DIY Day - Inspiration Boards

First off, I would just like to share that one year from today is my wedding day!! :-) YAY!!!  Mind you, thanks to Leap Year next year, it is still technically 366 days away... BUT... its also technically one year from today!!! My excitement is ridiculous... and although I hope it doesn't go too fast... i hope it goes fast!! hehe

So today is a Do It Yourself day... and I want to take it in a different direction than a specific craft... I want to discuss Inspiration Boards!  I had never heard of one for weddings, but I think its a neat idea, and basically makes sense.  When you're a bride and you are trying to figure out what kind of theme or schema or even just a general feeling you want your day to have, its easy to get caught up in the details.  Sometimes you see something and love it, but weeks or months later can not remember where you saw it.  (hence, in part, the reason for this blog!  Think of it as a LARGE inspiration board!)

Now there are many ways you can do an inspiration board... I personally have about 3 forms... as I mentioned above, the blog... I also have a binder of folders separated in categories to keep everything organized... and I used the Project Wedding Inspiration Board tool.  Now, I am overly organized and OCD when it comes to planning this big day, so you might only need one thing to help you get going.

So back to inspiration boards.  I do enjoy the Project Wedding tool the most.  I was able to find A LOT of pictures on there that got me riffing, and the tool was super easy to use... but Wedding Wire has a tool, and so does The Knot.

In my opinion, the Wedding Wire tool was very good because you could see larger sizes of the thumbnail when you mouse over it, you can upload your own photos (as with Project Wedding), and you change the size of the picture when you place them in their boxes.   The Knot does not have that resize feature, so if the picture doesn't match the size of the box you fit it into, it doesn't resize and comes out looking distorted.  Its also hard to see the detail of the little thumbnails.

Here is my inspiration board that I made on Project Wedding...

One of the best parts is that you can filter by color and by category (dress, cake, invites, etc.).

What's great is, these sites make it easy to share your inspiration board, which means, if you don't feel "crafty" enough to make your own, are strapped for time, or don't want to sift through thousands of little pictures, you can do a google search and look through other's inspiration boards.  If nothing else you may see a cake or a floral arrangement that you just have to show your florist or baker.  References are always good, so you really can't go wrong.  Here are a few boards that I just plucked from Google images when I did a search on "green and purple wedding inspiration boards".

This one was in someones Flikr account...

This purple inspiration is from http://weddingwarehouse.us/

And this Green and Purple combo is from Ecopolitan Bride

I think you get the point.  The best way to DIY your wedding, is to make sure you know what you want and are able to show your vendors what you need.  Unless you know how to sew 7 bridesmaids dresses, or plan on making your own 5 tiered wedding cake, you can't Do It ALL Yourself!!!  So make sure Yourself does a good job planning!!

Know what you want, and I guarantee you will Live Happily Ever After!
Your Bizzy Bride (who gets married in A YEAR!!!!)
 :-)