Planning your wedding on Pinterest

PIN

Ahh Pinterest…A feast for the eyes and the creative soul.  I can spend hours pinning, pinning, pinning.  So many hours that my husband may or may not be concerned that I’m going to leave him for an internet boyfriend…kidding.  But really, I LOVE Pinterest.

If you don’t already know, Pinterest is a virtual pin board which allows you to “pin” pretty much anything you find on the internet.  You can create different boards with different themes (home, recipes, style, etc.) and pin articles, photos and videos you find on other pages.  You can also re-pin other people’s pins onto your boards.  The every day practical application could be as simple as, “Hey what’s for dinner?  Let me check my Pinterest recipe board”.  Where you would then go to your board, choose a picture of a meal that looks good to you (because they all look good to you, because you pinned them!), which would then, when clicked on, take you back to the original website with the recipe.  Pretty cool, eh?   You can also share boards with your friends to collaborate and share your pins on Facebook.

One concept I find extremely interesting is planning your wedding on Pinterest.  When I got engaged in February of 2010, “pinning” wasn’t really on the map.  I had magazine clippings, a pile of “bookmarks” on my browser, and a ridiculously huge folder of “wedding inspiration” photos on my desktop.  It was difficult to maneuver and even more difficult to narrow down.  By the time Pinterest really hit it’s stride most of my details were already planned.  That didn’t stop me from browsing the thousands of wedding related pins though!

The good news is, if you’re reading this, you’re probably in a better place than I was to start planning your wedding on Pinterest!  I’ve got a few suggestions.

1. If you’re just starting your planning process, it feels SO overwhelming, I know.  There are so many options.  So many details to choose.  I suggest that you pin everything that appeals to you on one general “Inspiration” board.  Some of my favorite resources are Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Junebug, and OnceWed.  When you’ve got a good start, I think you’ll see a general style start to emerge.  Go with it! Let it lead you towards what you really want.  I tried to fight my instincts in the beginning and ended up starting (and discarding) a couple of projects that weren’t really “us”.

2. Once you can see your style, name it.  If you name your vision for your big day it makes decisions much easier.  If I know my theme is “soft, vintage, and floral” then maybe (as cool as it may be) the blinged out monogrammed cake topper may not fit anymore.  That’s okay.  I promise there are a thousand more cake toppers that will fit your vision so much better!  This is the very beginning of your narrowing process.

3.  Make individual boards for your style, the bridesmaids’ style, the guys’ attire, the reception decor, the ceremony decor, flowers, stationery, vendors, and anything else that you feel needs it’s own category.  Then go through and “re-pin” the pins from your general inspiration board into your categories.  If the pin doesn’t fit your overall vision, just leave it on the inspiration board and move on.  From now on, anything you find and want to pin, compare it with your vision.  If it fits, pin it to one of your category boards.  If it doesn’t fit, let it go.

4.  Share your boards with your friends and family.  If your mom, sister, and bridesmaids want to be involved you have a choice.  You can either invite them to be a collaborator on your board or you can just send them the links to your boards where they can “like” and comment.  I recommend inviting them to collaborate on your general inspiration board.  This way they can contribute, but they aren’t pinning to your more edited down boards.  You have the choice whether their pins make it to those boards.

5.  Share your boards with your vendors!  If your florist asks you what your general vision is, tell her in words, but send her to your board! Want to show your photographer some shots you love?  Your board!  Trying to design your invitations? Board.  This is a fantastic visual to really give your vendors an idea of your style and vision for your day.

6. Please, please, please make a board of your wedding after your day!  Share the love!  We want to see what you came up with (in fact, email me if you do this! I’d love to see!!!).  Just make sure you check with your photographer before pinning their images.  Here is ours: http://pinterest.com/hannahdetails/my-wedding/ (Just a note that this is my “real” Pinterest. The other was a mock wedding planning page.  If you want to follow me, please follow me here.)

Feel free to email me if you have any questions! Happy Pinning!!! (Just be careful, it’s addictive.)