Photo by Mélange, by Mary Schannen

Inspire- Mélange, by Mary SchannenYes this can easily reflect the typical meaning of wedding planning & ideas that arent so run of the mill.  However in this case, I am actually referring to inspiration!   Everyone peruses the steady flow of wedding blogs, wedding magazines, wedding inspiration galleries, etc etc etc to find great ideas for their own weddings.  While that is absolutely wonderful & spot on, you might have realized by now, your starting to see a LOT of the same.  Now of course there isn’t anything wrong with that, but sometimes  it can feel a bit incestuous & you might find yourself yearning for something fresh new & exciting!  While these inspiration sensation places wont spoon feed you your entire wedding, the below suggestions are hot beds for various elements to help you complete the over all day!

There is a plethora of sites all around the web, especially in places you might not consider, that can really help you find wonderful ideas that you can incorporate into your wedding.  Just because it isn’t obviously wedding related doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton of ideas out there just waiting to be shaped for your wedding!  So where are some great places to look?

Figuring out your wedding day look, as well as the overall look of your bridal party can be difficult at times.  Fashion concise sites like

Polyvore Logo Refinery 29  

Polyvore Inspiration Board by Helleka

are fabulous for not only keeping you up to date on the hottest styles, but are fantastic for working through accessorizing!  If your looking for more then just accessories, dont worry, these wonderful fashion sites also stay on top of gorgeous hairstyles, wonderful makeup looks & trends, as well as a sprinkle of man style yumminess.

Believe it or not, a lot of the great big dogs have come a long way as far as style inspiration goes as well.  Who am I referring to exactly?  The big name department stores.  Now a days most of these big guys have buyers specific to each area as well as editors & creative directors.  They are constantly curating gorgeous collections that are not just pieces but complete looks.  As its their job to give the masses access to great product, it behooves them to always keep it fresh, therefore there is a never ending stream of  wedding day look ideas!

Saks Fifth Avenue Book Stack Styling

These department store giants are also a secret untapped source for some decor element hottness!  Yet again armed with a team whose soul purpose is making the sets around the clothing that they are selling look amazing, there is an endless supply of fabulous ideas to be found!  A perfect example of such a thing was on display when I was  at Saks Fifth Avenue lately.  Clearly they aren’t in the book selling business, but as part of their over all display were old books with the covers ripped off, stacked & tied together with twine.   The overall look is wonderfully vintage shabby chic, super easy, & can totally be done for very little cost!  Those are the kinds of elements that you can pick out & use for your own wedding.

Hostess with the Mostess

Sorting out decor elements in general can often be a bit of the preverbal mind f*ck!  There are so many options to go with, sometimes it hard to cut through the noise.  There are wonderful sites that that are well known for frequently showcasing professionally styled parties that contain tons of ideas to use!  The Sweetest Occasion & Oh Happy Day are 2 of my favorites for these!  I recently stumbled upon Hostess with the Mostess and there is no shortage of gorgeously styled events there too.  These sites dont focus on weddings & as such offer up a lot of newer and different ideas then one might typically be exposed to.

 

Rue La La Brunch

However, what about something a tad more still off the beaten path?  Believe it or not, some of our favorite deal sites have blogs all their own and are constantly posting fun ideas in effort to humanize their companies.  Rue La La has a wonderful blog that they are ever posting a variety subject matter on.  From fashionable looks to hosting events, they are def one to keep an eye on.  Check your favorite deal site, as you’d probably be surprised to see all the great ideas they keep flowing!

Now  let me really freak you out.  You know, no joke, WONDERFUL places for inspiration??  Home Decor/Furniture shops.  Dead serious.  There is so much to be gleamed from these guys.  Backed with not only wonderful product that can make for some perfect decor elements, these places are well staffed by teams dedicated to perfectly style each set in the most innovative of ways.  I really feel this is an often untapped treasure of inspiration!

Pottery Barn Garden Bar

Places like Pottery BarnHorchowRestoration HardwareJayson Home, and so many more!!!  You might be asking yourself, ok, but what exactly can I take from them?  The photo above is a perfect example from Pottery Barn.  They have quite simply & perfectly in every little detail, put together for you what would make for an amazing tasty beverage area at your wedding.  From the wood stand which not only gives height to the overall presentation, also giving a place for the beverage dispensers & glasses to the food styling of the cut fruit within those beverage dispensers.  As well, check out the elements in the background.  How lovely and simple are the hanging pitchers & bunches of greenery.  These are the kinds of elements that can really help inspire you to really create an amazing experience for your guest & make your wedding the most amazing it can be!

These perfectly styled scenes can also be a wonderful source to acquire a wedding color palette!  Each set up is handcrafted to be as absolutely pleasing to the eye as it can be and you best believe that color is a heavy influence in that!  Also, floralspiration abounds in all of these wonderful set ups, so dont be surprised if you find yourself taking in tears from a William-Sonoma catalog to your florist!

When looking at the set up rooms on these various sites, look at how a room is laid out & how you can apply that to the flow of your space.  Perhaps a few accent chairs can be rented, giving a unique look & feel to your space.   These rooms are filled with all kinds of knick knacks, trinkets, elements that arent even for sale but help to bring a room together that can easily be translated into a wedding.

Gold Chargers Floral Napkin Bands

Setting up & designing the tables at your wedding can be an often missed element as well, something I touched on previously here.  A lot of these places I mentioned above have AMAZING tablescaping areas.  This is a wonderful source of inspiration for how you might want to ultimately set the tables at your wedding!

The point is, dont get trapped only looking in & thinking you can only find ideas for your wedding, only wedding sites/magazines.  There are tons of places that can spark ideas & they come in all kinds of  packages.  The power houses that have become creative directors, prop stylists, and advertising visionaries really bring it & there is no reason to let this kind of creative awesomeness go to waste!  Honestly, I’d even check out sites as surprising as something like Home Depot.  There are amazing teams these days that put together some of the most well styled sets, so why not use their amazingness to your advantage!!

 

*All Photos are sampled from the various sites referenced with the exception of the book stack photo which is my own.