How to Use a Blog to Plan Your Wedding ~ Being an ‘Active’ Reader…

In the wake of my last discussion post, I found myself reading through some of the comments with a heavy heart. And then Annabel wrote this post on Wednesday.  The idea that our readers might feel pressured or intimidated by what they see on Love My Dress, or any other wedding blog for that matter, saddened me.

Around the same time I stumbled across an article by Marta Segal Block of GigMasters.com imploring women to STOP reading wedding blogs all together, that is if they wanted to 'pull off a fabulous wedding on a budget'.

Although she makes a number of good points, Block's appraisal of wedding blogs is ultimately pretty scathing. I have to admit, after some serious pondering, I felt, well… a little incensed. Interestingly, it  wasn't what she said about blogs, or the people who write them that riled me, but the image she created of readers.

Addicted

How about wedding blog readers that actively engage with what they see online? These women do not sit passively at their computers lapping up whatever bloggers tell them. Instead they are able to think for themselves. They're not driven purely by a desire to consume, or conform. They are astute and wise to the ways of the media – alternative, mainstream or otherwise.

You see, long before I wrote for a wedding blog, I was a reader just like you. And you know what? That's kind of how I like to think of myself.

As such, I feel more than qualified to put forward my guide to using a wedding blog to plan your wedding. I mean, that is why we're all here isn't it?!

 


1. Accept your wedding budget…

In my humble opinion, this is one of the most important parts of the whole wedding planning process. Not to be confused with figuring out how much you have to spend on your wedding day, what I'm talking about is making peace with that figure.

You need to accept the constraints of your budget, learn to be OK with any perceived limitations, and move forward with realistic expectations. Only then can you read blogs, flick through magazines, or chat with other engaged friends without coveting that which you can't afford.

Remember that beautiful weddings, the like of which are featured on blogs, are not simply an act of spending money, but an expression of one person's love for another. If you're going to lust after anything, make it that.

Piggy

Image Source: A L'Amour's Bridal Blog

 

2. Understand the different types of inspiration…

To my mind, there are two main types of inspiration featured on wedding blogs. For the purposes of this discussion we'll call them 'practical' and 'fanciful'.

Let's pretend your wedding is a cake. I like a good analogy, and baking is a world I'm very familiar with. Just go with me on this one…

So, you want to make a cake. You turn to your most trusted recipe book {for me it has to be Nigella, always}. You open it at the relevant page and are presented with two things – a recipe and a picture.

The recipe is your 'practical' inspiration. It tells you what to do and, to some extent, how to do it. You still need to figure out a few of the details yourself, like turning the oven on or creaming the sugar and butter till it's just the right side of fluffy and pale. For the most part though, it is inspiration you can apply directly, and with relative ease, to the task at hand.

On a wedding blog, the 'recipe' is the kind of inspiration which helps you find suppliers and source items for your wedding. It's the words and images that help you cement your ideas and aspirations for the day, while still leaving you responsible for the bulk of the 'work'. In short, practical inspiration can be the building blocks of your wedding day.

You turn to the facing page of your recipe book and begin to drool over the exquisite imagery. Nigella's cake is perfect. The sponge is plump, its delectable moistness obvious. The confection is beautifully adorned with frosting, not a drop is out of place. It is certainly something to aspire to.

You are wise though. You know all about food photography and the lengths they'll have gone to get the cake looking so good. You know it isn't real. Your cake won't look like that. Not even Nigella's does really. Yours will be beautiful, sure, but a little rougher round the edges, less 'staged'. What matters most is that it tastes good, that you enjoy it and it makes you happy.

This, in case it isn't obvious, is your 'fanciful' inspiration. On a wedding blog, this is the styled shoots and the perfectly polished images of dreamy weddings in far flung places. These things aren't always entirely unobtainable, but they aren't usually intended to be replicated identically either. 

Remember this as you devour your daily quota of wedding pretty and as you pin to your Pinterest boards in breathless anticipation of your own wedding.

Nigella

Image Source: Groovy Foody

  

3.  Be active, be realistic, but never be defeatist…

Let me tell
you about how I planned our wedding.

So much of what was included in our
day had its beginnings in something I saw or read about on a blog. I
remember one jokey email exchange with Annabel where I claimed I'd have
to credit Love My Dress on the Order of Service; such was its influence
over our celebration.

The key to reading wedding blogs for me was
to take what I saw on screen and find a way to make it happen in real
life in a way that worked for our wedding. Often it was as simple as
clicking a link to a supplier's website and making an enquiry, but
sometimes I had to think outside the box a little or put my own spin on
things to make them work. 

For me, this is what
being an 'active' blog reader is all about. By all means, be realistic.
If you've booked a village hall for your reception then the chances of
making it look like the impressively regal Fetcham Park are slim to
none. But there's no need to be defeatist. With a little bit of
imagination and lots of tenacity, I truly believe most of the things you
see on these very pages can be incorporated into your day in some way.

I'd
like to think any brides reading Love My Dress are intelligent,
stylish, and resourceful women with a strong sense of self. Why not plough these traits into your wedding planning?!

Follow links to other websites. Get
lost in our archives for a bit. Read our discussion posts. Comment. Share them with your friends.

Type things into Ebay in a bid to find them at half the price. Come up with a way to DIY it, or find someone on Etsy who'll DIY
it for you. Believe in your ability to 'style' your wedding, safe in
the knowledge that 'styling' can be just a fancy way to say 'hanging
decorations'.

Ask other brides how they did it. Ask us how we did it.

Engage with the Love My Dress community {facebook and twitter are great for that} and use this wonderful spot on the internet as a tool for planning your wedding day, rather than as a source of anxiety or feelings of inadequacy.

Il_570xN.295146975

Image Source:  Ello Lovey on Etsy

This is by no means an exhaustive list.

How do you use wedding blogs? Has this post made you think differently about the way you engage with them?

Are you, or would you like to be, an 'active' reader? {Leaving a comment could be your first step towards achieving that by the way!} 

Franky

Heart

 

From now until Monday 3rd September 2012, Love My Dress will deliver a lighter, but just as
beautiful set of content – whilst Summer breaks are taken.  Thank you so much for your patience during this time.

Close
Top