How to make a Ring Book

OBT member "Zephyr" created ring books as an alternative to ring pillows — and the book loving, English major in me is freaking out over them! Luckily for all of us book lovers, she gave us the details on how to make them yourself…

Being the book geek that I am, I couldn't resist bringing books into the wedding! Here's the step by step creation of my own ring bearer books…

The books:
(Cost = $1.38)
I bought used children's books because our ring bearers are two and four-years-old. A full sized book would have been too much for them.

Glue the pages together:
I used Modge Podge because that's what I have and what I use for everything!

Some instructions will tell you to glue the side and then glue to the back page of the book. For the sake of adding paper/ribbons, do this at the end. (I followed the standard method and ended up undoing things… trust me, leave gluing the pages to the back cover to the very end.)

Cut out the treasure/secret compartment:
Use an exacto knife.

This is where not gluing the back cover will make your life easier because you'll be able to access the back of the book and tidy up the corners.

The next thing to do is to wrap the book:.

I used the technique my mom taught me in elementary school with brown paper bags. I didn't take pictures of this process but here's a how-to with good visuals and instructions to help you out.

Add ribbons:
Make sure to iron the ribbons before attaching them.

This is what mine looks like with the first ribbon added…

And in the inside (I used some extra paper I had to make sure the ribbon didn't come apart)…

I used the two ribbons, but alternately considered gluing the white ribbon to the book and then wrapping the second ribbon as a bow around the book (like you'd wrap a gift). And then using the bow tie-off to secure the rings to the outside of the book. But, since we have young boys carrying the books, I decided the rings would be safer inside the book.

Secret ring compartment:

A simple sewing pin holds the ribbon in place and can be pulled out to remove the rings.

Using the books instead of bouquets (alternative)
Omit the first few steps and skip directly to wrapping the book and adding ribbons and flowers!