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Are you engaged and on Pinterest? Are you trying to use Pinterest to research and to help plan your wedding, but you are overwhelmed with all the things? Pinterest for weddings is an inspiration and information overload that can send even the most organized of brides over the edge!
Pinterest is just one wedding advice infographic after the next telling you what to do! It is all beautiful wedding inspiration pictures and pictures and more pictures. And, then you take your wedding Pinterest board to your florist or wedding planner and they tell you that will be a million dollars per table to replicate at your wedding.
Ahhhh!
Wedding planning is so frustrating and confusing, isn't it?
From start to finish, I am here today to show you exactly how to use Pinterest to plan your wedding. Done. This is it. This post is all that you'll need to get started on Pinterest for your wedding. It will take you all the way through the planning until that final sparkler exit as you hop on the plane for your honeymoon.
I'm taking a break from my wedding garter heirloom making to bring you this jam packed wedding planning advice post. I warn you though: this post is long, but it is full of so much good advice about how to use Pinterest to plan your wedding. I simply couldn't make it any shorter.
Read through until the end and then download my totally free Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet.You can thank me later!
For the record, the Pinterest wedding planning advice that is in this post is advice that you won't find anywhere else. You won't find it on the wedding blogs or the big wedding websites and you certainly won't find it on Pinterest! It is based on my years of experience in the wedding industry, working with thousands of brides and watching them go through the wedding planning process. I see the same mistakes and confusion and wedding planning frustration with bride after bride.
I'm here to help you. I got you! I'm here to making planning your wedding on Pinterest easy and stress free – because it can be, if you know what you are doing and you have a friend (like me!) telling you what to do.
Before you get started (or after, I don't care!), be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet that I created for you. This free one-pager has all the tips and advice that you need to get going with planning your wedding on Pinterest, plus it is only one page…unlike this mega blog post!
First things first, when you hop onto Pinterest to plan your wedding, create one master wedding board. In your Pinterest profile, click "boards" and click "create board." Add whatever name and description that you want. I'd recommend something general like "our wedding" or "our wedding board."
You might already be using Pinterest for recipes or workout tips and that's OK. You'll want to keep all of your non-wedding pins separate from your wedding pins and boards. It is better to have lots of different boards than one or two boards confused with images of more than one subject matter.
On this master wedding board is where you'll pin anything and everything that you love. You can pin:
Take the first couple of runs through Pinterest to just pin anything and everything that you love. Pin what you want to save for later or anything that inspires you. Don't rush through these first couple of times through Pinterest. This is not a race. Most (not all!) weddings are planned at least a year in advance, so take your time, look at images, decide why you like it or don't like. It might take you a few times through to really start to fill out your master wedding Pinterest board.
The whole point of Pinterest is that you can save and curate ideas. You pin or save images to create inspiration boards so that you won't forget things. So, when you see something pretty or potentially helpful, pin or save it to a board for later. Use this main master wedding board to save all of your ideas and everything that you might want to come back to or explore later when you have more time.
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Once you feel like you've been to the end of Pinterest and back, you might have 100's (maybe 1,000's!) of pins on this master wedding board. That's OK! When you are ready, start to curate from this master wedding board.
On your final master wedding board, you'll want about 10-20 images maximum that will give the overall look and feel of your wedding. Yes, I said 10-20 images only. Any more images than that and it is just confusing and overwhelming.
It can be hard to delete pins and saves, but this is the time to be brutally honest with yourself. You only want the best of the best on your master wedding board. Ask yourself:
You want someone to be able to give your master wedding planning board a quick glance and instantly understand what you are going for with your wedding. They should be able to pick up on your vibe and your style right away. When there are 100's of images, the message can become confused and muddled, but with just 10-20 images you can really hone in on your wedding's look and feel.
Your wedding vendors will thank you for the clarity on you wedding vision!
Photo Credit: Michelle Lindsay Photography
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
When you are curating your master wedding board, edit out anything that is repetitive. Move all advice pins or infographics to a separate wedding advice board (More about separate boards below.) and delete any duplicate or redundant pins. You only want the best of the best, so if the image isn't amazing or doesn't move you to your core, get rid of it.
As you are looking back through your master wedding board, you'll probably have lots of the same types of pins over and over again. That's a good thing! You are developing your style and you'll probably start to notice a pattern. You'll see similarities in things that you've pinned and ideas that you love. Now, you are starting to form the overall vibe of your wedding.
You'll share this curated, highly edited master wedding planning board with your wedding vendors, such as your florist or your invitation designer and wedding planner. This master board will easily convey the theme and vibe of your wedding.
Showing our wedding vendors this board will be so much more effective than trying to describe your vision or explain it. Photos are so powerful and your vendors will understand so much better with a curated board of your wedding style. And, when your wedding vendors fully understand your style, it makes them better at their job. They can execute better for you on your wedding day!
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Pinterest – the platform itself – has tons (and tons and tons and tons….) of images and wedding inspiration on it already. You can find lots of ideas and wedding inspiration that you would have never found on your own. You can't buy enough magazines or explore enough hashtags on Instagram to equal the inspiration and organizational power of Pinterest. Pinterest is truly a "search and discovery" platform, not a social media platform. Think of it like a Google search, but with pictures instead of words. You aren't on Pinterest to chat with your friends, you are there to do your research and be inspired.
To get started pinning for your wedding and to find some photos to add to your boards, simply start by typing anything into the search bar on Pinterest. Pick a topic, any topic, and just start looking around!
For example, if you start to type "wedding cake" the Pinterest search function will begin to auto-populate or guess what you might be interested in and fill those words in below your search bar as you type. This is very similar to searching on Google. You can choose one of these auto-populated terms or continue typing until you are done.
After you type in a search term, lots of photos associated with that search term will come up. Now starts the browsing and pinning! Just start scrolling through and when you find something you love, that you don't want to forget, hover over the image and click the red "save" button. This will ask you what board you want to save your pin to. Choose your board and click "save." If you don't have any boards set up yet, it will prompt you to create at least one board.
Once you create a search, you'll see different colored tiles underneath the search bar with suggested searches and words that are related to your search. These are suggestions and designed to help you explore more deeply. If you click on any of these tiles, it will add that word to the end of your search and show you a more detailed search.
Here is an example of the tiles below the search bar with an initial search of "wedding cake."
For example, if you start your search with "wedding cake" as in the sample images, and then you click the first tile titled "rustic" under the search bar in Pinterest, you'll see a whole set of "rustic wedding cake" ideas and photos. You can pin or save any of these ideas to your board or just browse around.
In this image of the "wedding cake rustic," search that I did on Pinterest (image is below), you'll notice that even more tiles came up after I clicked "rustic." These additional tiles will help you to narrow your search down even farther. These tiles will help you get very specific, which can be nice when you are just starting out and aren't sure where to begin.
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
When you click on any image in Pinterest you have three options:
Now that you have a board created and hopefully a few pins added, just explore around. Type different words or phrases into the search bar, or click the different tiles to let one photo lead you to another photo.
Don't be afraid to look around and get lost in Pinterest! There is so much to see and explore! And, it is free! (More about this below.)
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Yes, Pinterest is full of its images that others have pinned already. Look around and explore all that Pinterest has to offer, but, do not be afraid to add your own pins or photos onto Pinterest. You can pin directly from other websites like wedding blogs (like Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Junebug Weddings and so many more) or big wedding websites (like The Knot, Wedding Wire, Brides and more).
On most websites, if you hover over to image or scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a "pin it" or social share button to make it easy for you to add your image onto your Pinterest board.
When you rely only on the pins already on Pinterest, you are limiting yourself to what someone else has pinned or uploaded to Pinterest. Because of the algorithm on Pinterest, it can be hard to find just exactly what you are looking for. This is why looking outside of Pinterest for inspiration can be easier and more effective for you.
In addition to wedding blogs and websites, you can also pin from Instagram (use hashtags such as #weddinginspo, #thedailywedding, #weddingplanning to explore more ideas). You can also pin from a Google image search, and pin from your own wedding vendor's websites or the vendors in your local area.
For example, look for pins to save from your photographer's website so he or she knows what you like and don't like. A Pinterest board full of the different images and set ups that you know you want from your wedding day will be really helpful for your photographer.
Another example is to use Pinterest to design your wedding location. If you have booked your wedding venue already, you can look at your venue's website (or if their website isn't great, just Google search the name of your venue) and pin the images that you like (or don't like!) onto a wedding venue decor board. You'll be able to see exactly the different set ups from other couples before you – such as where the wedding cake could go, or where you want to have your ceremony – that are possible at your exact venue. You'll want to save onto a Pinterest board the ideas from your venue that you love and want to recreate for your wedding. The best is these are probably real ideas from real couples, so you know it is possible!
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Separate Boards For Separate Ideas
You might need to create separate, more individual boards, for each of your different wedding vendors or planning categories. These individual boards will help you get really specific about an idea or topic that might be confusing or too detailed for your master wedding board.
For example, you'll want to share your master wedding board with your invitation designer, so that he or she can fully understand the look and feel of your entire wedding day. But, you'll also want to create a separate wedding paper goods board that includes specific pins for all of your printed items such as wedding invitation designs, whole invitation suites, paper styles, envelope liners, cocktail napkins, ceremony programs, wedding save the dates invitations, wedding invitation advice and infographics, escort cards and display ideas, rehearsal dinner invitations, calligraphy styles, stamps and so much more!
A board on just paper goods and printed materials could easily be 10-20 photos, which is about all that you want on your main master wedding board. (See above.) By creating a separate individual board, you can get deeper into a wedding planning topic without cluttering your master board.
On these separate boards, you can re-pin (or save) pins from your master wedding board, and as well as add additional wedding related pins. Be sure to include things that you like, as well as things that you don't like.
You could create separate, more specific wedding boards for:
Photo Credit: Michelle Lindsay Photography
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
You will want to create a separate board just for the wedding day fashion. Even if you don't create individual separate boards like I described above, and you stick with one master wedding planning board, you should seriously consider creating a board just for the fashion only.
The fashion is a big part of the wedding day and it deserves its own board! Plus, fashion is so different from everything else related to wedding planning and it can get confusing really fast with it all mixed together in on board.
You can create a fashion board just for yourself and your wedding fashion, and then put all of the other fashion (bridesmaids, groomsmen, groom etc.) onto a separate board. (This is what I'd do!) Or, you can just have one master fashion board and put all of the wedding fashion onto one board.
On your wedding fashion board, be sure to pin fashion advice pins and infographics that have information about when to order your wedding dress. And, what you need to have for your dress fitting and when to order your bridesmaids dresses. If you need help with what to order when for your wedding, be sure to get a copy of my free The Ultimate Bridal Fashion Timeline.This timeline will tell you everything you need to know so there are not regrets and you won't feel like you are missing out on anything for your wedding.
Be sure to pin plenty of wedding dress and bridal gown ideas, veils, headpieces, earrings, necklaces bracelets, hair styles, makeup options, outfits for the morning of the wedding, shoes and rehearsal dinner outfit ideas for yourself and more.
In addition to what you'll wear, you might also be responsible for pulling together the looks for others in your wedding, such as your bridesmaids and/or partner. Make sure to pin plenty of bridesmaid dress ideas, shoes, bridesmaid jewelry, hairstyles, makeup ideas, gift ideas for your bridesmaids, suit ideas for the groom and groomsmen, and so much more.
Now do you understand why you need a separate board just for the wedding fashion!?
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
On Pinterest, you have the option of making boards "secret," or hiding them from public view. This means that only you and those that you share the board with will be able to see it. You can pin as much as you want to a secret board, just as you would to a regular board, however the only difference is board isn't visible on your profile or to anyone else. The board will have a little padlock in the upper right corner to indicate it is a secret board that only you can see.
You have the option to make the board secret right away when you create it, or you can edit the board after you've pinned to it to make it a secret board. All of your secret boards are listed below your regular boards in your profile, so you might need to scroll down to find them depending on how many boards you have in your profile!
You can make all of you wedding planning boards secret, if you don't want any of your wedding guests or friends to get a sneak peak of your big day. The more secret boards you have the less annoying you'll be to your friends! Plus, you won't have to endure their opinions and ideas about every little thing that you pin.
Even if your boards are marked secret, you can still share them individually with your wedding vendors or your bridesmaids, if you choose.
Regardless of what you decide to do with your master and individual wedding boards, I highly suggest that you keep your wedding fashion board secret. A bride's fashion choices are so personal and the last thing that you need is all of the opinions. Plus it is always such a big surprise to "wow" your guests and your partner with that first look of the bride!
You want to leave a little for your guests to be surprised about at your wedding, so consider keeping all of your wedding planning boards and especially your wedding fashion board(s) secret!
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Oh the inspiration on Pinterest! The flowers! The decor! The food! The cakes! And the dresses, have you seen the dresses!? As you know and have seen, there are truly incredible wedding ideas and inspiration on Pinterest. Some of the most beautiful and most inspirational images on Pinterest are wedding related.
But, before you go any farther in this Pinterest wedding planning journey: Keep in mind, research on Pinterest is free. Making the pictures on Pinterest come to life on your wedding day, is not free.
My biggest piece of advice – if you remember nothing at all from this post – is that what is on Pinterest is inspiration. Period. It is meant to be inspiration and more often than not, it is meant to be aspirational. And, frankly, some of it is downright absurd, i.e. not possible in your area and on a realistic wedding budget.
For example, if you are getting married in Washington, DC in November, but you are constantly inspired by outdoor weddings in California and those are the images that you are pinning, you need to know your Pinterest inspiration might not be possible for your wedding. Those same flowers that you keep pinning might not be available in the fall in DC like they are in California, and getting married outside is not always an option in the fall in DC like it is in southern California where the weather is sunny and more predictable.
Additionally, many of the photos on Pinterest are from editorial or "styled" photo shoot sessions. They are not from real weddings. In these photo sessions, wedding industry professionals create small scale ideas designed to inspire you. Maybe they take just a few pieces of furniture out to a field to create the most gorgeous sunset wedding reception table for two that you've ever seen in your whole life.
But, the truth is that the cost of pulling the same thing off for your wedding (even if it is just 50 people or less) would be astronomical. From those ultra lush floral arrangements on the unique reception tables perfectly styled on the edge of a cliff, to the mismatched colored stemware and gold crusted flatware, to the bride's attire and her never-been-walked-in designer shoes, the ideas and inspiration found on Pinterest are not always scalable and replicable at a real wedding in the real world on a real budget.
Before you get your heart set on a specific bridal bouquet that costs thousands of dollars to make in your area with those particular flowers in that season, or the most perfect a wedding cake with 20 tiers decorated with 100's of ornate hand painted sugar flowers, just remember that what is on Pinterest is meant to inspire and isn't always possible for your wedding or any wedding.
I'm so sorry to burst your bubble and be so brutal. However, as I tell you how amazing Pinterest can be for helping to plan your wedding, I also need to be honest with you about the reality of Pinterest. The last thing I want is for you to feel sad or let down when you take one of these incredible and over-the-top images that you found on Pinterest into to your wedding florist and when they give you the price tag you can't figure out why. So much of what is on Pinterest is meant to give you ideas and it isn't always possible.
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
And, while I'm keeping it real about the images on Pinterest, I also need to be real with you about the DIY projects that you find on Pinterest. Whether it is a blog post full of wedding advice or a sample timeline, or instructions for a DIY project for your wedding, you'll find lots of infographics on Pinterest for helping to plan your wedding. Many will have "creative" titles and headlines that make it all seem to easy.
You want to save these wedding advice posts and DIY projects, if you are the crafty type, but just be skeptical. Not all wedding advice out there is accurate is applicable to your wedding day.
For example, maybe it is a post about the cost of wedding flowers, but the person who wrote it lives in New Mexico, and you are getting married in New York City. The prices and available flowers will be completely unique to each wedding in each different location. Use the wedding planning advice that you find on Pinterest as as a starting point in your research process. The wedding vendors in your area will know best and can give you the most accurate information about the costs and realities of planning a wedding in your area.
The same is true for DIY wedding projects. The projects that you find on Pinterest may look amazing and so simple, because who wants to see a horrible photo with a project gone all wrong?!
This isn't a post about DIY projects for your wedding, so I won't go too deep into this subject. Just know that not all DIY projects are as simple as they look on Pinterest.
I'll leave you with a few pieces of advice when it comes to DIY projects for your wedding:
Photo Credit: Michelle Lindsay Photography
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
Once you made a choice for your wedding, shut down the inspiration. For example, after you purchase a wedding dress or have a meeting with your wedding florist to discuss the details of your wedding flowers, you have to stop with the inspiration and get yourself off of Pinterest. (If you have any hard copy bridal magazines, recycle those and get them out of your mind!)
I'm not saying delete your Pinterest app and all of the wedding boards that you've created, but just know that you can't keep looking at wedding inspiration once you've made choices. And, you certainly can't keep looking once you've put any money towards a choice, like having your bridesmaids put a deposit down on their dresses.
More inspiration is just more inspiration and it isn't helpful. Inspiration after you've made a choice will cause you to second guess everything you've done. Also, it causes stress and costs more money!
Adding little DIY projects on as your wedding gets closer will just add stress as you are trying to cram it all in. When you start purchasings things too close to your wedding or changing things, it is always more expensive.
Furthermore, changes after you've booked or at the last minute will end up costing you more money. If you've already purchased your wedding dress, but then you find another one that you like better, it will cost you a lot more money to have that dress rush made for you, and the cost of returning the first dress will add up.
Take your time, do your research. But, once you've made your choices, shut down the wedding inspiration so you don't second guess yourself.
Be sure to download the Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet!
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OK, we've come to the end. Phew! Did you make it this far in my ultimate insider guide to using Pinterest to plan your wedding!? This was a doozy of a post, but I hope that you found this helpful in your wedding planning journey. Pinterest is an amazing tool that you can use to help plan your wedding – if you know what you are doing and you avoid getting lost in the depths of Pinterest!
If you haven't already, be sure to get your free copy of my Pinterest Wedding Planning Cheat Sheet.
Remember, you can shop my wedding garter collection anytime or get in touch with via email at info@thegartergirl.com about a bridal garter heirloom you'll love forever!
