From Pinterest to Reality

When Steve's daughter told us about Pinterest a couple of years ago, I was intrigued but felt it wouldn't be something I would find useful.  Boy was I wrong!

I LOVE Pinterest!! Especially for the DIY inside me.  I have always loved crafts but  can admit to not always being creative.  Give me an idea, and I can go with it.  Give me something visual to see and I can most times, recreate it.

When Steve & I decided to get married, we knew it wasn't going to be a huge affair.  We had talked about getting married in our backyard and having an intimate family only ceremony.  We've both been there, done that and having the large church wedding wasn't what either of us could picture ourselves doing.

So, I started researching the backyard wedding...the pros and cons of having a ceremony in one's backyard.  Pinterest was a wealth of visual information.  And I started to pin images of flowers, the way someone's backyard looked, colors, wedding favors, etc., etc....

The more I pinned, the more I was convinced I could do it all, and make my entire backyard wedding look amazing!  Until I read a this ecard on Pinterest that made me laugh...then think...I guess I better get off of Pinterest and actually start planning my real wedding...

Ultimately, I was able to get some great ideas from Pinterest but I only translated a few of my pins to reality.

One was this great idea of how to remember loved ones who have passed away.  Steve's parents are both gone and so is my mother.  I've seen memory candles, special flowers, flowers on empty chairs and while all these ideas are wonderful, I wanted something slightly different.  Something less obvious, more subtle.

I saw this and knew this was perfect.  A great way to have your loved ones walk you down the aisle.

This was what mine ended up looking like:

Pictures of parents

The other simple but effective Pinterest idea was centerpieces for the dinner. Nothing fancy, but easy!
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/db/b8/09/dbb80960df89def9e0148c249d01a408.jpg

my inspiration for centerpieces

And ultimately, after heading to the dollar store, this is my version of this.

2 different size containers, silk flowers immersed in water and a candle

Ok, so not a crafty thing, but shoes...Shoes...what girl doesn't love shoes! I didn't NEED Pinterest to help me find my shoes, but when I saw these Louboutin's, I had to pin it! This picture inspired me to find ones like them. In the end, I found a beautiful, but comfortable pair of Guess shoes.   They sparkled and made my feet feel and look great!  And I didn't have to spend my entire wedding budget on the shoes.

Christian Louboutin's - LOVE

My wedding shoes...

 Last but not least, in terms of my Pinterest wedding DIY ideas - I started pinning pictures of beautiful hairstyles.  I knew I probably wouldn't have time to go get my hair done the day of my wedding, so I thought I should search out something simple enough to do but not the usual look I have everyday.  So, an updo was what I considered.  I must admit that I am pretty adept at using a curling iron and rollers so I wasn't afraid of getting my hair curled.  But, I am not always great at using bobby pins and making my hair stay, which is sort of key in an updo.

I found a few styles that looked pretty and seemed simple.  But then, I came across this picture.  The best part is that it has a tutorial!  http://www.preen.me/look/15233001

I watched this once, and then tried it half-heartedly at least twice.  The morning of my wedding day, I curled by hair with a curling iron, used tons of hairspray, and many, many bobby pins.  About an hour later, and a few tweaks to the actual tutorial, I ended up with a style that was perfect for my dress.

The end result

Side view

 My hair turned out not exactly like the picture, but it was exactly what I wanted for me.  The bonus: my hair stayed all day and evening.  

Pinterest is an amazing site that allows creativity to bloom.  Do all pins turn out when you try it for real?  Probably not...but for me, on my wedding day, these 4 pins went from pinterest to real life perfectly.