Pinterest is a wonderful search engine full of photos and ideas for almost anything including weddings. Most people start here when they are gathering ideas for their weddings. While Pinterest can be a wealth of ideas, it can also be a let down in other areas. The way that you utilize Pinterest will make your wedding planning much easier and provide fewer let downs. Here are some of the ways we utilize Pinterest with our clients.
If you are finding yourself without ideas, Pinterest can definitely help you find some. A quick search and browse will help you start populating your boards with pins. You can also add collaborators if you want some help from your partner or others. When looking for ideas, we also recommend looking for non-wedding related ideas that can be modified for a wedding. Especially if it fits you better.
The majority of the time we turn to Pinterest to help us find a visual representation of an idea. Because we don't want to copy ideas, we sometimes present to our clients multiple photos of our idea so that they can get a visual for their wedding. Most of our clients will hear me say, "This idea of from this photo, but arranged like this photo, and placed like this photo."
We also use photos from Pinterest to communicate what we are looking for from our vendors. For example, when it comes to bouquets, we usually send photos for shapes that our clients love, along with photos of bouquet sizes, and then photos of some of the flowers that they love (if any). This helps get all of us on the same page and then we can modify or expand the design if needed.
While Pinterest can help you find ideas, sometimes there are way too many ideas circulating Pinterest that you will love. And then you are blowing your budget or are upset that you can't combine all of these ideas. This may leave you overwhelmed and/or disappointed. Remember to go back to who you are and what you want for your wedding. Then take those ideas that match your purpose.
The photos in Pinterest don't have the price tags on them and falling in love with an idea may be heartbreaking when you find out what it actually costs. Pricing for different items will be dependent on your wedding locations, time of year, labour, and availability of product. For example, if you fall in love with a huge floral arch completely covered in blooms and greenery, the price tag for this could easily be upwards of $5000, which for some people are their entire flower budgets.
The longer you spend on Pinterest, the repetition of ideas will start to become very obvious. If you are looking for unique ideas, Pinterest may not be your friend. Instead, find an idea and then twist it to make it your own or pair it with other ideas to completely change the feel and design of the idea. Or don't use Pinterest to keep your ideas original.
I know that I have painted a rather so-so picture of Pinterest. But it can still be very useful. This is how we use it with our clients.
Go through and pin anything that you like. Just put it all on one board and keep pinning until you feel like you have exhausted your searches. Make sure that not all of your searches have wedding in them to get some more variety.
Next, go and take a break. Like a good break, like a couple of days. You need your brain to be clear of bias when you come back to your Pinterest board. When you are ready, come back to your Pinterest board and look through it and look for any items/ideas that you kept pinning over and over again. Obviously, there is something about those things that you really love and may want to incorporate into your wedding. Write these down on a separate piece of paper. You can also share your board with a friend, ask them to do the same exercise, and compare notes.
Go through the ideas that you wrote down and decide whether you want to keep them. Are these the things that you absolutely love? Is this thing a deal breaker? Would you still love them if you had to scale them down? Can you incorporate this idea with your other ideas?
There are a variety of reasons why you may not be able to exactly copy an image that you see on Pinterest. Unavailable material, non-seasonal items, colour, size, shape may be things that you may want to play with. Trying to replicate the image may be more expensive. This is where your vendors can come in. They can give you options that are similar that may better fit your aesthetic and budget. Another way to add your spin to an idea is to combine elements from multiple ideas to create your own.
Now there is only enjoying the outcome of your hard work. On the day of your wedding, enjoy everything coming together.
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