Creative and Fun Wedding Ideas Made Simple Creative and Fun Wedding Ideas Made Simple
Among the many buzzwords you’ve surely heard while planning your wedding is the term: inspiration board. This is actually a very helpful tool to allow you to bring your chosen wedding look to life, by first experimenting with color palettes, ceremony and reception elements, florals, materials and more in a purely digital format! In this post, we present the great advantages as well as the possible disadvantages of using inspiration boards—just so you aren’t caught by surprise! Plus we proudly showcase a selection of our own Bellenza-curated boards as examples.
What is an Inspiration Board?
Simply put, an inspiration board is a digital collage of images bringing together key elements of a wedding look to simulate the desired overall effect. It is also sometimes referred to as a “mood board.”
The images may range from the attire and accessories of the bride, groom and bridal party; the invitations, venue, ceremony decorations, reception tablescapes and centerpieces; to food and drinks, and wedding favors. These are digital photos usually found on wedding blogs, online magazines, vendor sites, online wedding shops, and digital “scrapbooking” sites such as Pinterest, Bloglovin’ and Tumblr. If desired, these elements can be divided into “sub boards” for bridal party styling, for ceremony elements, and for reception decor—but all relating to the intended look.
What are the Pros & Cons of Using One?
PROS
- An inspiration board is a great visual representation of all the wedding elements brought together—from the invitations, gown, bouquet and rings, to the cake, tablescape, florals and venue.
- It allows you to try out a decorating look, a color palette, a style or a trend without having to spend on anything yet.
- It is a handy communication tool when discussing the overall style of the wedding—with your planner, florist, cake designer, even with one another!
- It can show if certain elements don’t coordinate well in terms of color, style or materials and you can readily replace them.
- It can convey a particular wedding style more easily than with just words alone.
- It is great for presenting the look and feel of a desired season or a unique, offbeat theme.
- It can be easily shared with others via email and social media.
CONS
- An inspiration board may not accurately represent your expectations of the wedding look, style or theme you have in mind.
- The elements you include may be unrealistic in terms of your actual wedding budget.
- The board may become overly cluttered with unnecessary details.
- You may get stuck continually creating boards, rather than making decisions.
- Elements that look fabulous on the board may be difficult to source, too costly or not “you.”
- A poorly put-together board may cause you to miss out on a potentially great wedding look or theme. (Hint: Ask for help from someone with even basic digital graphic skills.)
- You may become fixated with how things look on the board, making you stress out over changes that may need to be made in the actual wedding.
Why Use an Inspiration Board?
Given the pros and cons above, inspiration boards actually can serve several helpful purposes as you try to concretize your vision for your wedding. We present just 8 of these purposes below. You’ll probably have more of your own!
Purpose #1: To recreate your dream setting
An inspiration board allows you to pull together elements to see if the wedding ambiance you have in mind is doable.
Sample board: Rustic Luxe Winter Wedding: Let It Snow!
Purpose #2: To see if styles can be combined
You may be curious if 2 or 3 wedding styles will actually complement one another. An inspiration board will help you try this out.
Sample board: Grey Winter Wedding: Eclectic Details in a Marriage of Styles
Purpose #3: To apply a color trend to your chosen theme
You may love a color combination, but might be wondering how it will go with your theme. You could create a couple or more boards to apply the palette using varied elements.
Sample board: Styling Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue for Your Wedding
Purpose #4: To preview decorative materials and florals
Even specific materials can be the focus of your board. Thinking of a certain fabric (silk, burlap, lace)? Have a favorite flower (peony, dahlia, lavender)? Try these out using photos!
Sample board: Romantic Lavender and Lace Inspired Wedding Ideas
Purpose #5: To bring a favorite theme to life
Is there a song, place, or memory that must have a place at your wedding? Use a board to explore what elements will capture it best.
Sample board: All You Need is Love: Style a Sweet Retro Wedding Around This Theme!
Purpose #6: To update a traditional season-based wedding
Each season has a traditional “look” to it. If you’re hoping to give your seasonal wedding a unique style twist, update it via your inspiration board.
Sample board: Copper + Wheat in a Chic Industrial Thanksgiving Wedding
Purpose #7: To see if a look is “you”
Your wedding day might be your chance to explore a new side of you as a couple. Test it out first on a board and see if you love it!
Sample board: A Fall Wedding in Gold: Utterly Sophisticated with a Vintage Style
Purpose #8: To experiment with something unusual
If you’d like to try something unexpected, surprising or offbeat for your wedding, an inspiration board is a safe (and no-cost!) way to play around with the concept first.
Sample board: Go for Riverside Blue! A Fall Wedding Palette in Relaxing, Natural Hues
Apps that Help You Make Inspiration Boards
Ready to construct your own inspiration board? There are a number of ways to create a collage of elements for constructing an inspiration board. We use a software app called Adobe Photoshop for desktops, but you can also find readily available apps that you can use on your smart devices like iPads. As examples from the iTunes store:
If you’ve made an inspiration board of your own, we’d love to see it! Please send it to our editors at bellenzabistro[at]gmail[dot]com.