Weigh In: Rethinking a Cookbook Design

Leading up to and following our wedding I started cleaning up all of our shared recipes (you may have noticed some of your favorites appearing here on this blog). Why? We were going to give cookbooks with recipes from meals we've shared to our guests as our wedding favors. They'd originally be put at each place setting. This drove a design that was coordinated with our wedding invitations, programs, etc. Time seemed nonexistent to work on editing so we pushed this DIY project out.

Next idea? We'd send the cookbooks to our guests as a unique thank you. Still our working plan. We'd envisioned that they'd follow personalized thank yous for gifts. Again we thought the design should be coordinate with our wedding - now to our Thank You notes.

But let's take a step back. Why do the favors need to be coordinated (aka "matchy matchy") with our wedding? We'd always planned on a vintage photo for the cover - us in 1950s era clothes with a 1940s stove. That's a consistent feel. So why not go a little further and design the insides of the cookbook with a retro feel? I love all things from the 1950s and have been playing with new Retro themes for this blog. (What got me thinking of a design overhaul was the look and feel of {this is glamorous}'s Table for Two series. Their theme is simple elegance - not Retro - but the way their blog and recipes complemented each other is what caught my eye.)

Weigh In: What do you prefer - (1) a cookbook that reminds you of a one day event - our wedding - or (2) a cookbook that ties to an ongoing blog?

Here are some layouts and design elements that have caught my attention for the blog (and for a retro cookbooklet design).

Images courtesy of Cookbook Maven (Etsy)

Images courtesy of HiKoo (Etsy)

Images courtesy of Grandmother's Attic (Etsy)

Image courtesy of The Old South Junker (Etsy)

Images courtesy of Burgermeisterin (Etsy)