Exactly one year ago, Adrian and I were married here in Seattle

There were a lot of different things that made that day so special: the setting (we were tucked away in the beautiful Dunn Gardens), the surprise Lion Dance that kicked off our reception, the unique cake centerpieces at each table… I even designed a seating chart that was “font-coded!” But one of the most special additions (and definitely the geekiest!) was the wonderful wedding present my two co-founders made for my big day, Thrilled for You Wedding Video Guestbook.

Of course, I am a little biased because a) it was my own wedding and b) this is my company’s product, but I really loved having this alternative to a physical guestbook. Even though we hired an awesome professional videographer to film the entire day, there’s still something really intimate about capturing video messages from our closest friends and family. Our guests left a few really funny and deeply personal messages, not the kind of thing that I can imagine them saying to a stranger aiming a video camera at them. And although our wedding was small by today’s standards, we still felt like we didn’t get the chance to properly visit with each and every guest. The guestbook video messages captured behind-the-scene footage that gave us a sense for how much fun people were having at the wedding.

So as Adrian and I celebrate our anniversary tonight, we’ll be watching all our guestbook videos from last year. We’re even going to make it a tradition to do so every anniversary.

Thank you Walter and Hillel for the best wedding gift ever. And Happy Anniversary, to both the Thrilled for You Video Guestbook and to my truly amazing husband, Adrian.

P.S. Our awesome videographer incorporated the Thrilled for You clips into our official wedding video, but he also put together a little sample of some of the more comical messages :