Pinterest? Not my friend? How can this be! I’m not trying to be harsh with the Pinterest lovers (I’m one myself) but when it comes to weddings, it is not necessarily your best friend. Many budding brides that search on Pinterest are still in that new first excitement phase right at the beginning of their engagement. And Pinterest is a great place to start when you’re searching for ideas or trying to get a general feel for the kind of wedding you want to have. Unfortunately, Pinterest can often give an unrealistic expectation of what your wedding should look like without enough information about the massive time or cost it will take. I have been in the bridal industry for a couple of years now and I have noticed that when I ask a bride what she is looking for the first thing that comes out of her mouth is “Well, I saw this on Pinterest and I fell in love with it”.
I don’t want you to view this blog post as me bashing on Pinterest, but more of an educational experience on what can actually help you plan your wedding. Pinterest i
s the perfect place to get ideas and to begin your planning. But remember it cannot tell you exactly the time and money it took to create a beautiful masterpiece like this candlelit ceremony isle. Here’s where I say it’s not your friend. I’ve experienced many brides who are so incredibly disappointed when the reality of the cost of this idea that they had their heart set on rules it right out of the picture. If you use Pinterest as a starting point and then move forward with actual pricing research, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and potential disappointment.
And get help along the way as much as you can! If it is in your budget, hire a Wedding Planner. They can become your best friend because they too have loads of ideas of great ways to make your wedding special. But, unlike Pinterest, they have connections to professionals that can make those ideas a reality and hopefully pricing information to keep you from turning down a path that’s just not in your budget. It is also a good idea to take your online research past Pinterest and into wedding sites where you can read reviews and articles about previous weddings and what worked and didn’t work for those brides.
When it comes time to choose your food, bring those ideas with you to your caterer. But remember to trust us when it comes to letting us advise you on how they will work. We really want to hel
p you and we know what the limitations are for certain items. And sometimes those cute simple things you find online require a lot of labor which unfortunately will cost you more money. We can advise you on what those things are so you can decide what’s worth paying for and what’s not. Trust us, we spend our time on Pinterest too. It’s filled with cute, trendy things that we wouldn’t want to miss out on. But our years of experience have given us a better understanding of what can be recreated within your budget and requests.
Once again, this isn’t a bashing blog on Pinterest. It is exciting getting married and I don’t want to discourage you with what you want to eat or decorate or even wear. Search on Pinterest to your hearts content, just be aware of what can actually be recreated and how much time and money it will take. If you follow that path, you might actually find Pinterest can be your friend after all.
