The Problems with Pinterest when Wedding Planning
Pinterest is an incredibly helpful tool to help you find inspiration for your wedding day, but there are some unfortunately unhelpful parts of Pinterest that actually bring some more struggles and heartache to your planning journey. There really isn’t that much information out there for couples that are planning their weddings and everyone knows that Pinterest is the main inspiration hub for couples to go when they get engaged or are thinking about planning their wedding. When using Pinterest, there are a lot of elements you need to know about and consider while wedding planning so you don’t end up disappointed with the reality of your wedding day outside of Pinterest.
Expectations > Reality
Pinterest shows you really the best of the best as far as the aesthetics, possibilities, and weddings as a whole. The photos are perfectly edited and the things in the pictures are ensured to really be the best quality there is out there. The problem with this is that when you see what a real wedding might actually look like in person, it might be incredibly underwhelming. The main problem with Pinterest is that the photos that you often come across are weddings or shoots that have unlimited or very large budgets, so when you see what your ideal budget will get you, it’s generally disappointing and requires a lot of downgrades. It’s important to understand that when you see those beautiful Pinterest photos, there is a chance that that may be outside of what you’re looking for unless you’re willing and able to foot some pretty hefty bills.
Styled Shoots that look like Weddings
Another thing that is difficult to discern about posts on Pinterest is that many of the photos you see are not actually weddings. Styled shoots are a very popular way that wedding vendors get to “play” and be creative with their work that you might not be able to do as easily with an actual wedding day. Some of the poses for photos, the floral arrangements, or the rentals are ones that may be drastically different from what is possible on a wedding day. These shoots are focused around getting beautiful photos, so just make sure to be away that sometimes those photos are curated to just be pretty and aren’t as practical.
No Idea on Cost
Because many of the photos on Pinterest are strictly photos without any vendor links or credits, there is no way to gauge exactly how much money you have to spend to get those same aesthetics. You may see some beautiful spaces that have hanging florals, custom dance floors, and 500 people guest lists and then when you ask your vendors for quotes you’ll be shocked with how much those things you wanted actually are. Often the photos that get the most engagement are ones that are using the best of the best florals, linens, and decorations that are really the most expensive options that majority of people don’t end up using. Pinterest is a great place to figure out your themes and aesthetic, but it’s really hard to know exactly how those photos will translate to your budget without getting more information and proposals from the vendors that are local to you.
Rabbit Holes - Hard to Narrow Down
One thing that many couples struggle with when using Pinterest is that there is never a point in your wedding planning journey where it stops recommending you more new ideas for you to sift through. Even after couples make a decision for their wedding day, they are still being fed hundreds of different aesthetics, themes, and elements that make it really difficult to narrow down and focus on how it’s all going to work for you wedding day. I definitely recommend using Pinterest for inspiration, but it’s important to put it away and stop searching after you’ve made decisions or it may lead to more confusion.
Pinterest is an incredibly helpful tool that I recommend to all of my couples to get an idea of what you want your wedding day to look like, but there are some elements to Pinterest that make it harder to plan your wedding if you don’t know about them. Like anything, it’s important to take these photos with a grain of salt and realize that there may be more than what meets the eye with what really went into getting those photos. I also recommend looking at wedding blogs and finding blog posts on real weddings to see what you like and what may be more realistic.
If you need some inspiration from a real wedding, check out this blog post about a wedding from May that can bring you some inspiration for what a personalized wedding can look like. If you need more help narrowing down your vision, you can also go here and I can help you figure out what vibe you’re looking for for your wedding day!
