Maybe you’ve been dreaming about your special day for years and now he’s finally made the proposal, or he’s really taken you by surprise. Either way, if you are early on in your wedding planning process, this is the time to gather your ideas and think about how you want your wedding to look like. But… where to start?
To have consistency throughout the design of your wedding and stay true to your style the best way is to create a “Mood board” or “Inspiration board“.
A mood board is a collection of images, objects, materials and color samples that provide a representation of your wedding “vision”. It can be a physical board if you are particularly creative and like to deal with glue and scissors, or more easily it can be a digital document in which you match images from the Internet. It is no secret that Pinterest is a never-ending source for this purpose!
It’s not about the exact ‘look’ of your event, but more about the feeling you are trying to evoke. It does not need to show the exact floral arrangement or table design you will have; rather it showcases the style you want to get to talk about you on your wedding day.
It really helps to keep you focused avoiding to be distracted by all the options out there!
The mood board is also the best tool to communicate your vision to your wedding suppliers as it keeps everyone on the right for a consistent and stylish overall result.
Here you will find my simple tips to help you plan and create the perfect wedding Mood Board and some examples created by me for inspiration!
1 - Define your Wedding Style
Defining your wedding style is the very first step you’ll want to take when you start planning your event. The only problem is – with so much creative inspiration out there on Pinterest, Instagram and bridal blogs, how to not get lost and narrow down your ideas into one consistent style?
It’s definitely easy to end up pinning a huge number of totally different pictures and waste time trying to find a common theme.
So, before jumping onto Pinterest, take a moment to get clear on the overall look and feel you want for your wedding, together with your top priorities for the day.
If you’ve already booked your wedding venue, start here! Actually in general I suggest to start creating a mood board when the venue is already defined, but of course nothing precludes to throw down some ideas even before.
In fact, it will be the focal point of your whole celebration, and in all likelihood this already defines your style. Is it a romantic garden location? An industrial-style warehouse? An elegant private villa or a high-end hotel? This should give you an initial indication of the styling direction that will work well in your chosen space.
Then your wedding day should be a reflection of you and your partner.
How would you describe your personal style? Take note of any key words that come to mind like modern, romantic, minimal, bohemian, extravagant, glamorous – these are all great definitions that can be carried across into your wedding styling, too.
2 - Choose your color palette
After browsing through the first images on Wedding Blogs, Magazines and in Internet you will probably start to get an idea of your favorite color palette. Or you may have clear ideas and be attracted to certain colors from the beginning. I suggest you clarify your ideas as soon as possible about this and base your image choices on a favorite color scheme. Otherwise the risk is to select too many completely different images that you won’t be able to put together harmoniously.
3 - Collect inspirational images
Remember to represent in your mood board a conceptual interpretation of the style you want for your wedding, so don’t take only images from other weddings. Look at nature, art, fashion and everything that evokes in your eyes the feeling you are trying to convey.
The initial inspiration could come from many different things, from the texture of the fabric of your dream dress, from your favorite color, the season you have chosen to get married… I remember a bride who showed up on our first meeting with a lemon in her hand and it all started from there!
The more personal the bond you have with the elements that will give rise to the Mood Board, the more your style will be evident within the project.
While we’re still focusing on a concept rather than specific details, you can still stop a few key details to make sure they fit the general inspiration scheme. If you scroll through Pinterest images and find a picture of a mise en place, or a floral arrangement, or a bouquet that makes your heart beat, faster save it in your board and use it as a reference image.
4 - Refine your styling inspirational images
After a while you select images on Pinterest, you’ll probably have a wide selection of beautiful images! It’s time to take a step back and look with fresh eyes to bring the best of them into one consistent theme.
What you need to focus on at this stage is consistency; so narrow down your favorite 1-2 images from each section (eg, flowers, stationery, furniture, lighting). Are the colors, materials and styles complementing each other or are there any clashing elements?
If there is some image out of tune, remove it and try to refine the selection to a few significant images that really embody your vision.
If you are an original person who likes to stand out, it is also likely that you will not find exactly the image of the decoration and setup you have in mind, exactly in the color or with the shape you have in mind.
So my advice is to put in your board only the photos that give the right feeling and in the color shade you are looking for. Then keep aside that photo that best represents the shape or concept but seems out of tune in your board; it is still a clue that can come in handy at a more advanced stage of design when you go into detail.
5 – Assemble your Mood Board
Mood boards come in all shapes and sizes, and there are definitely no rules when it comes to formatting and design or about how many images you should include.
However I suggest to avoid dropping too many images because that would only create confusion. You don’t need to include every little detail at this stage. This can definitely be done on a later step, so don’t get too caught up in trying to represent everything.
What I suggest to include is a color scheme in a corner of your board as a general reference. The mood board is a guide on which to base your design, but please consider that the “real” color of certain flowers, the materials or fabrics you will choose won’t exactly match a digital color. But despite this, your mood board will allow your suppliers to focus on your vision, provide styling tips, and ultimately ensure their work is on point with your style at each step.
To work on your mood board there are several great free tools online. I personally use Canva because it is really easy to use and has many templates and layouts to choose from, some specific for mood boards. There is a free version that offers a lot of useful tools so play around with it and have fun with the tools available until you’re happy with the overall feel of your mood board!
I personally love when clients share with me their Pinterest boards or send me an inspirational board because it helps me to instantly understand the look and feel they want to create for their event.
Do you know we can create a custom quote for your wedding in Italy simply by looking through the inspiration you’ve gathered on your mood board or Pinterest board?
And if you decide to rely on us, as a wedding designer and stylist my passion is to create a personalized mood board for you and draw on it all of your likes, tastes and style, to design an event that is distinctive and undeniably yours.
And once we have decided on the overall look and feel, what you’ll get in the planning process is a Look Book that will embed all the details that will bring your event to life.
If you would like to know more about my creative working method please take a look at our Wedding Services
