Art makes a lasting guest book

You will likely use a pretty book with lines on it as your wedding guest book. Simple, traditional and basic, right? After your wedding day, you'll likely put it in a drawer along with your other wedding mementos, never to be seen again.

Your guest book doesn't have to collect dust — it can be used as a piece of art. Artist Susan Kiley creatively frames her scenes of couples and weddings and turns them into reception guest books. You'll have a piece of art to hang on your wall instead of a book that gets lost in a drawer or attic. Each print is personalized with the couple's first names and wedding date as well as titled and signed by Kiley.

Kiley's career came about in a unique way. A veteran oncology nurse turned artist in 1995, Kiley sold her whimsical and loving artwork through a regional network of art shows. Eventually, they discovered that fully half of what she sold was being given as wedding gifts. By crafting a large 4-inch border of a museum-quality double mat board around the artwork and testing hundred of felt-tip pens, Kiley developed a way to package her artwork with the framing glass installed behind the picture.

It works just like a basic guest book. Guests sign wedding wishes at the reception site. Afterwards, the glass is moved from the middle of the framing system to the front, creating a personalized guest book which can be hung for years of appreciation and enjoyment. It can even become a treasured heirloom as it has recorded the marital wisdom of grandparents and other relatives.

For more information, visit www.wedding-art.com. For a catalog of prints, call (802) 592-3986.

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