photo means the most to me. You can add a photo collage or multiple smaller photos. I used a combination of my HP home printer (4 by 6) and HP Sprocket Select photos (2 by 3). If you don’t have those resources, you can always print at a local store such as Walgreens or Walmart.

The next step is to embellish. You want to embellish in whatever way you see fit. I used the Archer and Olive B5 Neapolitan Dot Grid notepad and used it to make embellishments for my spread. I made tags from it and labeled different things on the pages. I used the kraft colored paper more for this spread than any other color. But all colors would look beautiful in your spreads. I also embellished with various washi tapes and stickers. This helped to pull the look together. 

Lastly, I built my spread with words and my memories. That is the most important part of doing this project. I played around with layouts for my photos and then embellished my photos. I wrote down the details of the events from what made it special to what things smelled like. A fun memory that I will also remember is that location where I was proposed to, another couple was having their wedding. How ironic is that??? But it is something that must be documented! 

Memory planning is something that can be very sentimental and special. Each memory should be recalled to how you interpreted it. Have fun with this project and if you don’t want to share it with others, don’t! Memories are meant to be remembered even the bad ones! Each memory holds a special part of who we are. I hope that you create a memory journal of some type but this one is even more special because it’s a memory of every aspect of one of the biggest days in your life. There will be a full video of this wedding memory spread on my YouTube channel: The Crystallina Perspective. But in the meantime check out the free printable as well as the abbreviated version of this spread. 

If you decide to make this spread or one similar please tag @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community and use hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive. You can find me on Instagram or YouTube: @TheCrystallinaPerspective