6 New Ways to Use Pinterest for Wedding Planning

It's great to use Pinterest to pin ideas for flowers, dresses, photos, and décor, but the truth is that too much pinning can cause overload, making it harder, not easier, for you to make wedding planning decisions.
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It's hard to believe that just two years ago I wrote an article about this exciting new idea for wedding planning ... Pinterest! In a recent survey GigMasters discovered that 99 percent of all couples now use Pinterest to help plan their wedding.

It's great to use Pinterest to pin ideas for flowers, dresses, photos, and décor, but the truth is that too much pinning can cause overload, making it harder, not easier, for you to make wedding planning decisions. Too much pinning can also lead to a wedding that's way over budget and looks just like everyone else's, or to you feeling disappointed with your choices. Take a break from your normal wedding pinning routine and try one of these six new (for now) ways to use Pinterest to plan your wedding.

Remember with any of these ideas you'll want to carefully check your privacy settings on both the boards and your account in general. This will ensure that your boards get seen by the people who need/want to see them. Remember as well that once you create a pin and it's re-pinned by someone else, where it goes from there is out of your control. So, if you don't want a photo of you trying on a rejected wedding dress going viral, don't pin it.

1. Scope out Vendors
There's no substitute for using a trusted source like GigMasters to find vendors and get referrals, but Pinterest might give you a different view of wedding vendors. Vendors know that you're using Pinterest to plan your wedding, so they're busy pinning, too. Follow a few potential florists, wedding dress designers, and planners and see what they pin. Does it match your style? (Yes, it's ok to go ahead and pin from them while you're checking them out).

2. Pin and Win
Companies want to capture your interest on Pinterest so they hold contests. You can win everything from a wedding dress to wedding entertainment by participating in contests. Search "wedding contests" in Pinterest. Make sure the company is legitimate and the contest is current before your enter.

3.Crowd Source Your Playlist
Did you know that you can make group boards on Pinterest? Invite your friends to pin videos or pictures of album covers to a board to help you decide on your wedding playlist?

4. Contain the Advice
Have a bridesmaid, cousin or friend who is just a little too intent on sharing her ideas? Use Pinterest to contain them. Tell the over-helpful that you're using Pinterest for wedding planning. You can either invite her to create a board and share it with you or create a board for each bothersome relative and let them pin their ideas. Who knows, when you're not hearing the ideas 24/7 you might even see something that you like.

5. Help Out of Town Guests
If you use the "add a map" feature when you create a new board you can help your guests find all your wedding and event locations easily. Pin photos of the ceremony site, reception venue, hotels, and other locations, as well as ideas for what people can do the rest of the weekend are in between the wedding and reception. Make sure to use the description field to let people know what each location is.

6. Take a Break
Pinterest is great for more than just wedding planning. You can use Pinterest to bookmark interesting and important articles for work, books you want to read, exercise routines, and inspirational messages. When you get overwhelmed with wedding planning take a break and use Pinterest for something that will last past your wedding date.

Oh, and yes, of course, GigMasters is on Pinterest, check out our boards.

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