‘Pin’ down the details the high-tech way

Welcome to the 21st century, where everything is virtualized, digitized and influenced by social media. One such social-media site, Pinterest, has become known as “the way of the wedding planning future” because it allows customers and vendors to have a clear, visual conversation about their wedding vision, style and execution.

On Pinterest, users create boards, and “pin” ideas to those boards. Imagine, for example, that you have a Pinterest board dedicated to bridal hairstyles. Every hairstyle you find that you like, you pin to that board. Now imagine that everyone in the world can copy those hairstyles, and pin them to their own boards – and everyone can see those boards. That’s what happens on Pinterest, which is why many brides-to-be have embraced it as a place to find ideas from around the world.

Pinterest is now commonly used when it comes to wedding planning. Many wedding companies, such as The Knot and Wedding Wire, give Pinterest users access to their articles and photos because it gives the companies more exposure, especially when users “re-pin” the items.

If you’re like me, a bride-to-be, you would have two boards: one for your engagement and one for your wedding. On my engagement board, I’ve pinned pictures of rings, ideas on how to announce an engagement, engagement photo-shoot ideas, and how-to articles. My hope was that the items pinned on my board would find their way to my fiancé, so he would know what I liked.

On my wedding board, I have pictures of wedding gowns, hairstyles, color schemes, mother-of-the-bride gowns, bridesmaid dresses, etc.

My boards have helped me be more creative, as well as more organized. I have also found it incredibly helpful when talking with vendors: They ask me what my vision is, and I can actually show it to them!

But don’t take my word for it – I sat down with two other women, my sister and a close friend, and talked to them about how they are using Pinterest to plan their weddings.

My sister, Elana, is getting married in September, and she has fully established Pinterest boards for her wedding.

“I first got a Pinterest account in 2012 as part of the job I had at the time. I didn’t start using it on a personal level until maybe a year or so ago, when I wanted to start getting ideas for my wedding,” she said.

 “I’m not using it so much to plan my wedding as much as I am to get general ideas on color schemes, bridesmaid dresses, etc. I am thinking about having the bridesmaids wear champagne-colored dresses, so I went to Pinterest to see examples of those dresses and how it works with different colors. From that, I was able to determine the colors I would like to use for the flowers as well as for the groomsmen’s suits.”

Elana’s research has also proved useful for adding personal touches to her overall theme that she might have overlooked on her own.

 “I think it adds a really special element that makes your wedding unique to you,” she said. “It allows you to get carried away [in a good way] in the planning process and imagine the wedding you’ve always dreamed of … it’s perfect for both planners and dreamers. And, it helps that many of the ideas on the site can be implemented in a budget-friendly way.”

My friend, Rachel Rothfeld, has had an experience very similar to Elana’s. However, her fiancé, Aaron, is a little more involved than Elana’s fiancé, Andrew.

“I started using Pinterest even before I got engaged,” Rachel said. “Aaron and I designed our ring together, so I used it to look at different ring styles and figure out what I wanted.

“Before I got engaged, I also had a private Pinterest board for wedding dresses, to start thinking about the styles that I liked.” Pinterest users can set their boards to a private mode if they do not want others to see them.

Rachel’s boards have also helped her with the complicated planning process.

“I have created separate boards for different aspects of the wedding to keep it organized,” she said.

In addition, she has found that browsing Pinterest is time well spent.

 “I have found Pinterest to be very helpful when trying to make decisions about style. It has helped me to narrow down my choices and see what I gravitated toward. For example, when searching for wedding dresses on Pinterest, I noticed that all of the dresses that I pinned were A-line or ball gown. Once I had found a style I was interested in, I was able to make my searches more specific.

“I also really like having boards with a compilation of the styles that I like which are easy to look through,” she said.

Rachel has also used Pinterest for the one element that is crucial to making her wedding HER wedding: the Jewish factor.

“I did use Pinterest to search for modest wedding dresses so that I was able to see styles that have sleeves. I also looked at a few Huppah designs,” she said.

HILLARY SCHULMAN is a Rhode Islander and Brandeis graduate. She is looking forward to getting married in the fall.