Inspiration vs. Replication, The Pinterest Craze

He finally popped the question—congratulations! Now it’s time to get down to business, but unfortunately, you have no clue where to start. Don’t worry—you’re not alone.  This is a typical phone call we quite often receive from newly engaged brides—over-the-moon with excitement but not sure where to begin their creative journey to the big “I DO.” 

Whether you are a local bride, a stay-at-home mom, live thousands of miles away from your dream wedding location, or you simply do not have enough time in the world to begin thinking about all the details, planning a wedding can be a daunting task for anyone.

So, the plethora of Internet hours begins! The countless blog sites, Googling, Facebooking and the oh-so-admired Pinterest all leave your mind jumbled with ideas, styles, and the inconsistent images in your mind of what you think you want your wedding day to look and feel like.

After countless nights up until the wee hours of the morning with your iPad in bed, you realize it might just be time to call on a seasoned professional.

“Imagination is the highest form of research.” -Albert Einstein

 In 2003, when I first began my career in the wedding industry, I was blown away by all of the possibilities planning and designing a wedding could offer. The endless vendor recommendations, the color palettes, design concept combinations, and the never-ending list of details and personal touches were sometimes overwhelming. Over time, I learned how to use all of these available creative mediums to help my clients achieve their ultimate dream wedding. 

Far too often I have couples ask me, “What does etiquette say about this, or what are the rules about that…”  Once I allowed this next sentence to reign supreme in my own business, the sky became the limit for both my clients and myself. My one answer to every bride I hear ask that question is, “The only rule is, there are no rules.”  From conception to fruition, your main goal is to ensure that your entire wedding is designed to be as unique as you are.

Here is what one of our past brides had to say about thinking outside the box and allowing your personal approach to taste and style show throughout your entire wedding day:

“My husband hadn't really sat in on our planning sessions and didn't fully understand why we needed a planner. Tasha gave him the "the only rule is, there are no rules" speech and my husband's eyes lit up! As the ideas started flowing, that was the moment he began to actually enjoy planning our wedding. Tasha reminded us that this was OUR wedding and it wouldn't make sense to have anything that didn't represent who we were as a couple. That was an attitude we enjoyed adopting early on—that this wedding would be "us" from beginning to end.” Susan & Paul | 9.22.12

I hear brides say all the time, “I know what I like when I see it, but I don’t know how to put it all together.”  So their question to me is “Where do I find inspiration?” My answer to that would be:

“Well, what inspires you?”  It is really quite simple: Inspiration is all around us--color, pattern, texture, shapes and sounds, verbal expressions or songs. The options are endless but ultimately, start with you.

“All artists rely on some artist of the past or present to influence their work. Giving the artist full control over his work is important because they can never replicate as well as the original. Instead, they must be influenced by the colors, shapes and lines that allowed the inspiration to be created in the first place. It’s from that inspiration that something new and different is born that has the best chance of inspiring a new crop of artists to gain insight.” Joshua Albanese | Owner of Joshua Albanese Photography & Kiss Cinema

So where do you draw the line between inspiration resources and allowing the professional you hired to express themselves creatively? It’s one thing to use an inspiration photo to understand style or to project your overall taste and the feel you’re going for. However, to completely limit the creative process by printing the 352 blogged and over blogged, pinned and repinned exact images you want recreated, can result in your wedding feeling a lot less special than allowing your vendors to work within their own realm of creativity. Whichever artistic medium your hired professionals work in, engage in the experience and allow their passion to show through in their work. After all, isn’t that what you hired them for?

 “I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.” -Marcel Duchamp

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Virtuous Events by Tasha Raylene is a lakefront-based event management and design company, specializing specifically in destination-styled weddings and event design. Tasha takes an individual approach to each and every event, ensuring glitz, glamour, pizzazz and elegance will be the essence of each affair.