Plan Your Wedding With Pinterest

I’m one of those early-adopters of technology and media. I like to be in the group of “first followers” when something “so cool that few people get how cool it is” hits the scene… I’ve even been one to hop on board something and get over it before it’s taken mass hold. So you can imagine that I have Friendster and MySpace accounts long gone untouched. I joined Twitter about a year before I had friends to follow, and so when I found Pinterest, it took me a few weeks to find someone to send me an invite. (That’s how few people were on it then)

The beauty of Pinterest is that I didn’t need any of my friends on it for it to be amazing. I was just pinning stuff from around the web because it was easier for me than using my browser to bookmark webpages. I really liked that it was all visual… I could see at a glance where that pin was for Monster Cake Pops… or something.

Since then, I’ve realized that Pinterest is awesome for planning things… parties, photo shoots, and WEDDINGS!

1 – JOIN!

If you’re not already on Pinterest, you can request an invitation, but word on the street is that there’s a waiting list now. So, buck the system and send me an email at PHOTO at CHRISTINAGRESSIANU dot COM and I’ll send you an invite.

2 – ADD!

Once you get on Pinterest, you’ll have an ADD+ button at the top right.

Use that Add+ button to create “boards” and add “pins.” A Pin is akin to a bookmark, except that it needs an image to associate with a web address. If I pin something you like, you can “repin” it to your own boards. Boards are how you organize your pins. So you can have separate boards for each topic of your wedding planning. For example: invitations, wedding dresses, veils, shoes, flowers, cake designs, hair styles, nails, makeup, bridal accessories, bridesmaids, groomsmen, centerpieces, favors, showers and photography (engagement/wedding day ideas)

3 – FOLLOW!

You can find your friends to follow, but the real power is that you can follow wedding pros, like your favorite photographer (wink, wink), vendors, wedding blogs, and just plain cool people. Another beautiful aspect of Pinterest is that you can choose which boards to follow… so for example, you can follow just the Paper Moon Weddings “Wedding Style” board without getting her other boards in your stream. Brilliant!

4 – SHARE!

And this is where Pinterest meets wedding planning. Create a board of flowers you love and share it with your florist. Create a board of hair styles to share with your hair stylist. Share all your boards with your fiance, your mom, etc.  You can tag each other just like you do in Facebook with @username so you can really communicate your photos. And you can share all those pins by sending off one link! The link for all your boards will be: http://pinterest.com/your-user-name  For one of your boards in particular, it’ll be: http://pinterest.com/your-user-name/the-board-name

Lastly, Pinterest has some goodies for you! There’s a Pin It button for your browser, so you can pin without being logged into the Pinterest website. AND, there’s an iPhone app so you can take photos of things you see and add them to your pin boards too!

If you have any questions, or if I left anything out, let me know in the comments. And, please use the social sharing buttons below to share this articles with your friends!