With social media, the wedding world is your oyster and you, it’s shining bridal pearl. You’ve instantly got access to an infinite number of styling possibilities, décor suggestions, and visual prompts.
It is an absolute GOLDMINE for your wedding, and will become the biggest and most enjoyable drain of your time, we absolutely promise you! By all means, follow your friends and continue to send them major love for their selfies – we’re all about the girl power at The Mews – but extend it further than this too.
If you use social media effectively in your wedding planning and don’t get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of choice, you can have the most swoon-worthy ceremony and a ridiculously cool reception.
Here are our tips on how to get the most out of Insta, Pinterest and the rest to plan your perfect wedding…
Inspiration
Frankly, what’s the point of it if you can’t use it to inspire you?
Firstly, follow the big brands and household names that you adore and see into their worlds; this way, you get to see the work that goes into all the items you admire and the services you want to pay for.
Take inspiration from the work that goes on behind closed doors, the atelier’s motivations and raison d’etre that you can emulate on your big day. Whether this is to nosey at your favourite celebrity’s interior décor or to find out what your bridal designer’s studio looks like, it’s a goldmine for working out what’s important to you. This is especially true of bridal designers – the dress is such an important part of the big day (I mean, hello, we know that better than anyone!), but sometimes it can seem like the name on the designer is a random name that doesn’t strike any particular chord.
However, all of our wonderful designers are personally on instagram, constantly updating us with what’s inspiring their new work, sharing their personal life, and showing exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks. This personal element to your dress can make all the difference.
Follow well-curated accounts that radiate good vibes, and constantly dole out incredible, handpicked styling inspo, as they can really help you craft your theme. Keep up-to-date with bloggers and what they’re all over at the moment, too – just make sure that you can work out what they’re being paid to say and what they truly feel!
Also, make use of hashtags, especially on Instagram. These really are a rabbit-hole of wedding wonder, as they can easily expose you to ideas you’d have never found normally in your circle of influence, and ideas you absolutely adore to boot.
Finding Suppliers
Any respectable wedding supplier will have some form of social media, if not all of them. It’s a great way to see a more up-to-date portfolio than that which a website or brochure might be able to display, as most suppliers post pictures from jobs they’ve had during or pretty soon after – whereas they may not update their website for months (especially during peak wedding season where they’ll be working round the clock!)
It’s also a great way of seeing the supplier’s work beyond what they’re posted themselves. Find other real brides, wedding guests and bloggers who will have taken photos from an entirely different angle and experienced it first-hand.
This way, you can see their work and gauge its reception in an organic setting, rather than a potentially narrowly staged and carefully selected setting. Sure, their edited photo of their flowers looks great artfully placed against a brick wall, but did it look so good and transformative a day later on the table of every room in a big blank canvas space? It’s always worth checking!
Collaboration
If you’re approaching a supplier with something really specific in mind, don’t be afraid to use social media to convey this.
We love it when brides come in with Pinterest boards (or, once or twice, real life scrapbooks, which we absolutely ADORE and could sit down and chat about with a cuppa for hours). It really helps to show us what their hearts are set on.
Most wedding suppliers are very visual thinkers. S being able to explore exactly what your brief is with pictures for reference is a blessing. It gives us a concrete idea of exactly what you’re looking for, and gives you the peace of mind that we’re all on the same page.
Curate a board for your brief, or if you’re not on the Pinterest hype yet, how about a saved Instagram group? Any good wedding supplier won’t copy something directly, but they should take your inspiration and craft something totally unique and spot-on for you from what you’ve given them.
Keep Up-to-date
Trunk shows, new collaborations, holiday opening dates, product launches – keep up to date with it all on social media. It’s an awesome tool for businesses to be in direct conversation with the people they do it all for, so they’ll let you know about exciting news on social media as soon as they’re allowed to release it to the world!
Who to follow for the best bridal inspiration
Green Wedding Shoes is one of the coolest of the bridal publications, and their Instagram is no different. Their images are of quirky and fun weddings, perfect for brides who want to break the mould.
The Lane is another uber-cool bridal publication. Their fashion-forward Pinterest boards are great if you’re looking for bohemian inspiration for your wedding.
Greg Finck is one of our favourite wedding photographers at The Mews. His Instagram feed is crammed full of beautiful scenic shots, with more than a few photos of Rime Arodaky, his long-term partner!
Together Journal have a beautiful freshness to their Insta’s aesthetic. This page is great for floral inspiration.
Coveteur is just a must for all fashion lovers.
Words from Ellie Kime