Pinterest is where dreams come true.

It’s human nature to aspire to marriage. Girls have dreamed about their wedding since they were little girls playing wedding with pillowcases hanging from the back of their heads in their cinderella play-gowns and plastic heels. We all are subconsciously searching for that one whom our soul belongs with. So naturally there’s a reason why Pinterest is one of the top social networks among women. Pinterest is where our dreams come true.

If you are a girl who didn’t make a wedding Pinterest board until after you were engaged, to be honest, I don’t even believe that you exist. I mean, let’s be honest ladies! I don’t have to be psychic to know that there are countless hours in your past that were dedicated to scrolling, swooning, and pinning hundreds of wedding pins to that secret “Dreaming of the Future” wedding board of yours before you were even in a serious relationship. (Well, at least that’s what mine was called…)

Expectations vs. Reality

By the time you actually get that little gold ring on your finger, I bet you’re thinking, “I’ve got this already planned! I know exactly what I want my wedding to be like!” as you start to open that board with years of your life’s blood, sweat, and tears dedicated to it. But, as you’re scrolling, you’re soon to realize that even the countless hours of swooning on Pinterest did not exactly prepare you for all the rigors of planning the actual wedding.

Lucky for you, I’m going to share my sweet secrets on how to most effectively plan your wedding with your wedding Pinterest board.

The Secrets to Planning Your Wedding with Pinterest

Important Conversations

There’s an art to organizing the chaos of a wedding Pinterest board. And, it all starts with a few questions. (Questions you need to discuss with that hunk of yours before you start wedding planning!)

• What kind of wedding do you want to have? How big?
• What is your budget? – It’s good to keep in mind your budget so as you’re prioritizing your wedding day needs you know better how you want to allocate your money.
• What time of year are you wanting to get married? – Although I am the firm believer of the “I do what I want” mentality, there are some trends and ideas that are better for some seasons over others. Not to mention, sticking to ‘in-season’ florals will help you stay on budget.
• What’s your desired theme and color palette? – Having this in mind will only help you narrow down your board further. Not to mention, it will help you focus on the things that would bring the most beauty to your already flawless day.

Once you’ve made these decisions in your mind, it’s time to go to war with your Pinterest board. Either make a new board only for pins that fit the answers you gave above, or clean out your existing one. (We all know you have one already, remember?)

Stick To a Theme and Color Palette

Pinterest is definitely a bittersweet social media platform. While it’s great to have an abundance of ideas and inspiration to swoon over, there are sometimes too many ideas for our own good. A huge part of effectively using Pinterest in the wedding planning process is sticking to a theme and color palette. Not only will it keep your planning more organized, but it will give you less of that overwhelmed and stressed feeling that comes with having too many options. Not to mention, having too many directions to go in with your wedding can lead to an unfocused and poorly designed event.

Create a ‘Look Book’

I took somewhat of an old fashioned approach to wedding planning to avoid being sucked in with the abundance of options that Pinterest had to offer. As if I wasn’t already like Monica from Friends enough with my love for hosting, I also created a wedding planning ‘look book’.  It was organized by page and put in my wedding planning binder. I sifted through bridal magazines and my pins and printed out the ones that reinforced my decisions while organizing them by the following categories:

• Theme + Color Palette (Mood Board)
• Attire
• Signs
• Centerpieces
• Cakes
• Floral
• For the Guests
• Bridal Showers, etc.

Not only did it keep my mind more organized, but it made meeting with vendors extremely easy. They had a visual of what I was thinking as I was able to articulate it all better. We were also able to walk through it together as they gave their professional opinion and advice.

Use Keywords in Searches

One thing that will help keep you sticking to your theme and color palette when using Pinterest is using keywords while searching, especially if you are looking for a specific idea to have a visual for. It’s too easy to fall down the Pinterest rabbit hole that is the general ‘Wedding’ tab if you have no direction. Use keywords that relate to your theme and color palette such as ‘Marsala Wedding Bouquets’, ‘Burgundy Bridesmaids Dresses’, or ‘Rustic Wedding Centerpieces’ to help refine your search and keep you on track.

Do Your Research

With an abundance of information always comes some danger. Unfortunately, there’s not always a way to know how accurate some information is presented to you. It’s important to take some information (such as with budget breakdowns and calculators) with a grain of salt. So much of that can be misleading or not even accurate. It’s important to remember that so much with your wedding is based on your priorities, your location, and your guest count. There’s no cookie cutter way to plan a wedding. Hiring a wedding planner will help you be realistic with planning and keep you on track with your budget.

Read why else you should hire a wedding planner, here.

The Most Important Thing About Planning With Pinterest

If you only take one thing away from this blog post, I hope it’s this. It’s so important to use Pinterest for inspiration only. You shouldn’t scroll through Pinterest with the expectation of wanting an exact replica. Not only is it unrealistic, but you should want a wedding that is as unique as you are. I talked more about this in a previous blog post about What Your Wedding Florist Wishes You Knew. Not to mention, giving your vendors some creative leeway with your inspired design just might land you your own Pinterest worthy wedding. (On budget, too!)

Wedding planning doesn’t have to be stressful if you don’t want it to be. It’s all about finding those little arts of organizing the chaos.