As custom stationery designers, the gorgeous girls Jane and Ailbhe from Appleberry Press work very closely with wedding couples to create bespoke designs and illustrations for their letterpress wedding stationery.
Ailbhe has kindly shared her expertise and advice with us here on how how to create your own wedding inspiration board.
What is a wedding inspiration board?
An inspiration board is a combination of inspirational images that acts as a visual tool to help someone get an overall feel or vision of a look they are trying to achieve. It can be a combination of words, images, colours, photographs, torn out magazine pages, scraps of fabric and even patterns! All your images together can evoke a specific style or feeling. As a designer and a bride to be I thought I would share my views on inspiration boards and how helpful they really are. Without one you might waste time with each supplier along the way and your wedding can end up looking disjointed. I will have two! The first one (below) is based on the colours I have picked that will be reflected in the bridesmaids’ dresses, flowers, cake etc. The second one is more theme based (which I am keeping a secret!) – this is to inspire me during the design of the invitations, the table settings and possible the décor. Most people will just have one and it can be a combination of theme and colours.
via Pretty as a Picture
Why is an inspiration board helpful?
Planning a wedding is never easy and as an artist or designer may get a creative block’ staring at a blank canvas, so too can a bride on where to start her planning. The theme you pick for your wedding will set the tone for the day and the inspiration board you’ve created can help to keep you on track. When you are dealing with other people, such as suppliers, it is especially helpful in portraying your ideas and the overall look you are trying to achieve. You may not have a clue on what colours you want to pick but already you may have noticed the images you’ve collected are of shabby chic interiors and soft pastels cupcakes so already a mood has been created. Just grab images that catch your eye!
Mine started from a beautiful bracelet I had sitting on my table – I immediately loved the muted shades of coral and turquoise with gold and from that I based my whole wedding palette. You might find that you initially base your inspiration board on a theme more so than colours, that’s ok too. Whether it’s a carnival, garden tea party or winter wonderland, colours (from 2 or 3 to rainbow!) will start to emerge from what seems like a chaotic collage of images. It can help you decide on items from your bridesmaid dresses, the type of bouquet you want, your wedding cake to helping decide on the type of stationery you pick.
garden green, pale rosy pink palette via Snippet and Ink
Get Inspired!
Your imagination is the limit in coming up with your inspiration board. Don’t think of just wedding websites or what you think other people will like. They could be a favourite red carpet dress you saw, or an amazing pair of shoes.
Some things to consider could be:
- A favourite item of clothing
- Somewhere you visited together – engagement spot / favourite holiday?
- Maybe you or your fiancé have a hobby like sailing or biking?
- Maybe you can bring different cultural elements into the day
- Do you have a much-loved set of china teacups with pretty patterns?
- What mood are you trying to evoke? Romantic or edgy, vintage or modern. Sometimes the location or venue can influence your theme!
old world meets romance novel inspiration via Style Me Pretty
How to create one
Here are a few online resources to help you create your mood board
Pinterest | Tumblr | Fffound | Polyvore| Wedding blogs | Google images
About Appleberry Press
Appleberry Press is an award winning stationery and gift boutique based in Ireland, who offer a complete custom design service for letterpress wedding invitations and personalised stationery.
Ailbhe and Jane can help to add a unique touch to your wedding with their unique range of letterpress invitations, wedding logos, thumbprint guest trees, wedding dress portraits, beautiful wedding dress storage boxes and more…