Alyssa McClure - June 10, 2015

We live in the Pinterest generation. I don't know about you, but I had a wedding board long before I'd found the one. Pinterest is an incredible resource that helps you plan and organize your thoughts as well as find advice and new ideas. However, this resource is only helpful if you know how to use it. Pinterest gives you so much to process that it can be extremely difficult to figure out what's right for you and your wedding. Let us help you wade through it all!

Clean Out Your Board

If, like me, your Pinterest wedding board dates back longer than you can remember, you need to clean house. Chances are that fifteen year old you had slightly different taste than the you that exists now. Maybe you have dresses that you wouldn't even touch anymore, or maybe you have 500 pins for a Tinkerbell themed wedding. If that's the case, take some time to go through and delete things you don't want anymore. Your Pinterest board can only be helpful as long as the pins in it reflect the wedding you actually want. It will be worth your time to go through and make sure your pins are still relevant to your style. If your style is still Tinkerbell, go for it, but otherwise you need to make some cuts before you get started planning.

Use More than One Board

A single wedding board is perfect before you are engaged. Once you are actually planning, however, it's more useful to separate pins into more specific categories. I can't tell you how much time I've spent waiting for a bride to sift through her wedding board pin by pin to find one thing she wants to show me. Having individual categories will make it so much easier to find what you're looking for. You don't have to go crazy with 100 different boards, but splitting it into four or five will help. I recommend five boards: Apparel, Decorations, Paper (Invitations, menu cards, save the dates, etc.), Activities/Advice, and DIY. Not only will this keep you more organized, it will also make it easier to compare things. If you have four invitation ideas all next to each other on one board, they will be easier to compare side by side than if they are all spread out throughout one giant board.

Pin with Your Budget in Mind

Pinterest can be like a dream world, where fairytale weddings are realities. The problem is that just because something made a perfect Pinterest picture, doesn't mean that you can afford it. Pins all have links, which is perfect for wedding planning. You can often follow them to a page that will give you an idea of their cost or how they were executed. Now, I'm not suggesting that you don't pin any of your dream ideas. I'm just saying try to be a little realistic. If your wedding budget is $10,000, don't pin anything from the Kimye wedding. Trust me, there is no scenario where Andrea Bocelli and three full walls of real flowers fit into your $10,000 budget. Let this pin go. Now, with that in mind, remember that Pinterest is also the land of DIY projects. If you really want a flower wall like Kimye, you can use Pinterest to search for affordable alternatives to expensive concepts. I highly recommend using Pinterest to hunt down less costly options.

Don't Go Pinterest Crazy

Just because you saw it on Pinterest doesn't mean you have to do it. Pinterest is known for being trend setting, but you aren't required to use every trend that exists. If there are a handful of trendy ideas that you love, try to choose just a few of them. If you've seen 1,000 pictures of little kids carrying "Uncle Mike, here comes your girl" signs down the aisle, that's because at least 1,000 other brides have done it. Of course I'm not saying you shouldn't do any wedding trends on your big day, but the more popular Pinterest ideas you use, the less original your wedding will feel. Being trendy is a great thing, but your wedding isn't just about being up to date; it's about being true to who you are as a couple. Keep that in mind as you use Pinterest to make decisions.

Know When to Stop Looking

Just like you need to know when to stop shopping, you need to know when to stop pinning. Don't keep pinning wedding dresses after you've bought one. Don't keep pinning bouquets after your florist has ordered your flowers. Don't keep pinning pictures of tent weddings when you've already booked a hotel ballroom. Once your decisions are made, it's important to stick to them. Cancelling vendors and losing deposits will blow your budget quicker than anything else and will add an enormous amount of unnecessary stress to your planning process. I always hear brides say, "But what if there's something else out there?" Let me go ahead and answer that now: there is. There is always something else out there, but that doesn't mean what you've chosen isn't amazing. Be confident, and don't second guess yourself; once a choice is made, stop shopping, and stop pinning.

Pinterest can make wedding planning so much easier and more efficient, but it can also make things confusing. Following the advice in this blog will help you navigate those deep DIY waters with ease and confidence. And, of course, keep up with the official Bridal Blueprint Pinterest page! We love helping couples simplify their planning experience, and we'll be keeping our Pinterest up to date with ideas and advice you can really use. If you have some more ideas on how to use Pinterest or need some help, send us a Tweet at @bridalbprint, comment below, or find us on Facebook! If you're just getting started, you won't want to miss out on our planning tips and tricks, or our advice on how to find the perfect wedding dress! Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly tips, and always, happy planning!

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