Pinterest - When to start and when to stop

If only Pinterest had been around when I got married, I would have had the biggest DIY wedding known to man. My bridesmaids would have been in sequence gowns, my tables would have been set with mismatched vintage china, the ceremony would have easy going seating instructions and the whole wedding would have been a shabby chic garden dream! I did, however, have a little DIY going on in my wedding (noted in the picture above). This is a candy table that my, at the time fiance, and I created. He played baseball his entire life and the game was such a big part of who he is, so we wanted to incorporate that into our wedding. So with some plywood, spray paint and some craft supplies, we created this baseball stadium as the base of our candy table. I loved how this turned out!

Only if Pinterest had been around then....but on the other hand, I am somewhat thankful that it wasn't and kind of feel bad for the brides now-a-days because there is so much to look at and to envision for their big day, it can be completely overwhelming! One of my requirements when I book a new wedding is to take down their Pinterest username so I can search their wedding boards to get a full understanding of their wedding vision. Usually when I do look at their boards, its a never ending scroll of the most beautiful ideas, the tiniest bit of details and mostly the same idea, pinned numerous times, but in different fashions. It's great, at first, to see what they love and what is most important to them. Then, once we have a design meeting, that's when it is fun to start putting all of these ideas in the works.

A suggestion that I have: walk through the entire day in your mind...from the first thing the guests see when they walk up, all the way to the exit of the bride and groom...what do you want your guest to see? For example; when the guest walk into the ceremony location (whether it be outside or in a church), you want them to see: a Welcome Sign on a beautiful gold framed mirror, an unplugged ceremony sign, a wedding hashtag sign, a wire basket with your wedding programs, a guest book (canvas style) on a large metal easel with a garland of eucalyptus cascading over the top of the canvas - and everything surrounded by candle light and small pods of babiesbreath in mason jars. So, now that you have your vision, start a Word document named "ceremony entry" and cut and paste all of these things that you have seen on Pinterest onto this word document. Not only will this help to gather all of your design ideas into each area, you know have your vision and can stop scrolling through Pinterest for more and more ideas. I would then suggest going back through Pinterest and deleting the things that you are not using....this will help get rid of that overwhelming feeling of so much to look at and so much DIY to do.

I love it when my brides put together these documents, it helps me know what is needed for each design space as well as how to decorate for each area (which is one of my most favorite thing to do).

So, stay organized, love Pinterest and then get off Pinterest!