Author: Olga Pomeransky

We love every little thing that makes wedding planning easier, and wedding inspiration boards are right on the top of the list.

With so much going on in wedding dresses, accessories, bridesmaids dresses, color palettes, food, photographs, flowers and décor, it is easy to become overwhelmed and lose focus of what you want at your wedding. This is where wedding inspiration boards come to the rescue; they allow you to create a list of inspiring palettes and themes, compare them and find ones that you like, organize your thoughts and ideas and create a reference for implementing your plans.

Why you need wedding inspiration boards

Here are some of the main reasons why you should consider having wedding inspiration boards

• It allows to collect your thoughts, and get an actual look at how the ideas in your mind will look

• Inspiration boards allow you to compile tons of information, and organize it for ease of access. This allows you to compare different ideas and find the ones you like best.

• It is easier to scan through so much information, and not miss any potential idea, when everything is available in a single location.

• It helps you obtain a picture description of a theme, and gives you a clear idea of how it will look when it is finally done

• Wedding inspiration boards are easy to create. In fact, even the most basic computer user can easily put one together and make their wedding planning much more fun.

• It can be used to share your ideas to your partner or planner easily, as pictures say a lot more than words do.

An advantage of a wedding inspiration board is that it helps with staying focused and overcoming the confusion caused by all that information out there on the internet. You know how it is! You start searching for something, when you see an interesting link and click on it. Few more clicks and several hours later, you will have forgotten what you were originally looking at, though you would have bookmarked several new ideas.

With planning boards, you can pull down inspiring ideas and pictures even as you browse. So, it allows you to capture everything. You can later sort through the information, and find what you want.

What to include in wedding inspiration boards

Wedding planning involves hundreds of big and small details. So, it is only logical to assume that you will have an inspiration board for each of these aspects.

Most brides prefer to have inspiration boards for the following—wedding color palette, invitation card ideas, wedding theme, wedding dress, accessories, bridesmaids dresses, cake, venue and reception décor, table settings, photograph ideas, hair and makeup, groomsmen dress, bouquets and floral arrangements, party favors, centerpieces and table settings and rehearsal dinner planning.

From the most basic inspiration board, to more advanced options

Although the computerized versions are more popular, there are brides who still prefer paper and print. Remember the episode in the popular sitcom “Friends”, where Monica pulls out her neatly compiled wedding inspiration folder, that she had been working on forever? Take a cue from this episode. Whether you are engaged, are already planning a wedding, are in a relationship, or simply expect to be married someday, don’t hesitate to snag an idea that you would love at your wedding. Although you don’t have to be super-organized and perfect about creating a wedding portfolio, like Monica was, it doesn’t hurt to at least set such pictures aside for future reference.

As a bride who’s planning a wedding, you can create your inspiration board on a wall in your room. It can be a pinup board on which you stick ideas, pictures and notes. Glance at it every now and then, and you may find some ideas stick with you.

The simplest computer version you can create, is a folder on your desktop. Why not name it “My ideas” or “Wedding.” Within it, add sub-folders for each aspect—for color palettes, wedding dress and accessories, cakes, party favors, invitation card templates and designs, bridesmaids dresses, etc. Once this is done, save pictures you find into the respective folder and scan through your collection, whenever you want. Remember to continuously eliminate the pictures you no longer require, or you can quickly lose track of where you started and what you were looking for.

Online inspiration boards: Pinterest

The more popular and practical option is to create an online inspiration board. The first tool for this is Pinterest, where you can gather hundreds of ideas from anywhere you want to create your colorful scrapbook of images. There are several existing wedding inspiration boards on Pinterest, from where you can pin pictures you like. Most websites also allow you to add the pictures you find in their blogs and galleries to the mood boards you created.

If you do not already have a Pinterest account, you can register for one in a matter of minutes. Once you have this set up, all you have to do is create as many boards as you want, and give each of them a relevant name. You can, for example, have one called Wedding Dresses, another called Wedding stationery, etc. Now, you are all set to begin pinning.

The good thing about Pinterest is that it allows you to share pictures. You can either share an entire Pinterest board or chosen pictures with a vendor or friend. This makes communication easy and efficient. Your bridesmaids can add pictures they like to your board, so you can all see the various options that appeal to everyone, before making a definite choice.

As you set out doing this, you will slowly see a pattern emerge, and this can guide you towards identifying a theme that works best for you. Pinterest can thus, help a bride who isn’t sure of what she wants for her wedding. By simply pinning all the pictures that you like on the internet, you can quickly identify your preferences and build a theme based on this.

Since Pinterest is available as a mobile app too, you can keep adding to your mood boards, wherever you are browsing from. It is a practical solution, with which you can avoid the hassle of printing pictures.

Apart from Pinterest, there are other sites, specifically directed towards weddings. Let us now take a look at them.

Websites that allow you to build you own Wedding inspiration board

1.Stylemepretty

One of the most popular sites is Stylemepretty. SMP allows you to set up your board, by choosing from various templates they provide.

You can then choose a layout that you like, name your board and begin dragging and dropping pictures onto it.

A good thing about this board builder is that you aren’t limited to pictures on the site. The board also allows you to credit the picture owners, and also share boards with your friends and obtain opinions on your choices.

2.Wedding Wire

Another great option is the Wedding Wire inspiration board builder. Visit this page to get started with your board. The website also allows you to drag and drop your pictures from your desktop or browse through those available in their gallery. You can resize, rotate and rearrange them to create a complete vision of a particular aspect. Create multiple boards for each of your planning criteria, and share it with your friends, wedding planner or bridegroom, who can then provide opinions on it.

3.Dessy Bridesmaids planning app tool

Bridesmaids are a huge part of your wedding, and there are many details you have to plan around them. One of the biggest challenges is choosing bridesmaids dresses. You cannot see all the possible colors that a particular dress is available in, and this can limit your idea of how a particular color looks in a certain design. The Dessy Group has an application that allows you to keep all your bridesmaids tasks, including the dress selection, on track.  You can use this to create a single platform, through which you can communicate everything related to their dress selection, alterations, fittings and more, with your bridesmaids. This tool is very valuable, especially if your bridesmaids dresses are from the Dessy Collection.

Things to remember when setting up and using inspiration boards

While these inspiration or mood boards are a great way to get your wedding planning on track, there are a few things you should remember when choosing this route. Let us look at what they are.

#The Inspiration board is just what it is called—Inspiration!

Remember that you needn’t necessarily have everything you see on your wedding inspiration board. The intent of creating such boards is only to help you build your ideas and carve your unique wedding plans. Do not see this as a shopping list, or be disappointed if some of the ideas you see here cannot be done at your wedding. Instead of despairing, keep looking around. There are many more ideas to explore and it is likely you will find an equally appealing one. Else, work with your vendors to find realistic and available solutions that recreate the same effect of what you see online.

# Remember that elimination is part of the picture

Those pictures can be so dreamy and perfect, you may not want to let go of it. However, the idea of having an inspiration board is to zero-in on what will make it to your wedding. So, you have to eliminate anything that doesn’t serve a purpose. They may be eye-candy, but that doesn’t mean they stay there, unless they are useful. So, be ruthless with eliminating anything that won’t be required or you will end up with more clutter than helpful information.

# You don’t have to get everything in

You can get the idea with as few as 6-9 images. So, don’t clutter up your boards with too many images, and get confused. Start with many, but narrow down choices to those that work, as you progress with your wedding plans. Be selective with options, once you know your preferences. Also, once you have made a choice, stick to it and avoid procrastinating over other attractive options you come across later. Otherwise, looking at pictures can go on forever, and can get you nowhere.

#Use verbal descriptions

Rather than simply saving an image, you should also use text to highlight what attracted you to an image. Otherwise, you may forget why you picked an image, when you look at it after a while. The text will remind you of what aspect specifically appealed to you.

#Have realistic expectations

Not all the pictures you see are from actual weddings. It can be from smaller events or even styled for a shoot. Keep that in mind when you make your wedding plans. Like we said earlier, this should be treated as an idea, and not as an end-all. It is more interesting, when you personalize a given picture with your own ideas, and make it unique. So, let that be your aim.

There are many ready-made wedding inspiration boards on sites like Stylemepretty, Wedding Wire and Martha Stewart. You can use these as a starting point and build on it. Similarly, there are plenty of boards on Pinterest, to draw inspiration from.

Nevertheless, remember that you and your vendors can create fantastic and novel ideas to personalize your wedding without too much inspiration, and this is what everyone at your wedding will actually look forward to. Your inspiration boards should only assist you in finding the various ideas that you can work with to create the final plan.

Now, that you know why a wedding inspiration board is a must-have, why don’t you set one up right away! Don’t forget to keep visiting Best for Bride, for all the ideas you need to plan your wedding right.