Having Pinterest Obsessions?

I read a story written by the Knot’s Pro Reporter and Social Manager, Sarah Hooper and wanted to share it with you. Sarah has thoughtfully written great input on how to use inspiration from the Internet, while keeping your wedding day your very own. Please enjoy her thoughts that have been slightly edited.

“I have a photo I love that I found online — can you re-create this for my wedding?”

It’s no secret that social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest are influential sources of inspiration for couples dreaming of their wedding days. According to The Knot 2016 Social Media Study, 62% of couples increase their social media activity after getting engaged.

The Knot caught up with luxury and custom invitation designer Ceci Johnson, of Ceci New York on the topic. She’s a total advocate for communicating with couples through photos found online and on social media. She figures that about 90% of her new clients arrive to their client meetings with a Pinterest board (or two). “It’s where they start,” she said, “It’s all the tools they have at their fingertips.” That said, she also has some really smart tactics to steer her couples to a custom, unique product — not a copycat version of what someone found online.

Think inspiration (not imitation).

Instead of seeing the boards as a problem to avoid, Ceci uses her couples’ inspiration boards to get a top-line feel for their style and wedding. It’s important to acknowledge how much time the client has put into researching and preparing the material she’s showing you, and to start to understand what the client loves about each pin. Discussing the themes, colors and details that you find the most appealing to get to the root of what’s inspiring you. So in other words, use Pinterest as a starting point in your conversation with your designer, florist and photographer. And remember- no copy cats allowed. It’s a disservice to you, the professionals (and their business ethics) when someone copy another persons work.

Come up with target words.

Ceci recommends asking the couple to identify the top 5 things they loves about each Pinterest board- she calls these “target words”. These 5 terms- whether they’re adjectives or phrases- help her find what resonates with the couple about the images, and dig a little deeper into the client’s vision for their wedding.

Make it your own.

After we’ve established what you are loving about your board, we will show you how we can offer the Grand Lubell touch to your vision. Together we will create a new design totally unique to your wedding. Let’s sit down and brainstorm about your one and only wedding day!