By Tashika Varma
Around this time last year, Pinterest took the social media world by a storm. People now had the opportunity to surf this photo sharing website, “re-pin” images on personal pinboards or “like” photos.
Although Pinterest has a significantly lower amount of users than Facebook, it has practically caught up with Twitter, with Pinterest at 15 percent and Twitter at 16 percent of adult U.S. Internet users on each network, according to Pew Research Center.
(Courtesy of Pinterest) Users can browse through Pinterest wedding pins and choose what they would like for their own wedding.
Pinterest’s logo is “no matter what you’re interested in, there’s a place for it here” and that became apparent when women, and some men, began to constantly use the site to find recipes, new arts and craft ideas, workout exercises and most popularly wedding ideas. Pinterest hasn’t just been used to get ideas for people’s big day; it has changed the nature of the wedding planning industry — especially the bride and wedding planner relationship.
SMU graduate Ashley Withers uses Pinterest for her hobbies and interest, but mostly for wedding planning. With her wedding coming up in August, she looked to this social media site to help plan the biggest day of her life.
“It helped define the direction I wanted the decorations, stationery, etc. to go,” Withers says.
Withers also uses one of Pinterest’s less known features — group boards. Group boards are like a regular Pinterest board but multiple people can post to it.
(Courtesy of Ashley Withers) Ashley Withers, pictured with her finance Cameron Dobson, is planning an August wedding using Pinterest and a wedding planner.
“I share one [a group board] with my mom and sister, one with my wedding planner and others with some of my bridesmaids,” she says.
One may think that the creation of this website has hurt the wedding planning industry, but actually, wedding planners have adapted to this new social media site.
Valerie Exnicios, an SMU student, opened her own wedding planning business with Valerie Jen in spring 2012. Jen had been working for a few big-name wedding planners in Dallas, and Exnicios had a lot of experience with floral design; thus, Valerie & Valerie Weddings and Events was born.
(Courtesy of Valerie & Valerie Wedding and Events) Valerie & Valerie Wedding and Events work with clients who use Pinterest and other social media tools to make their dreams a reality.
“We take our clients ideas, likes and thoughts and develop them into beautiful creations combined with careful planning,” Exnicios says about her wedding planning business.
Exnicios and Jen have always understood the importance of Pinterest to the wedding industry.
“Pinterest plays an immense role in how we interact with our clients. In fact, it has actually shaped the entire industry of wedding professionals,” Exnicios says.
Brides have a wide range of information to look at when making decisions. Although there is a debate over whether Pinterest has created too high of standards for some brides, there are those brides who use Pinterest well and with purpose. These brides are called “Millennial Brides.”
“These brides [Millennial Brides] use social media like Pinterest, blogs, wedding websites, Facebook, etc. to find and show off a little exactly what they want and what we have created,” Exnicios says.
Despite Pinterest and others websites that help brides, planners are still a necessity in the wedding business, Withers says.
“Each client is different; some come to us knowing each and every detail, color, venue and floral selection possible,” Exnicios says. “However, most need a little more direction and guidance…and that’s where we come into play.”
Withers agrees. Although she used Pinterest to help gather ideas together for her wedding, she still hired a wedding planner — Melody Agee with One Fine Day in San Antonio.
“The day I signed my contract with her she created a Pinterest board for us to share. I am planning my wedding from afar so Pinterest has given us an easy way to aggregate ideas,” Withers says. “She also takes her tablet to appointments with my vendors and gives them ideas from our shared Pinterest board.”
Although Pinterest has helped Withers, as a journalist she does see how Pinterest could affect the magazine industry negatively.
“In movies you see people cutting out gowns from magazines and gathering ideas from there, but now you don’t need it,” she says. “It’s all there for free on Pinterest.”
Connie Dufner, editor in chief of Modern Luxury Brides Dallas, thinks differently.
“Modern Luxury has a high-end luxury audience, meaning we appeal to high-end bride and serve the high-end bride,” Dufner says.
Dufner uses Pinterest for noticing certain wedding trends. Luckily for Modern Luxury Brides, its target audience still buys and flips through the magazine for ideas.
Dufner does agree that Pinterest is a good tool to have out there for brides and professionals, but she fears that it “might create unrealistic expectations for brides.”
Withers received a similar warning from friends who told her that Pinterest would give her expensive expectations. But despite the warnings, Pinterest has been a bigger help than hindrance in her wedding planning.
“When I met with the stationery designer for my ‘save the dates’ and wedding invites, my Pinterest board was crucial,” she says.
Withers was prepared and showed her pins of invites and cards she had seen around the web.
“I also showed her some of my decorating ideas so she designed the cards custom for me based on those things,” she says. “It was amazing how well she could capture my style from just a few pictures.”
Withers’ cake was also based off one she saw on Pinterest.
It is not just brides-to-be creating wedding boards. Girls of all ages are using Pinterest to plan their dream wedding in advance.
Amanda Hurley, an SMU law student, has been in a relationship for five years and uses Pinterest for a variety of things including planning her future wedding.
“The only things I’ve pinned that I’ve actually used in real life are recipes,” Hurley says. “However, I have a lot of engagement rings pinned to my ‘tying the knot’ board so my friends can show my boyfriend what I want.”
Hurley agrees with the sentiment that the allure of Pinterest should not carry brides-to-be away.
“I think you can use your wedding board realistically,” she says. “I pin possible ceremony locations around Dallas and various wedding favor possibilities. I’m not sure if I’ll use them, but it’s exciting, so why not?”
Pinterest has definitely transformed the wedding-planning industry, and in most cases, it has changed for the better. The social medium has made it easier for brides-to-be to communicate with wedding planners and get the wedding they’ve always dreamed of.
“While I know everything won’t be exactly the same as my board,” Withers says, “it will be cool to see my Pinterest board come to life on my wedding day,” Withers says.
Great article! I found it very surprising that Pinterest has done more good than harm to the industry. It seems like more people would take a stab at planning their own weddings with the help of boards. It’s good to know that planners are here to stay.
Wedding planning or event management is a nice business now-a-days. You can earn profit out of it easily. But main thing is that you have to plan and organise any event according to customer satisfaction. So its better to hire any professional and experienced event planner to organise any event successfully.
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