The Broke-Ass Bride: Bad-ass Wedding Inspiration on a Broke-Ass Budget

{Wedding Inspiration} Just Be You: From Initial Vision to Reality

If you’re engaged, you’ve probably made, or attempted to make, what we here in the wedding industry call a wedding “Inspiration Board.” An inspiration board is a mix of images that reflect what you desire your wedding to look and feel like, and what elements you want to incorporate into it.

The first board I ever made incorporated a host of images that matched exactly what I wanted our wedding to look like — or at least what I thought I wanted it to look like.  I had the beautifully dressed banquet tables… with perfect lanterns… and DIY decor that looks entirely too professional to be DIY that I could actually recreate. I also included the dress I thought I wanted… and the giant hair flower that I tried to convince myself would look good on me… BUT in the end, this board gave me more frustration than inspiration.  There was no way I could have recreated such perfection, and it kind of drove me nuts thinking that I could.  Here’s the first board I ever made:

Britt Inspiration Board #1

image sources: oncewed, watters, weddingbee, joetheguitarman, foldingtrees

After I realized I couldn’t possibly make our wedding look like this board, I made another one. One that was more eclectic… one with more of a loose color scheme… one that inspired ‘look and feeling’ as opposed to total re-creation. One that I made out of magazine clippings instead of images I found on bride blogs. Check it out:

Britt Inspiration Board #2

However, even though I connected more with this board than the previous one, I still didn’t know how the inspiration would manifest in our wedding.  I would look at this board and think, “ooo pretty, but what exactly am I getting from this?”  And the answer was always, “nothing much. Well, maybe in terms of color scheme? Sure…”

In the end, I stopped looking at and making inspiration boards many months before the wedding. Instead, I turned my attention to the venue and based my decor decisions on the vibe of the physical space, and on what we were actually capable of achieving. That’s when I decided to scrap a strict color scheme and just let it ride. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted it to look as cohesive as possible, but we didn’t have the funds, the talent, or the patience to completely back that desire. But it was a great feeling to finally let go of the inspiration board parameters.  It was then and only then that I could let our true personalities shine…   and the results were better than I could have ever imagined…  turns out I needed to follow my own “Just be You” advice and let our wedding reflect who we are and what we love — even if who we are and what we love isn’t the picture of matched perfection, or doesn’t showcase Martha Stewart-quality DIY.

Britt Inspiration Board #3: Our Actual Wedding

How many inspirations boards have you created?  Did your actual wedding look anything like the inspiration board you initially created? If not, how did it change and why?