When Diana Newhouse began planning her October 2018 wedding to her now-husband, Jim, the first thing she thought about was color scheme.
“At first, I wanted to do rose gold, because it’s very popular right now,” Newhouse says. “But all my bridesmaids are very fair-skinned, and I realized pretty quickly they would look horrible in that color.”
So, Newhouse says, she turned to Pinterest. Scrolling through wedding boards on the social media site which acts as a virtual bulletin board for craft ideas, recipes, wedding inspiration and more, Newhouse was drawn to a dark burgundy shade.
“The dark bouquets I was seeing on Pinterest really just popped for me,” she says. “Then I looked for a neutral to compliment it. The bridesmaids ended up wearing a color called French Blue; it wasn’t quite grey, and it went perfectly alongside the burgundy I loved.”
Newhouse’s Pinterest boards also inspired her hairstyle on the big day, the wedding cake design, the DIY seating chart she and her husband made using a large mirror, and even the photography. “Anything we wanted to personalize, we looked for on Pinterest like, ‘There’s got to be some crazy person in the world like us,’” she says.
Newhouse’s wedding planner, The Westin’s Lauren Diggins, says at least 70 percent of the brides she works with have Pinterest boards created well before their first meeting. “They share their boards with me, which is great, because it shows me exactly what their vision is,” Diggins says. “But it also helps me reign them in. A lot of my Pinterest brides are DIY brides, and that can get a little out of hand.”
Using your crafting skills to personalize one or two aspects of the décor, Diggins says, will help you put your unique touch on the day. But other things are best left to the professionals.
“It’s your wedding day, you want to be able to enjoy it,” she says. “You don’t want to be stressed out about making all these things and then making sure they’re set up right on the day of. Some brides think DIY will save them money, but it will not. You have to buy all the supplies, plus time is money. You’re going to spend hours and hours creating this aisle runner or these vases; most of the time it’s just not worth it.”
Teresa Johnson, event specialist at the Collingswood Grand Ballroom, shares a similar sentiment with her brides.
“Centerpieces are cool and interesting to DIY, because that’s a personal touch, and when people come and sit down, it’s the thing they’re looking at,” Johnson says. “If you can make those, or maybe make the table numbers, that’s a great touch. But when it comes to place cards or programs, just send it out. Have a pro make those. From the day you get engaged until you walk down the aisle, you’ll be planning every little thing. If you can take something off your plate, do it.”
Social media has changed so much in the wedding industry in recent years, says Diggins. There’s been a significant shift, for instance, in the way couples tend to shop for vendors. Rather than attending conventions and bridal shows, Diggins says her clients are more likely to search for florists, cake decorators, DJs and photographers by scrolling through Instagram.
“Millennials are really driving this shift in the industry,” she explains. “Instagram is huge when it comes to vendor selection. And really, can you blame them? Who wouldn’t want to shop for a vendor from your couch, in your pajamas?”
But, Diggins warns, just because a vendor has a pretty Instagram grid doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your due diligence.
“A large number of followers doesn’t always mean credibility,” she warns. “Make sure they have a website to back it up. You should be able to Google a legit business and see reviews.”
Once you’ve selected vendors, Diggins says, it’s back to Pinterest.
“A Pinterest board can be a great starting point to take to your vendors and show them your inspiration,” she says. “If you go in to meet with your florist and you have no idea what you think you want your flowers to look like, it’s going to be a lot harder on you and on the florist. But if you go in there with at least some ideas, or you can show them some things you like, that makes it more likely you’ll end up with the perfect floral design in the end.”
Newhouse says she shared Pinterest boards with her wedding planner, her florist, her cake designer and her photographer. She put together a shot list in the form of a Pinterest board to help her photographer keep track of the portraits or poses she liked. “I knew I wanted certain ‘artsy’ photos,’” she says.
While the site was largely a helpful resource during Newhouse’s wedding planning, she says she also had to be careful not to fall down the “rabbit hole.”
“Pinterest can be scary,” she says. “I did have a little bit of decision remorse after choosing my colors. I mean, I love these colors. The photos look great in my house because the color scheme even matches my décor. But I’d see these other color schemes on Pinterest and think, ‘I could have gone with that!’ There’s always new stuff, there’s always trendy stuff, and of course, you start to doubt yourself. My husband was really helpful with that. He was always like, ‘Just pick it and stick to it. You made your decision, and it’s a good one.’”
Johnson urges her brides to draw inspiration from Pinterest, but not to let it become a sticking point in their planning. “I like Pinterest because it can give you an endless amount of good ideas,” she says. “But I also want my couples to expand on that and make it their own. You shouldn’t let Pinterest plan your whole wedding, because then it’s not yours anymore; now it’s just the wedding of a bunch of people on Pinterest.”
Most importantly, she says, you have to remember that not everything on Pinterest is as picture-perfect as it seems, and what makes your wedding the best is the fact that it’s yours.
“I’ve had a few brides who want to beat themselves up if their wedding doesn’t look just like the Pinterest board they walked in with a year ago,” Johnson says. “You just calm them down and you say, ‘That was that person’s wedding. This is your wedding, and everyone’s having an amazing time, and it’s beautiful.”’
