Congratulations, you’re engaged! It’s time to start planning the best day of your life. Before you are presented with endless options of wedding details, it’s important to establish the style, mood and theme of your wedding day. Having a mood board as a visual reference will allow you to not be overwhelmed with options because it keeps you on track of your vision. It ensures every detail is cohesive and representative of the feeling you want to portray. Your mood board is also a great tool when communicating with your wedding planner and wedding vendors.
I partnered with my good friend, Alyssa, of Alyssa Amez Design to help share advice on creating your mood board. Alyssa is an extremely talented stationery designer based in the Metro Detroit area. Her attention to detail, her professionalism and her genuine personality are what I adore most about her. Together, we are so excited to share our advice!
What is a mood board?
Alyssa: To me, a mood board is a place where my thoughts and ideas transform into visuals. Before starting any project, I always create a mood board to organize and start to develop my ideas and gather images of where I’m going to pull inspiration from. Many people have a different perception of what a mood board is or what a mood board is intended for, so for me, I’m going to personally relate it to my line of work – stationery design.
Kaitlyn: I believe a mood board is a visual representation of the feelings, look and message you want to portray to your wedding vendors and guests.
What makes a great mood board? With examples!
Alyssa: As a designer, I’m inspired by a few things that are always very prevalent and noticeable in my work; that is texture / architecture, typography, floral, emotion, and color schemes. This is what makes a great mood board!!
Kaitlyn: This is my dream wedding mood board. Elegant, Coastal, Classic. The elements that portray classic are the white satin wedding dress, neutral color pallet, and clean lines and typography in the stationery design. The coastal elements are the blues, cream and green to represent the colors of the ocean waves, warm sand and luscious greenery. I would choose a wedding venue that was on a body of water for sure! Lastly, the elegant elements are copious amounts of florals, clean lines and design as seen in the stationery, and the quality of the rentals as seen at the table setting. Picking photos that are all different from each other yet similar is what makes the best mood board!
Why is creating a mood board beneficial?
Alyssa: It’s not uncommon for clients to provide inspiration photos of what they are looking for prior to the start of any design work. I actually highly encourage this and it helps me to better understand their preferences before curating a mood board for them. To me, mood boards are beneficial in two ways; first, as a stationery designer, it’s very important that my clients know what I’m envisioning for their project to avoid any miscommunication as we get deeper into the design process, and second, a place where I can organize my ideas.
Kaitlyn: I think that’s great! When presenting your wedding style/theme to your vendors and wedding planner, different words and styles have different meanings to everyone. Your mood board allows you to clearly communicate the style and vision you want for your wedding day. It’s so important that everyone is on the same page so the vision comes to life in a clear, cohesive way.
Alyssa, if someone wanted to create a wedding that feels very whimsical, playful, and bright, can you explain what design elements would communicate that?
Alyssa: When curating your event design, I 100% believe that it starts with the venue. For this type of feel, I’d suggest a conservatory, an art gallery, or a backyard tented wedding. From there, I would recommend a colorful, but more neutral color scheme that continues to be timeless for years to come; the typography would be classy, but whimsical-style calligraphy with a combination of serif to portray sophistication, but a playful nature. When thinking about other design elements, I love incorporating bright floral elements and interactive signage displays to best suit the venue space!
Where do I find inspiration photos and how do I create a mood board?
Alyssa: Pinterest is a great place to look for inspiration, especially for anything wedding related. Sometimes I find it difficult to find everything I’m looking for on Pinterest. My other favorite place to look for stock photos to use in my mood boards is rawpixel!
Kaitlyn: Yes, Pinterest is a great place to get started. I recommend creating a new Pinterest board and at first and start pinning everything that you like. Try not to solely choose wedding photos, but also pin photos of architecture, textures, fashion, etc. Once you have a board of about 40+ photos, pick the top 5-8 photos that speak to you most. Once you have those photos, look at the primary colors in each of the photos. Pick out the primary colors to create your color palette. Usually the color palette will consist of about 3-5 colors. Once you have your mood board created, be sure to print it out or save it on your phone for easy reference!
Have more questions? Contact either Alyssa or Kaitlyn. We are always here to help in anyway we can!
P.S. If you’d like more inspiration and helpful advice from Alyssa, I highly recommend following her on TikTok!
