Choose your wording
Choose the wording that fits your plans, replace any placeholders, and share it with your guests.
Sign for the voice message corner
Leave us a voice message! Scan the code, open Guest Book and tap Audio. Tell us your best advice for our first year, or a favourite memory of us. You have 30 seconds, and no app is needed.
Print beside the event QR code in a quieter spot.
MC announcement
The couple would love to hear from you, not just see your photos. Scan the QR code on your table, open the Guest Book and record a short voice message for them. Advice, a memory or just a cheer, they will keep every one.
Read once after dinner.
Message for guests who couldn’t attend
We missed you yesterday! If you would like to leave us a voice message, open this link, choose Guest Book and tap Audio: [LINK]. It takes 30 seconds and we would love to hear your voice.
Send by email or in the family group chat.
The essentials
An audio guest book collects spoken messages from your guests instead of signatures. The classic version is a rented or bought vintage phone: guests pick up the handset, hear your greeting and leave a message, and you get the recordings as files afterwards. The phone-free version uses the phones guests already carry: they scan a QR code, record a short voice note in the browser, and every message lands in your event’s guest book next to the photos. Capture records voice notes of up to 30 seconds, and the host’s ZIP export includes them as audio files.
At a glance
- Classic version
- Vintage phone, rented or bought
- Phone-free version
- QR code and guests’ own phones
- Capture voice notes
- Up to 30 seconds each
- Also in each entry
- Optional selfie; text or drawing instead
- Guests who can’t attend
- Can record from the link
- Keeping the recordings
- .m4a files in the host’s ZIP export
Two ways to run an audio guest book
A phone audio guest book is a piece of hardware: a vintage-style handset that records when a guest lifts it. You set it up on a table, guests queue to speak, and after the event the company or the device gives you the recordings. Rentals and purchases are priced per event or per device and usually include a recorded greeting from the couple.
A phone-free audio guest book needs no hardware. Guests scan a QR code at the venue, open the guest book in their browser and record a voice note, so several people can leave messages at once and nobody waits for the handset. In Capture the voice notes sit in the same private event as the photo gallery, so the messages and the pictures from the day stay together.
| What to compare | Vintage phone audio guest book | Capture voice guest book |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Ship or collect the phone, charge it, record a greeting | Turn on the guest book and print the event QR code |
| Guests at once | One at a time at the handset | Any number, each on their own phone |
| Message length | Usually several minutes per message | Up to 30 seconds per voice note |
| Guests who can’t attend | Only with a dial-in add-on, where offered | Can open the event link and record from anywhere |
| What else guests can add | Voice only | A selfie with the message, or a written or drawn note instead |
| Getting the recordings | Files delivered after the event | Play in the host app; download as .m4a files in the ZIP export |
| The feel | The nostalgia of a real handset | Quick and familiar, from guests’ own phones |
How the voice guest book works in Capture
Turn on the guest book in your event settings before guests arrive. Guests join through the event QR code or link with a display name, open Guest Book, choose Audio and tap to record. A timer shows the 30 seconds; they can listen back, record again, add a selfie and post.
Voice notes record in browsers that support audio recording, such as Safari on iPhone and iPad. If a guest’s browser cannot record, the guest book offers a written or hand-drawn message instead, so nobody is turned away.
As the host, you hear every message in the guest book of the Capture iPhone app. When you export the event, the ZIP contains a guest-book folder with each voice note as an .m4a audio file, selfies and drawings as images, and a messages.csv that lists every entry with the guest’s name, any written message and the matching files.
Set up a voice message corner
Guests record more readily away from the speakers. Put a small sign with the QR code in a quieter spot, such as the lounge, the entrance or a corner of the garden, and a second one on the tables for people who would rather record from their seat.
Give guests something to say. A single prompt on the sign, such as advice for the first year or a favourite memory of the couple, gets better messages than a blank “leave a message”. More prompts are in the digital guest book ideas guide linked below.
Ask the MC to mention it once, ideally after dinner when people have stories to tell, and send the same link the next morning to guests who left early or could not come.
Turn the recordings into a keepsake
Once you have the audio files, you can play them in order at a first-anniversary dinner, put them together in any audio editor, or add them to a wedding video under photos from the same guests. The messages.csv makes it easy to match each voice note to the person and the selfie that came with it.
Keep the files with the rest of the wedding archive and make at least one backup. A shared gallery link is not a backup, and a ZIP export is only available to download for a limited time.
When a vintage phone is the better choice
If the handset itself is part of the decor, or you want long messages and a recorded greeting, a phone rental fits better. Some couples use both: the phone for long messages at the venue, and the QR code for quick notes, selfies and guests who could not attend.
Questions & answers
What is an audio guest book?
A guest book of spoken messages instead of written ones. It is often a vintage phone that records when guests lift the handset, but it can also be a QR code that lets guests record a voice note on their own phone.
Can I have an audio guest book without renting a phone?
Yes. With Capture, guests scan the event QR code and record voice notes of up to 30 seconds in their browser. The messages collect in the event’s guest book, and the host’s ZIP export includes them as audio files.
How do I download the voice messages?
Export the event from the Capture host app or the host web app. The ZIP contains a guest-book folder with every voice note as an .m4a file and a messages.csv listing who left each one.
How long can each voice message be?
Up to 30 seconds per voice note in Capture. Guests who have more to say can leave a second message or write one.
Can guests who couldn’t come leave a message?
Yes. Anyone you send the event link to can join and record a voice note while the guest book is open, so relatives abroad can take part too.
Sources
Keep the moments close
Every guest’s perspective.
One shared collection.
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