On today’s Lunch Live, I was joined by one of the nicest ladies in Weddings, Grainne from Atlantic Vows. Grainne is a wedding coordinator in The Armada, Spanish Point Clare. Not alone that, she is a Wedding Celebrant and also runs wedding planning workshops.

Grainne Atlantic Vows

One area of planning that can cause a little bit of overwhelm is the starting point and that part where you need to combine all of those ideas, visuals and dreams in to one place. Grainne often talks about creating your Wedding Vision Board and it totally makes sense. Now this doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it can be on a big sheet of paper, a scrap book, a word doc….whatever works for you. The key is just to get the ideas out of your head in to one central place.

For my own wedding and when I’m working creatively, I really can’t work off a computer. I need everything up on a big board (matrix style) where it’s all in front of me in one piece. For my own wedding, like a lunatic, I printed out all of the Pinterest and web Images I found for inspiration. I put them in to a scrap book and that worked for me. Now if i’m doing a styled shoot for a client or even a video, I do a provisional storyboard in a powerpoint presentation and then convert that in to a word document where I have more space for notes. You can also get the sticky white board sheets from Mr Price. They come on a roll, you tear them off and just stick to the wall. When you are finished, you just take them down with no mess. They are disposable whiteboards. I like to do a lot of mind mapping on those. Some people like to create private boards on Pinterest and share with a few collaborators.

Essentially, you are creating a mood board that would be common practise in creative jobs like interior design or fashion styling. It’s a tool to help you hone your visual ideas for a creative project/special occasion.

So now you have your paper game sorted, what next?

Grainne’s first step is to sit down as a couple and actually start communicating on what you both imagine your day looking like. Very similar to the starting points I have in my own book. I always found at this point, you can really get on the same page or talk through any misalignment. Grainne raised the point that for so many that don’t have this conversation in advance of visiting the venue, you can end up arriving with a conflicting brief to the venue and get nowhere!

At this stage, you are just thinking out loud and might bullet-point some thinking.

Now it’s time to create your own Wedding Mood Board

1. Visualise:

Taking the discussion points and maybe some pictures of things you like, start getting them down in no particular structure on to your board – don’t worry about order, you will start to put these pieces in their boxes over time.

1. Making your list: “The Five Headings”

2.1 Setting the Scene

2.2 The Details

2.3 Words

2.4 Awaken the Senses

2.5 Thinking

2.1 Setting the Scene:

You might want to just bullet point or add pictures but this is all about reflecting on how you both see your wedding. You will be taking some the discussion you had earlier but really nailing down the exact decisions. These may not be actuals in the early stages, they may be aspirational visions but overtime as you book this, you may go back and refine/refresh. This section is really the foundations and the main structure around your day.

• Picture of the couple
• Date/Season/Year
• Home/Away
• Venue
• Ceremony: Civil/Church
• Guest numbers/Budget

2.2 The Details:

This where the you start to paint the picture so if you think of building a house and setting the scene are your blueprint drawings, this section is the type of brick, the decor and those adaptions to suit your personal taste and requirements. In otherwords, it’s the Dermot Bannon window at the back of the house!

• Colour Scheme (when you are thinking about colour schemes, you need to look at your venue as if you have a colour that may not look right against it’s backdrop, you may not get the full visual effect.)
• Style: Relaxed/Setting/Atmosphere
• Couple’s Interests (is there anything that you love as a couple, for example being foodies, music lovers etc)
• Personalise the Day (this is where you might take that ‘foodie’ piece and develop out the details, are there dishes that you both adore or a band genre for music)
• Family contributions (will you be bringing some talented members from your family and friends to do something or make something for the day)

2.4 Words

In words, you are really looking at the areas where there is some articulation of your day, from the ceremony, table names and signage. A consideration is the style of ceremony you are going for, if you have a civil / non secular wedding, poetry and song lyrics might play a role for you versus a religious ceremony where there are a list of readings to choose from. Majority of couples doing a religious ceremony tend to leave that wording within the church and then adopt a different style of words for the venue / invitation space after. Majority of non secular weddings tend to have the same theme running throughout.

• Poem
• Readings
• Song Lyrics
• Quotes

One other non-public wording to think of:

• Describe your wedding in 4 words

I love love love this idea. Grainne recommends thinking of x4 bullet point words that a representative of the day you want. Examples might be:

Beach type wedding: Relaxed, bright, fun, summer vibes

Black tie wedding: formal, glamorous, classic, traditions

Country house wedding: relaxed, elegant, family home away from home, sing song

2.5 Awake the Senses

The five senses allow you to look at the day in a more emotive and ‘feelings’ based way. When I think of this section, I can’t help close my eyes to imagine what it is. Everything here you are listing as what you want it to be and as you gain those feelings or senses, you may jot down the actual affect you imagine guests having.

• Food | TASTE
• Music | HEAR
• Surroundings | SEE
• Perfume | SMELL
• Fabrics | TOUCH

2.6 Thinking

Finally, here is where you start to allow your brain to tackle the top layers of thinking and you can do this more effectively knowing that all of your core ideas are already captured and unlocked from your brain. This section allows you to critically assess when you have and maybe think about how you can sprinkle even more magic and pre-empt any pieces that may be missed earlier on.

• Outside the box – is there anything that you feel that you feel you would like to do that is completely different or a novelty.
• Wow Factor – What is the one thing you want to really wow at. Is it florals, food, music, entertainment….
• Countdown | Tick off this week/month – this is where the organisational skills kick in good and early as you can start to refine your to do list and then plan the planning.
• PIVOT – When everything is laid down and visualised, when you need to pivot, you can look at knock on effects with ease when it is all there and brought to together.

I hope you all find this helpful. You can learn more from Atlantic Vows Right Here.