Tag: inspiration

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The top 7 wedding planning apps to help you plan your wedding

to do list wedding planning

Planning a wedding is a time-consuming, detail-oriented and labor-intensive task. It is no wonder that many brides burn out from exhaustion even while they are just half-way through wedding planning. Once you begin the planning process, you will quickly find yourself running through pages of lists, spreadsheets and sticky notes, that it will soon be almost impractical to keep up with all the paper clutter that builds up.

Fortunately, in this day and age of technology, there are many solutions to streamline our work and make life a lot easier. Here is why you should consider taking the digital route for your wedding planning.

  • It saves you time, energy and resources
  • By compiling all your information into digital apps, you can access it anytime and anywhere
  • It is the practical approach to collate all the ideas and inspiration that you come across
  • Sorting, organizing and eliminating are all much easier when aided by technology
  • Lost paper documents, receipts and communication will be a thing of the past once you handle all correspondence digitally
  • You will have all your information in one place, making it easy to handle, transport and check at any time you desire
  • Digital apps are the best tools for a bride who isn’t naturally organized, as there is a naturally organized format to it, thus making things much easier for you

Now, here is the biggest bonus of planning your wedding with the aid of technology: it leaves you plenty of much-deserved time to spend with your partner, rather than poring over and sorting through acres of paper clutter. Isn’t that an important facet of your engagement? Choose the digital route and time will cease being a luxury that you cannot afford.

Here is our pick of the best apps that will assist you with your wedding planning, and make everything you dreaded a lot easier and organized. These carefully chosen list is your best bet at easing your wedding planning, especially if you are doing it all by yourself.

1.CARROT

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The to-do list with a personality, CARROT is a fun way of keeping track and making sure that every list to handle is completed on time. Not all of us are naturally inclined to stick to the tasks we assign ourselves. This is where CARROT is a wonderful task master, as it motivates us to finish off our tasks by rewarding us for each completed task. The catch here, is that there are consequences to face, if we delay or postpone things on the list.

To start using it, you simply download the app on your iPhone or android. Create your list containing all the tasks to be handled, and set your time to complete each task. As you complete each task, you simply take it off the list. As you do this CARROT will award you a certain number of points. You can add anything and everything on to your list at any point of time, and get on with finishing it one after the other. Now, if you fail to complete a task on time, CARROT will not only remind you of what is due, it will also penalize you for being lazy. I suggest that you take a quick look at this video to get an idea of how this app can help you plan your simple and complex tasks through this simple digital to-do list maker.

2.Evernote

When you digitize all the data you want for your wedding, it is essential that to keep it organized and stored in one location. Leaving all your wedding planning information floating around isn’t really a good idea, as it is no different from letting papers from your wedding folder fly around. This is where the digital app Evernote can be very useful.

Evernote was created with the idea to capture “experiences” digitally. Remember that you will have to handle different types of digital media when planning a wedding. You will be using pictures for inspiration, drawing up documents, making lists, creating notes and looking at samples. Rather than saving each of these in different folders on your computer and then shoveling through the lot when the need arises, it is practical and easy to save them all in a single location using Evernote. Since this is a cloud based system, you can access your stored information from anywhere. You also have the advantage of syncing it to all your digital devices, so that the information is accessible from any place and at any time, irrespective of the device on which it is recorded. Take a look at this video to find out how you can make use of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjn6YkCY2yA

3.Hitched Wedding Planner

This wedding application is pre-loaded with almost 49 wedding planning tasks, that will help you jump start your wedding planning process. The included tasks are placed in chronological sequence, so you have a general idea of what task should ideally follow another. This will allow you to set up your planning time-line easily, and make sure that you do what you should, on time.

Although there is an original task list, it can be completely customized to suit your specific needs. So, you can erase any of the points that you do not want to adhere to, and also add specific tasks that are unique to your wedding. So, if you are on the lookout for a single app to help you remember all your wedding planning tasks, and remind you of when to do each of them, the Hitched wedding planner is what you should turn to. There is also a budget tracker that will help you form a general idea of how to divide your budget and how much money should go into what aspect. If you have no idea of where to begin with your budget planning, you can just type in the total amount and it will give you suggestions or estimates of what should go where. This will help you plan the rest.

4.Awesome Note

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Once you have a wedding date in mind, you will be shopping a lot! So, you will need many shopping lists to cover all the big and small things you need for your wedding. One of our favorite shopping lists for wedding planning is Awesome Note. Although this app has various other features as well, it’s practical and fun shopping lists are the best feature.

One important feature that sets the shopping lists on Awesome Note apart is that you can tag the items on your lists. So, you needn’t go into each list and update it every time. You can simply tag an item, say roses to rehearsal dinner and lilies to wedding, and it is automatically sorted into the list where it belongs. You can also add multiple tags to a single item, and search out all the items that have been tagged to a particular shopping destination, when you finally go shopping. It also allows you to attach photos or notes to each item, so you can remember what you intended while adding this item to the list. This will also allow you to share clear information and instructions if you are delegating the shopping to someone else. You can download this app from the iTunes store by clicking hereand start using it right away.

5.Appy Couple

Wedding website screenshot

Image Credits: D.Hayes, via Flickr, [CC BY 2.0]

A wedding website is an essential for every couple planning their wedding. It will allow you to share important wedding-related information with the guests, add their registry details, answer questions about the wedding, receive RSVP’s digitally and also share photos and fun messages that add to the excitement of the upcoming wedding day.

While you can register for a website on any domain, it always helps to have one specifically suited for weddings. The Appy Couple is an interactive wedding app and website, that is easy to set up and use. It gives you the choice to select from two practical layout options and hundreds of design choices for your website. You simply have to download it to your mobile or desktop and follow the seven steps in the guided creation feature, to create your wedding website and app. Since you will just have to drag and drop widgets to get your website ready, it is very easy to create and doesn’t call for any technical skills. The chat feature allows your guests to get in touch with you, should they require any immediate information. It makes RSVPs easy for both the guests and the couple who receive them. With simple and easy navigation, even a guest who isn’t familiar with computers can easily locate any information they require.

Check out this short video that will run you through the various features and steps involved in using Appy couple.

6.Wedding Budget

We are talking of big money where weddings are concerned. The expenses will have to be broken up into several parts, accounts kept and updated at every stage, and balances tallied and carried forward for the rest of the planning. It can be quite a task, especially if you aren’t an expert at numbers and accounts.

Wedding budget is one app that can help you stay on top of all your expenses for the big day. Not only do you get to divide up the entire budget into separate sections and keep track of the expenses you incur in each area, it also helps you view every detail at one glance. You can simultaneously list what you have budgeted for a particular aspect, and how much you actually spent on it. This will give you a clear idea of whether you have any funds remaining after spending on the intended aspect, or if you ended up overspending on it. You will also benefit from the added feature of saving the date on which payments are due, so you are notified of it on time and arrange for funds accordingly. You can download it for your handheld devices here.

7.WedPics

smart phone pic

The best way to remember a wedding in the years that come, is through the pictures captured on the day. It will not just be your photographer who will be shooting away on your wedding day. Your guests will also be clicking their cameras at every possible instant, taking selfies, pictures of the two of you and of everything that they find interesting. Make sharing and downloading your photographs easy using the WedPics app. By visiting their website, you can create your own wedding account. Then, invite all your friends and family to join your wedding, and all the pics they take on the day will be saved to the same location. This will make viewing, downloading and sharing much easier. The added benefit is that the pictures can be seen only by those on your list, unless they use a hashtag when saving it. This free app is available for both iPhones and android systems. The app allows you to organize and segregate your photos into different albums according to your preferences. So, you can have separate albums for your bachelorette party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception and honeymoon, and still compile them together in a single location. Find out all that you need to know about using WedPics at your wedding, by visiting their website here.

Now that you know all that you should to plan your stunning wedding digitally, it is time to get started. Visit our online store at Best for Bride for everything you need for your wedding. From wedding dresses to bridesmaids outfits, accessories, décor choices, photography options, wedding cake, party favors and even wedding emergency kits and petal wishes, we have every aspect of your wedding covered. Make your pick from our dream wedding collections from leading design houses, rent your wedding dress and accessories or have your signature bridal gown custom-made by our in-house designers. Join us at Best For Bride and make every one of your wedding day dreams a reality.

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Wedding inspiration boards—a tool that every bride should consider

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.

Image Credit: Brittanymyers13 ,via DeviantArt, [CC BY 3.0]
Image Credit: Brittanymyers13 ,via DeviantArt, [CC BY 3.0]

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.

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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

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Image Credit: Jessekoeckhoven (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

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.

wedding inspiration board SMP

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.

Dessy Bridesmaids Dress 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.

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#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.