Let’s be real, the first thing that comes to mind when you start wedding planning isn’t budgets, spreadsheets, and seating charts – it’s the style and vibe of your day. And for most couples, that desired vibe influences all other planning decisions, from vendor choices right down to the guest count.
As you start developing a vision for your wedding day, we understand how difficult it can be to narrow down all the many ideas— and that’s where a wedding inspiration board comes in! Vision boards are a helpful way to organize your thoughts and nail down the details of your big day alongside your wedding planner without ever feeling overwhelmed.
To help you pull all of your wedding design ideas together, we’ve partnered again with our friends over at Zola to share their tips and free templates which we highly recommend utilizing when making your digital vision board.
What is a Wedding Inspiration Board?
Also known as a mood board or vision board, a wedding inspiration board is a visual tool you can use to help organize your ideas and zero in on how you want your wedding to look or feel. It’s a curated collection of images, colors, or textiles either in digital form, like Pinterest, or physical forms, like a cork board or poster board.
Why Do You Need an Inspiration Board?
The more time you spend on Pinterest, the more ideas you have, and the more you can start to feel overwhelmed. Creating a vision board will help you make decisions regarding planning and decor. It also gives you a tangible way to communicate your vision to your wedding vendors and make sure everything will be cohesive.
How to Create an Inspiration Board
To make sure your inspiration board doesn’t turn into a mod podge of contrasting ideas, you’ll first want to do a little planning. Think about your wedding goals and what’s most important to you. Do you want an intimate affair with romantic details or fun, statement-making decor? Keep your distinct vision in mind and choose items that help you build that picture.
1. Determine Your Goals
Sit down with your partner and figure out some basics like what season you want to get married in, venue ideas, and colors. Then dive into the more personal details like how you want your day to flow, what things make you happy, or what specific details you’d like to include.
2. Pull Inspiration
The easiest way to start gathering inspiration is obviously with the OG of inspo boards – Pinterest. But don’t be afraid to take it offline and use inspiration from your surroundings too. You can find quotes, images, products, etc. in a variety of places, like:
- LIKEtoKNOW.it
- Wedding Websites (Zola, Brides, Junebug Weddings, Green Wedding Shoes, The Knot, etc.)
- Blogs
- Magazines, newspapers, catalogs
- Fabric
- Flower and nature
- Clothing
3. Curate Your Images
Now that you’ve upped your average screen time to 30 hours per day (thanks global pandemic! ) it’s time to stop scrolling and start refining your vision. You’ll want to narrow down your collection of images and select only those that truly represent your style. Try to keep it under 10 images and make sure there’s variety – you don’t want to have 10 pics of the same thing.
4. Start Creating
The final step is to put everything together! If the majority of your ideas are cutouts from magazines or printed from the web, a traditional format might be best for your vision board. Conversely, if you’re a tech gal and all of your ideas are saved on your desktop, a digital board might make more sense.
Types of Inspiration Boards
The best type of inspiration board is the one you’ll actually use. So while an oversized board on your bedroom wall might look pretty, you can’t exactly haul it with you to all your vendor meetings. (… or can you? Please, someone, show up to our next meeting with a giant corkboard. )
Regardless if you decide to use a digital mood board or a physical one, just make sure it’s easy to refer back to. Below are a few formats that will help guide your vision board creation.
Traditional Inspiration Boards
A collage of cutouts from magazines pasted on a poster board (or pinned on a giant corkboard ) is probably what you picture when you hear the words “vision board” or “mood board.” This traditional format is popular for a reason: the process of putting together all your ideas and looking at physical representations of your dress, florals, and decor in one place can help you envision not just what your wedding will look like, but how it will feel.
To create a traditional vision board, choose a poster board or other type of canvas, and attach your inspiration. Zola has created a handful of quotes that you can download and add to your board to jazz it up and keep you inspired.
Pinterest Vision Boards
If you’re a Pinterest lover like us, you probably already have a board for every aspect of your life. While the endless inspiration for cakes, decor, dresses, etc can be super helpful in discovering your wedding theme, it can also be information overload!
To help better create carefully curated, thoughtful Pinterest vision boards, use Zola’s downloadable checklist to guide your thoughts. We recommend creating a new, secret board and getting specific by creating sections for each aspect of your big day (food, dress, tablescapes, etc.)
Digital Inspiration Boards
Finally, the last type of vision board you can consider is a digital board. The benefit of this format is the flexibility. You can keep your boards on your phone, computer, or even print them out. To create a digital vision board, choose an application or program that supports your goals. Some of our favorites include:
- Google Jamboard
- PicMonkey
- Canva
- MindMovies
- Visuapp
- iWish
Once you select the best program for your vision board, upload images of quotes, products, colors, and other inspiration to build your vision for your big day.
How to Best Use your Inspiration Board
Okay, so you’ve made your vision board, and you’ve placed it in a spot that you see every day. Now how do you make sure you actually stick to these visions when the planning begins? Here are some final tips:
- Refer back to it while wedding planning to remind yourself which ideas you want to focus on. This will keep your vision and goals top of mind as you make decisions.
- Give a copy to each of your vendors so they can better understand your vision and ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Be realistic with your expectations and remember that your vision board serves as the inspiration for your big day and not an exact replica.
Between communicating your ideas to your coordinator and sharing your vision with your florist, an inspiration board plays an important part in establishing your wedding style and vibe. Use these free tips and tools from Zola to create an inspo board that will bring your wedding visions to life!
Thanks to Zola for partnering on today’s post.
