I love creating moodboards! (as you will discover)  There is something poetic, pleasing, rewarding and indeed a little addictive about finding beautiful images and piecing them together to create a unique snapshot of your lusts, a fusion of your hopes, dreams and loves.

After sharing our wedding photos, I thought I would share how I pieced our wedding together, where my ideas came from, what inspired me, where I started, how my blank canvas became…..

Choosing one style or theme was one of the hardest things for me. I knew I wanted different, vintage and unique but I think I could have been quite happy with any number of themes – Pride & Prejudice (if only Martin hadn’t refused to wear tight trousers :-)), Hollywood’s Golden Age, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Great Gatsby….

The key was finding that first piece and ours was the venue. Constrained by timing and numbers finding a beautiful, available and affordable venue that would give us the truly intimate wedding we wanted had to come first.

Once we had found the stunning East Close Hotel, with its Art Deco styled exterior and sumptuous interior, an impression of the wedding look and feel I wanted started to form and I then turned my attention to the dress.

For me, finding THE Dress was an element of good fortune in finding a wedding dress shop where the proprietor wasn’t afraid to voice an honest opinion, giving me more than just polite “oh yes, that looks lovely” – when I think we both knew whilst the dress was beautiful, it and I were not the perfect match.

After a fairly disastrous early shopping expedition, I knew that satin, sadly, most definitely didn’t suit me and I had almost ruled out bias cut dresses altogether, despite my love of them, because I had tried on the wrong designer! (Note to all brides, don’t write off a style you love until you have tried it from a number of designers!)

I was fortunate that Emma at Miss Bush insisted I try Jenny Packham, the queen of art deco inspired designs and an absolute genius at creating fabulous, flowing, feminine and flattering dresses. I actually tried half a dozen Jenny Packhams, but the moment I slipped in to Petra and sashayed down the boutique to the full length mirror, with the soft fabric billowing gracefully and following every contour of my body, I loved it – and when a maribou feather bolero and asymmetric head band was added I knew it was THE one! It evoked the art deco era but suited me, and it was perfect for our intimate wedding – elegant and not too big, it made me approachable, yet still with an element of wow.

And with the dress found, everything else just fell into place!

How I wanted my hair and makeup – natural but evocative of the era……

Flowers – rich and creamy (for me, scent was key) with an element of vintage……

Wedding Cake – chic, simple and elegant, with a little sparkle……

As you can see, I had an inspiration board for everything, but it really helped form the vision in my mind and articulate my ideas to our suppliers. All of my inspiration boards are very focused but at the very beginning of planning a wedding a inspiration board can really help shape and cultivate ideas.

The images could be completely unrelated to weddings……

they may just be of colours…….

(Source The Flourishing Blog)

(Source Buttercupbungalow)

or elements of the day that you love and wish to re-create…..

(Source Creation Collaboration Blog)

(Source Snippet & Ink)

Your wedding should be a unique insight into your personal style and an inspiration board is a great way to start collecting and perfecting ideas. So have a play, follow your heart and enjoy the results!

If its difficult to find the time, patience or creativity for inspiration boards, just take a look online – there’s one for every theme and colour imaginable, created by amazingly artistic people like those at Snippet & Ink or the fabulous Magnolia Rouge!

Or just start collecting snippets of your favourite weddings, designers, photographers on the completely addictive website that has made inspiration boards possible for everyone – Pinterest!

If you have an inspiration board you would like me to think about and create, contact me! Let me know the colour, theme, words and give me some time….

Amy

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