Four Steps to Less Stress on Pinterest
We've all been there. Scrolling through hundreds or even thousands of beautifully curated pins and all you can think is, "How am I going to do this?" You can't pick a color, a theme, or a dress. You thought you had settled on a sweet and quaint wedding in a beautifully lit barn with mason jars and cowboy boots until you saw a pinned image of a downtown city loft that boasts exposed brick and antique chandeliers. All of this Pinterest inspiration makes you feel stuck, so you sigh, close your laptop shut and decide to think about it tomorrow.
Pinterest is a treasure trove of inspiration, but without a little strategy, it can turn into a black hole of frustration, overwhelm and decision paralysis. Today, we're going to talk about how to use Pinterest to plan your wedding. If you approach it with intention, you'll have your dream wedding in easy reach.
Before we start, it's important to note there are two ways to use Pinterest: for inspiration and for planning. With inspiration, you pin hundreds, maybe thousands, of images. Anything you think looks beautiful with one swiping glance makes it on the board. You click that bright red "pin" button with abandon. This is the strategy I use for my business. My hope is to inspire you to make your wedding a little more special, not only with my cards but also with pinned images.
Planning, however, requires deliberate action and strategy. Planning means you're willing to study images and make a concrete plan. Planning helps you move past ideas and into action.
So, today, I'll show you four easy steps to plan your wedding:
1. Make boards for each category that are important to you.
If you're struggling with decision paralysis, you'll go crazy making boards for
everything
. Talk with your groom and together, decide what is most important to you both. The dress, the venue, the meal? Make boards based off of those important features.
2. Limit your pins to 5-10.
Yes, and be ruthless. Things don't make it on the board unless you drop dead love them. They made you gasp and maybe even tear up a little. This process may take a few days or weeks. Be OK with pinning images, then looking at them again the next day or week and taking them off if they didn't strike you as hard as before.
3. Include in the comments what you like about each item. Find the common denominators.
After your most loved images are pinned, include in the comments on each image
why
you like it. Is it the color? The textures? The couples' expressions? Be detailed and write as much or little as you'd like. After writing in the comments, review each image. Are there common denominators or themes? If you were struggling over a rustic vs. city theme, ask yourself which images did you pin more? If you're seeing mason jars, bright blue ribbon and outdoor spaces in your images, you probably want a rustic wedding.
4. Take your inspiration off of Pinterest.
Now that you've seen your common themes, make a game plan. How will you incorporate that into your wedding? Pull out a piece of paper and
write it down
.
For example:
Let's say you have a few ideas about your bouquet, but not sure yet what to tell your florist (or order online - no shame!). The first step is to pin a few images to your "bouquet" board. Remember, though, don't go crazy - limit yourself to between 5-10 images.
After you've pinned, go back to your board and comment on each image
why
you like it. As you make notes, you'll see common threads.
For my bouquets, I noticed that I love soft pinks mixed with white and green. A natural and loose arrangement with varying heights is more appealing to me, as well, instead of a tightly pinned bouquet.
If I were ordering flowers, I would now know three important attributes of my bouquet.
Colors: soft pink, white and green
Arrangement: loose with varying heights
Flower types: ranunculus and peonies
And that's it!
Planning a wedding doesn't have to be stressful and Pinterest can be an invaluable tool to make the process a little more smooth and sweet.