With Halloween in the air, creative inspiration is flowing from me! I figured I’d dedicate this week's post to harnessing and acting upon inspiration. It can be so hard to get the juices flowing, and almost even harder to harness them once creativity strikes! I personally struggle with taking on too much at once, which then ultimately leads to burnout and self destruction. So, not only for everyone who reads my blogs, but also for myself, here’s a newly formatted guide to using your creativity to the fullest!
The first thing I try to do when tapping into that creative space is to design a visual “mood board” or something to that extent from where I can draw my inspiration. This is something that can be so helpful going into any new project! A really large creative endeavor that many of us take on is planning the overall theme or mood for our weddings. I’ll use my wedding as an example going forward to illustrate and break down what really helped me. The key words for my mood board were romantic, soft goth, classical, and divine. I created multiple folders on Pinterest or my phone and just collected tons of reference photos. Then I adjusted what it would realistically look like within our budget. The most perfect wedding inspiration you can find may be way out of budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still evoke that feeling at your wedding.
Speaking of budget--that’s the next step! Create a realistic budget for the project. What are the "musts" and the "probably not as important". Looking up less expensive options or itemizing everything and going from there. A large must have at weddings are dresses. I personally started with dress, venue, and worked from there. I went with what my budget was for each. Now with my dress, it was a must have. So I worked with that and saw what I would have left over to put back into the budget. I found a venue that my husband and I both liked. Then florals, which did have to take a hit. I knew I wanted atmospheric florals, a large bouquet, and a smaller version for my bridal party. The place settings at each table though, oh man that added up. So instead of having a floral department create settings for each table,I made them myself! I thrifted all the pieces and used artificial fruit/flowers. My table had all the bells and whistles, and the rest had crafted things that I made. The over-the-top expensive Pinterest wedding isn’t always a must. You can create your own special atmosphere with the right items. But time is totally something that you need to factor in as well!
Photo By Bill Kirms
Photo by Alana Roobert
Let’s just get right into it. Time! I luckily had a schedule at the time that allowed me to take on most of the planning. That is not the reality for everyone, and now that I work a lot more I don’t have that time to put into my new creative endeavors. I miss it! So asking for help, hiring someone or outsourcing some of the tasks, having a craft night with friends, however it looks. Take the time you need to designate the length and time needed to go into the project. Burn out and feeling overwhelmed is real! And you don’t want to stress yourself out over something that could have been possibly handed by someone else. That goes right into the last big step of the creative planning process:
Take the time to enjoy what you’ve created. I personally can be really hard on myself before I even get to the end of a project. I tend to take on an internal dialogue of “you’re not doing this fast enough” or “this isn’t good enough” so by the time I'm done, I've already gotten it into my head that it’s failed. Being proud of the work you put into the project, event, piece, WHATEVER is just as important as being proud of the outcome! Being creative is rewarding and beautiful. It is also demanding and critical. Taking the time to put your process out into the world is scary, but just be proud that you’ve done it in the first place. I’m proud of you! I hope these steps help with going into any of your future creative endeavors and especially the wedding planning process! It’s your special day! Be sure to enjoy it!
Photo By Alana Roobert - Dress by Maria Heller Designs
"To send feedback or suggestions for upcoming posts contact ally@shopbetenoire.com”
