Pinteresting Brides

Tonight I met with my friend Nix for the first time since finding out about her engagement (congrats sweety!), and when I started talking about my own planning experience in a bid to help her start her bridal journey I realised that there is one particular tool that has been my shining start since the very start of my wedding planning days: Pinterest.

For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest is a free digital pin board, where you can create as many different boards as you like and you have a great variety of categories to search through. It is an amazing source of inspiration and a great way to keep all your digital ideas in one place, it’s like an environmentally friendly planner!

For those of you who are familiar with Pinterest you will know it is highly addictive, you can spend hours scrolling through other people’s pin boards and pinning images on to yours, and although you can get distracted and go off on Fashion or DIY tangents, you can also find a lot of hidden gems, wedding ideas that you never would have thought of.

Personally, I have 37 pin boards, only five of them specifically dedicated to wedding planning:

* Wedding Ideas: This was my first board. Initially all wedding related pins went on this board but as I realised my need for a more organised system, I branched out and created more specific categories to cater for my bridal needs. Now it mainly consists of all general ideas, venues, planning tips, thank you cards, cake toppers, table numbers, champagne flutes, cake cutters, themes and colours, invites, wedding favours, bridesmaids dresses… and the list goes on!

* Here Comes The Bride: This board was born when I realised I wanted to share my wedding ideas board with the groom to get him involved and find out his opinions, WITHOUT letting him see what kind of dress I was looking for or how I would have my hair. As every other bride, I want my look on that day to be a surprise for him so this board is more for me. Here you can fin beautiful bridal gowns, tiaras, jewellery, shoes, rings, floral bouquets, hair styles and makeup.

* Wedding Photography: It is impossible to look through photographers pictures and not think ‘I want that shot’ about a million times. Whether you’re just browsing the web as a newly engaged girl, gathering ideas for when he finally pops the question or looking for someone to actually photograph your wedding, having all your desired shots in one place is a huge help. With my wedding being in Mexico I had to pick a photographer from afar and being able to compare all the images I’ve saved with each of their styles was a big help in making my choice, not to mention the fact that I don’t even have to tell them what kind of photography I want on my big day… I can show them!

* Xcaret Weddings: It’s well enough having pictures that I would like to have but there are certain shots that can only be achieved in certain places. I am an Xcaret bride, this is the magical place where I get to say ‘I do’ and it is only logical that I look at past Xcaret brides for inspiration. There are many shots from my wedding photography that I could only have in daydreams, but these, I can make happen. Needless to say my photographer has already been sent this link and is ready to recreate some of these stunning shots!

* Wedding Cake: My cake tasting is the same week as my wedding, and even though I can’t pick the flavour of the cake from thousands of miles away, I can certainly pick the style! I’ve always wanted a lace cake and since my theme is rainbow, these were the two main criteria when adding cakes to this board. Of course when discussing the cake with Mexican bakers, showing them what I wanted was a huge advantage in picking the right place, I sent all the candidates the link and they submitted their proposals, this allowed me to see who could best interpret my vision and I picked the perfect gal for the job!

Long story short (who am I kidding, I never keep anything short!), Pinterest is a fantastic tool for every Bridezilla to be, an endless source of inspiration, a way of translating your vision into pictures and allowing people to see through your eyes. Use it and abuse it, you won’t regret it!

Best wishes, Gaby xXx

The 5 P’s of Planning

A big part of planning your own wedding is knowing how to get organised, because this is the only way you will be on top of everything. There are a few wedding websites that provide you with all the information and ideas you could possibly need, for free!

I used www.theknot.com, where not only do they have an unlimited amount of inspiration but when you create an account they give you a month by month to do list, so that you can know what you should be doing at each stage of your preparation. I suggest you use that as a guide and create your own list based on your priorities and the time frames to get things done in your chosen country.

Another essential in the planning process is a wedding book. It doesn’t have to be one of those expensive wedding planners, you can just make your own! In my case mine was a gift from one of my Maids of Honour, a very pretty and colourful book from Paperchase, which she divided into sections and labelled accordingly.

Once I started my planning I added more sections and labels as I went along. The benefit of having a wedding planning book is having everything in one place, whatever information you get, be it over the phone or email, write it down there straight away so that when you need the information you know where it is!

So let’s assume you have your planner at the ready, complete with your ‘to do’ list. Now it’s time to go digital. Don’t underestimate the power of a spreadsheet. Get one started early and it will be a great ally. Create different tabs for what you need, in my case I created the following: Groom’s guest list, Bride’s guest list, Yes RSVPs, Gifts and Budget.

Within those tabs you have the power to organise yourself, here’s an idea of the criteria I used (names, numbers and addresses have been made up):

Finally, if you’re the kind of girl that will rely on your Filofax or phone calendar to get you everywhere and anywhere, then use what you’ve got girl! Set yourself reminders of when you have to do things so that you never miss a beat.

And remember, proper planning prevents poor performance!

Proper: If you put all your effort on things from the start you won’t have to be revisiting things that should have been sorted, closer to your date, when you’re out of time.

Planning:  Organisation is the key. Use it and you can open any door.

Prevents: You don’t want to be dealing with last minute issues, thinking ahead and preventing instead of fixing, means that when the time to worry comes, you won’t have to.

Poor: The quality of wedding you DON’T want to have. Aim for greatness and dreams that come true.

Performance: This will be a day to remember, one where you are the star and your planning will make sure you get to enjoy it.

Best wishes, Gaby xXx

A DIY Bride

In January 2012 I got engaged, and I never could have anticipated what would happen next… that I would turn into a full blown wedding planning Bridezilla. I made a choice early on in the process to maintain 100% creative control of my wedding by NOT having a wedding planner, and though it has been challenging it has also been rewarding to see all the pieces coming together EXACTLY as I want them.

For those of you who think you NEED a wedding coordinator, I’m here to tell you that YOU CAN DO IT! My wedding is in 6 weeks, in Mexico, a country where I don’t know anybody so I have had to rely entirely on Internet searches, skype and online reviews.

Before you start planning, keep those three factors in mind, as they will be your biggest allies when planning a destination wedding.

1. Internet searches: The internet has EVERYTHING and if you look hard enough you WILL find it. When looking for something specific try different word searches and search engines. When I was looking for my wedding shoes I tried Google, Yahoo, Ebay and Amazon as my search engines and used a combination of the words lace, platform, peep toe, stiletto, sparkle and bling to find them. After weeks of searching I finally found exactly what I was looking for, and the wait was totally worth it!

2. Skype: If you don’t have it, download it, and if you do have it but only use it for Skype to Skype calls, then buy credit NOW. When planning a destination wedding you will need to make A LOT of international calls, and you will be glad when the phone bill comes and they’re not all on there! Skype credit is wonderful, it allows you to make calls from your skype to any phone in the world for pennies, you’ll have to check their website for the exact rates but I can guarantee it’s totally worth it.

3. Online reviews: I have to say I could not have done it without these. Once my wedding is been and done I will be visiting a few wedding forums and posting my own experiences because the past brides that have done this have been a great help to me! When planning a wedding abroad, you can’t go and look at the venue, you can’t meet the photographer beforehand, you can’t do a cake tasting… you have to book ALL your services based on good faith. Luckily for me I discovered www.bestdestinationwedding.com, where I have been able to find reviews on EVERYTHING, allowing me to make informed decisions based on the good experiences of other destination brides.

Use these three tools well and I can guarantee that slowly but steady, it will all come together.

Best wishes, Gaby xXx