Pinterest has served as a blessing and a curse for us throughout the years. It’s a blessing when it inspires us towards beautiful and realistic decor, dresses, and venue ideas. It’s a curse when it leads to unrealistic expectations and too much inspiration! Pinterest can be so helpful for your wedding when you use it correctly!
Larkin Brown, Pinterest User Researcher & Stylist, weighs in on how to use Pinterest properly to plan your wedding.
SMP: What are some do’s and don’ts when using Pinterest as a bride?
LARKIN: By now it’s no secret millions of brides use Pinterest to find and save ideas for their wedding. With more than four billion wedding-related Pins, there’s endless inspiration to help you plan the wedding you want.
One of the first things to do is simply get started by using Pinterest Search. Unlike other search engines, you don’t have to know exactly what you’re looking for to start getting ideas. The most common wedding searches to get started are for “wedding dresses,” “wedding colors” and “wedding decorations.” As you search, do use Search Guides to help narrow your results. For example, if you search “wedding invitations,” you’ll see guides pop up like “DIY,” “elegant,” “rustic” and more–tap them to see more specific ideas.
You don’t have to create dozens of boards for your wedding. Instead, keep all your ideas organized by creating one board with sections for everything from flowers to favors. Do get your groom involved by sending him Pins using Pinterest Messages or our integration with Facebook Messenger. If you don’t want too many cooks in the proverbial kitchen, turn your board to “secret” to keep it hidden from others.
Lastly, once the big day is over, do archive your board. Archiving is one of my favorite new features because it doesn’t delete your Pins (so you can still relive those ideas!), it moves your board to the bottom of your profile to keep your account more organized. And it means you won’t get wedding content recommended to you anymore, you’ll probably be ready for a break.
SMP: I know some brides have found it difficult to bring their vision to life. What’s the best way to use Pinterest when you’re actually wedding planning?
LARKIN: The best thing to do is share your wedding board with your planner and/or vendors (you can even invite them to collaborate and save ideas to your board). If you’re going completely DIY, which many brides are these days, you can share it with select friends and family so they can see your vision and help you bring it to life. Also, when you find a Pin you want to incorporate into your wedding, you can check out photos and tips right on the Pin from other brides who’ve tried it at their wedding. This will help you get a sense of how easy or difficult an idea is to pull off in real life.
Finally, there is tons of inspiration to find in real life, and our Lens camera search tool can help you find related ideas on Pinterest. If you’re out and see a flower you think would make the perfect arrangement, or a dress color you’d love to see your bridesmaids in, you can snap a photo and use it to search on Pinterest. And, if you’re registered at Target, you can even use the power of Pinterest Lens in the registry app to take photos of products you like and find related ones you can register for at Target.
SMP: What methods can brides use to find balance as they bring their dream wedding to life?
LARKIN: I encourage brides not to get too caught up in what they think their wedding should look like, or what other brides are doing. Your wedding day is immensely personal and should be a reflection of you and your partner, and not just a showcase of every hot bridal trend. Personally, when a detail came up that I wasn’t particularly excited to orchestrate, I just cut it.
Welcome bags, programs, matching bridal party outfits, I just said no to them, which kept me sane and I didn’t hear any complaints from my guests. You may have heard that the best way to guarantee your guests having a good time is for the couple to be enjoying themselves, and it’s absolutely true.
SMP: Is it beneficial for a bride to bring her Pinterest board to her wedding dress appointments?
LARKIN: Definitely! And not just for dress appointments either–show your Pins to your florist, your hairstylist, your wedding coordinator–anyone helping you bring your wedding to life. Your board is like a digital vision board, so it will help your vendors and stylists understand your taste and bring you dresses, flowers, and other things that match your personal style.
Just keep in mind, you may not know what you like until you see it on you! My wedding dress board had a major shift after my first dress shopping trip. But that’s part of what’s fun, learning your taste and style around something you’ve likely never shopped for before! And Pinterest was right there for me with a whole new set of ideas as my vision evolved.
Pinterest has revolutionized the way we plan weddings today. When used properly, it’s an excellent tool that will bring your wedding vision to life.
Style Me Pretty Contributor – Kylie Thompson is a freelance writer, blogger and marketing professional from Grand Rapids Michigan, where she resides with her husband. When she isn’t working, you will find her exploring Grand Rapids’ newest culinary establishments with her husband, or traveling up and down Lake Michigan’s coast.
