Every time I start a project I love being with an inspiration board. We loved planning everything (actually I LOVE PLANNING while Daniel say yes to everything) but it was so time-consuming!
For a wedding it’s even worse! Between figuring out a budget and searching for the perfect vendor, a couple definitely have their work cut out for themselves.
Before you know it, the questions start rolling in: Do you have a color palette? What’s your theme? Outside or inside? It’s enough to overwhelm a to-be-wed, but don’t let it! First, take a breath.
If your wedding vision is a little all over the place, one of the best ways to gather your thoughts and create a clear game plan is with an inspiration board. An inspiration board will help all your wedding pros work together to bring your vision to life.
WHY YOU NEED AN INSPIRATION BOARD:
Whether you’re a DIY bride or working with a professional planner, it’s important to have visuals of what you like, from flowers to mood. When you have one clear road map, all the decisions you have to make really fall into place.
And since you’ll be working with a lot of vendors, like cake designer and caterers, you’ll be asked frequently for examples of what you want.
I love Pinterest (please take a look on our Pinterest Page) but it is a rabbit hole! The more time you spend pinning, the more ideas you have and the more you can start to feel overwhelmed.
An inspiration board forces you to really zero in on how you want your wedding to look and feel.
Once you’ve curated your images and created your inspiration board, you can share it with your vendors so that they have a clear idea of what you want.
But your inspiration board will drive the decisions you make regarding your wedding decoration, too. This is really important because you want to make sure that all the details will come together in a cohesive way.
SO WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
An inspiration board essentially looks like a collage, like this:
Credit: Southern Weddings
What should go on a wedding inspiration board?
You can make different inspiration boards for different things, like one for invitation suite (invitations, maps, save the date, ceremony programs, place cards) and another for bridal fashion (gowns, shoes, veils, accessories), or bundle everything together.
How to do it:
1 Gather your images. Pinterest is great for this! Remember to include images that represent the colors, florals, themes, and style of your wedding.
2 Edit and curate! To make sure it’s well curated, challenge yourself to take things off of it. That’s right—eliminate a few of your ideas. Our suggestion is to choose 6-10 images that truly represent your wedding day vision.
Remember: For your wedding day, you only need one or two really special, personalized details—and they’re sure to be noticed and appreciated.
Once your edit is done, take a step back and try to pick out three recurring elements.
Once you start taking photos off you can see what a difference it makes to pare images down. Consistant patterns will start to reveal themselves, like venue decor, stand-out colors and flower choices.
3 Create your inspiration board. We love CANVA to create them.
4 Share your board. Now that you have your inspiration board, don’t forget to share it with all your vendors, friends, and family members who will be helping you to plan your wedding day.
Some elements to help get you started:
• color palettes and patterns
• stationery
• fabrics (table linens and drapery)
• cakes and desserts
• flower arrangements
• fashion (bride, groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen)
Credit: Southern Weddings