Google+ Color Palettes and Inspiration Boards Archives - Southern Weddings

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Category: Color Palettes and Inspiration Boards

A few weeks ago, we shared a feminine and floral inspiration board and shopping guide, inspired by one of Donna Morgan’s newest prints, and today, I’m excited to introduce y’all to another–Taffy! Watercolor details are always beautiful additions to a wedding, and this dress is such a unique option that would be a perfect fit for a late spring or summer celebration.

Inspired by the bright and bold, but still sweet, Taffy print, this inspiration board is fit for a Southern early summer wedding, perhaps in the backyard or on a farm. It’s charming, colorful, and strikes just the right balance between elegant and playful!

Clockwise from top left: Donna Morgan, Delbarr Moradi via 100 Layer Cake, Jen Dillender via Southern Weddings, Robyn Van Dyke via Southern Weddings, Christian Oth via Style Me Pretty, Katie Stoops via Southern Weddings, Harwell Photography, Elaine Palladino via Style Me Pretty

Ready to get the look? Shop pieces inspired by this style below!

A. Donna Morgan in Taffy, B. Earrings, C. Tea towel, D. Berry basket, E. Bottle vases, F. Coral necklace, G. Turquoise sandals, H. Pie dish

You can browse all of Donna Morgan’s bridesmaid styles here, and stay tuned for another installment of pattern inspiration next month!

This post is brought to you by Donna Morgan–thanks for your support of the brands that make Southern Weddings possible!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
1 Comment
  1. avatar Dana reply

    I love this print! After the V7 shoot with the printed bridesmaid dresses, I am in love!

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At Southern Weddings, we love a good printed bridesmaid dress–our In Full Bloom and Freshly Squeezed editorials are proof of that! It was probably no surprise then, that if you follow SW on Instagram, you saw how excited Emily and I were to discover the new printed bridesmaid dresses from Donna Morgan at Bridal Market. The dresses immediately had us dreaming of the beautiful weddings where they’d be at home, so over the next few months, we’ll be sharing wedding inspiration based on a few of our favorite patterns!

First up is Garden Floral – a bright, cheery, feminine print perfect for spring. It looks just as lovely mismatched with solid colors as it does on its own!

Photographer: Jessica Haley Photography / Venue: Topping Rose House and Villa des Amis / Styling: Jacqueline Weppner of Merci New York / Florals: Sag Harbor Florist / Hair Styling: Andreas Schonagel of UtopiaNYC / Makeup Artists: Sally Duvall and Yona Corbett for Sally Duvall Makeup Artistry

We firmly believe that wedding inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere–your love story, your home, architecture, books, movies, and even fashion. Inspired by the sweet silhouettes, jewel-toned pops of color, and feminine feel of the Garden Floral print, we created this wedding inspiration board, and we love the bolder take on a spring color palette!

Clockwise from top left: envelope liners by Sideshow Press, lavender drink via Brides UK, dresses by Donna Morgan, programs photo by Agnes Lopez, unknown bouquet photo, centerpiece photo by Apryl Ann via 100 Layer Cake, gold cake photo by Cheryl Ford via Style Unveiled, floral arch from Martha Stewart Weddings

Ready to get the look? Shop the pieces below!

A. “Greta” in Garden Floral by Donna Morgan, B. Kendra Scott earrings, C. Stag Handmade tie, D. Kate Spade clutch, E. Nars Schiap lipstick, F. Jessica Simpson heels, G. Twig & Twine Design bouquet, H. “Ruby” in White by Donna Morgan, I. Essie The Lace is On nail polish, J. BaubleBar statement necklace

You can browse all of Donna Morgan’s bridesmaid styles right here. And stay tuned for another installment of pattern inspiration next month!

This post is brought to you by Donna Morgan–thanks for your support of the brands that make Southern Weddings possible!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
5 Comments
  1. avatar Dana reply

    I love this inspiration board so much!

  2. avatar Donna Morgan Blog | Featured on: Southern Weddings reply

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  3. avatar Stephanie reply

    Last week, I created a floral bridesmaid dress inspiration board with this exact picture included! I’m loving the Spring-like feel of floral maids dresses these days!!

  4. avatar Meagan reply

    So so pretty! Loving all of their new prints!

  5. avatar 15 ideias de vestido floral para madrinhas de casamento – eNoivado reply

    […] Jessica Haley Photography via Southern Weddings […]

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In our wedding planner, one of the first tips we recommend is making an inspiration board. At the beginning of your engagement, an inspiration board is the perfect way to represent the look and feel of your wedding in a neat, tidy, and beautiful package. Inspiration boards are also a useful tool for working with your wedding vendors – they’ll help you clearly articulate your vision and get everyone on the same page. Finally, a great inspiration board will also serve as a touchstone you can refer back to again and again throughout wedding planning to see whether new ideas or options match up against your overall vision. Today, we’re going to teach you how to make one!

Actually, there are two types of inspiration boards – true story-based inspiration boards, and what we like to call mood boards or color boards. 100 Layer Cake creates some of our favorite color boards, including the bright spring example above. Mood boards are much more conceptual and streamlined than inspiration boards. They convey the major colors involved in the project, and a general feeling – light and happy, pale and dreamy, dark and romantic. Mood boards usually only consist of 2-5 images.

Inspiration boards, on the other hand, are unified by more than just a color and a feel. They usually contain 8-12 images and have a storyline that is cohesive and logical, than can easily be brought to life in an actual event. In fact, inspiration boards will often include specific elements that will show up in the event they’re inspiring! Snippet & Ink creates some of our all-time favorite inspiration boards, and she has an incredible backlog of 500+ boards to browse! You can see some of SW’s past color and inspiration boards here.

You know why you need one, so now it’s time to create one! I’m going to use the inspiration board I made for my wedding as our example. The first step is pulling a collection of inspiring images. Don’t feel limited by using only wedding images — pull from interior design, food photography, etc! Pinterest is perfect for this collecting phase. Above you can see some of the 200+ images I saved as inspiration.

Once you have a few images you love, it’s time to start piecing them together. There are many, many ways to do this (Photoshop, InDesign, Polyvore, even Microsoft Word or Powerpoint), but the program I think is best is called Adobe Illustrator. Happily, you can download a free 30-day trial of Illustrator right here – plenty of time to make and save a board! :) To start, I open a Web document and choose 600 pixels by 900 pixels wide, because our blog is 600 pixels wide. If you’re mostly planning to print out your board, you can make your Illustrator board 8.5 by 11 inches wide.

Next, I’ll begin adding in any photos I’m considering using. It might look like a little like this at this point:

When narrowing down images, I tried to stick to elements that I knew were realistic for our day and that evoked the setting we would be in, while still being true to the colors and feel we were going for. As you refine your board, play around with your layout and move things on and off until the overall composition looks pleasing. I like to add thin white lines between images to keep everything looking clean and crisp!

To finish, I export the board by “saving for web and devices.” And that’s that!

Tablescape photo by Jonathan Canlas via Snippet & Ink; cake via Martha Stewart Weddings; Sperry tent flags photo by Cramer Photo via Snippet & Ink; wine bottle photo by Jonathan Canlas; bouquet photo by Stephanie Williams; navy wedding invitation poster by I am Always Hungry via 100 Layer Cake; flowering boxwood bush photo by Katie Stoops from Southern Weddings; dapper groomsmen photo by A Bryan Photo; bow tie escort cards from Martha Stewart Weddings; arrangement photo by Lisa Lefkowitz via Snippet & Ink; black and white dance floor photo by Abby Jiu; dock portrait by Tanja Lippert via Style Me Pretty; tablescape photo by Jonathan Canlas via Snippet & Ink

I also wanted to let y’all know about a new service I just heard of – Violet. If you’re not comfortable with design software, they make the process of creating an inspiration board much easier! You can start with one of their curated boards, and then tweak by uploading your own photos. We love the look of this tool!

If you have any questions at all, I’d be happy to answer them! In the meantime, here is your easy to pin graphic to save for later:

We’ll be sharing a quick and simple piece of wedding planning advice based on our most frequently asked questions once a week! Feel free to email us with your own question, or pick up a copy of the Southern Weddings Planner for all of our best resources in one place!

emily Written with love by Emily
5 Comments
  1. avatar Kyla Fetzner reply

    Making inspiration boards has become one of my favorite ways to refine my style and piece together ideas that I love, especially for my blog. Thank you for sharing your process Emily!

  2. avatar Laura reply

    This is great! Although I’m not planning my wedding anymore, I know I can definitely use this to create inspiration boards for room makeovers, party planning, etc. Thanks!

    • avatar Emily reply

      So true! I now have one for each room in my house, and use them for planning parties, too!

  3. avatar Ashlie Muller reply

    I just LOVE inspiration boards! They are so pretty to look at, but so very helpful too!!

  4. avatar Shannon reply

    This is a great resource! In my new online course I go into depth on how I create them by video – it’s a similar process – I think mood boards are SO important when it’s time to design your wedding!

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

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