Happy Wednesday folks!
Creative wedding planners, Pocketful of Dreams, are back with their latest instalment of Expert Wedding Planning Tips. And today they're sharing a little about how to create mood boards aka ‘wedding inspiration boards' to help with your wedding design.
I feel very lucky to be sharing this insight with you all today as I have been such a HUGE fan of Pocketful of Dreams evocative mood boards ever since I saw Michelle's very first board two years ago. Take a peek at their inspiration boards on Pinterest and you'll see why.
Actually, simply scroll down and you'll see why…
Here at Pocketful of Dreams we love a mood board. They are a great way to showcase innovative designs, experiment with unexpected colour combinations and most importantly, they form a key stage in the design process we undertake for any event, helping to bring our design concept to life.
Talking to one of our clients recently however, made us realise that for those of you planning your weddings, the whole idea of creating a mood board can be a tad intimidating and seem like a bit of a black art! So today, we’re going to talk you through what a mood board is, how you can create one and most importantly, how they can help you get to your perfect wedding day.
What Is A Mood Board?
A mood – or wedding inspiration – board is put simply, a tool to visually communicate the essence of your design: that Big Idea we spoke about a few weeks ago.
This isn’t a paint-by-numbers blueprint, showing the exact dress you need to find or the flowers you must have in your bouquet. Instead, it is about really bringing to life the spirit of your design or vision (you can work through all those other details later on in your planning!).
Think of the inspiration board as an abstract representation of the idea of your wedding day; it should capture your dreams for your wedding and give a sense of the style and mood of your wedding – how you want it to not only look but also feel.
Why Do You Need A Mood Board?
A mood board will help you to do two things throughout your planning. Firstly, it’s a guide against which you can review all subsequent design decisions. Yes, that new idea you’ve seen on Pinterest is fabulous, but does it really fit with the essence and style of your day? The mood board is a great tool to keep you on track and true to your original vision when new ideas are seducing you!
And secondly, it is a great way of communicating your vision to various suppliers ranging from stationers to florists, which avoids misinterpretation that could arise from relying on words alone.
Armed with a conceptual mood board, your suppliers can work with you to drill down on your ideas and bring your design to life. Think of your mood board therefore as a stepping-stone to getting from your vision to that precise cake or bouquet design.
Ultimately, we use mood boards with all our clients as a way of ensuring we deliver them a day that may not appear overly themed on the surface but is consistent, cohesive and flows effortlessly.
Creating A Mood Board
Hopefully after reading our last guest post you’re armed with bucketloads of inspiration, collected from various sources. Here are our top tips for turning that pile of images into your very own mood board…
First up, it’s worth reviewing your images and checking that they still fit with your wedding day vision. Sift out those elements that are pretty but not entirely in keep with the vision you have of your day.
Start grouping together images that appear to fit well together, perhaps because of their style or colours or just because of the emotion they evoke.
You will likely have a few similar strands start to emerge; cherry pick those which really work well to tell the story of your vision – you should be left with a true visual representation of what you want to achieve.
Remember, your mood board is designed to be inspiring and conceptual so don’t feel you can only include images of weddings – a fashion shot or even just a graphical pattern can help to capture the essence of your day.
It is likely that your mood board may evolve over time, so don’t feel you have to create a polished digital board, you may want to pin everything onto a noticeboard at home so you constantly refer back to it, add images, take them away and play around with things as your planning progresses.
example of a real, 3D mood board by Veda House
As professional event designers, we are experts in teasing out your likes and dislikes (even if you don't think you know these things yourself!) to create mood boards as part of a broader service to develop a meaningful and workable design concept.
With years of experience in design and events, we can design the perfect wedding for you and then bring together your very own dream team to deliver you a day that you will truly be proud of.
Mood Boards By Era
Here are some of the mood boards Pocketful of Dreams used when designing and styling the era inspired shoots for Style Me Vintage Weddings – a fabulously inspirational book by Annabel of Love My Dress. (If you're a vintage bride – this is a must read!)
Gorgeous aren't they? I can't decide which is my favourite era! How about you?
As always, here's your ‘cut out and keep' / ‘pinnable' image to save in your wedding planning folder / board. A pretty little recap of these top mood board tips.
(If you want to see all the Top Tips from this series check out my Wedding Planning Pinterest Board.)
Thanks to Michelle and Vicki of Pocketful Of Dreams for sharing their top tips and utterly inspirational mood boards!
If you're looking for a practical guide to creating inspiration boards, take a peek at this post I wrote when I first started Bridal Musings. I share a few of my favourite apps and sites you can use to create digital mood boards.
Will you be creating a wedding mood board?
Have any questions or top tips of your own to share?
We love to hear from you in the comments and on Facebook or Twitter – so don't be shy!
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