If there’s one thing every Florida State girl has in common, it is Pinterest. Even if you do not have an account, it has become nearly impossible to avoid the massively growing website. While this Pandora’s box may give us ultimate access to the latest DIY’s and makeup inspiration to keep us always looking fresh, it’s also gives us the platform to plan out our entire dream life.
The days of playing dress up in Mom’s old wedding gown may be over, but planning out every single detail of our dream day never will be. Pinterest now gives us the opportunity to see, compare, and steal inspiration from brides and bridal enthusiasts across the world. But how is this affecting how we think of our own future wedding? Unless we are engaged should we even be focusing on the style of the dress we like or what color scheme works best for every time of year? Shouldn’t we be focused on our degrees rather than our future rings?
For one, Pinterest seems to have tarnished the originality of the little things such as asking your best friend to be your Maid of Honor thanks to the countless pins of how brides have already done it before. Pinterest does lead future brides to ideas that can help them better budget and self manage their wedding. Rather than being dependent on a wedding planner to cover everything, Brides can cut out the middleman and be more self-involved. Also, with the number and variety of DIY’s Pinterest accumulates, it’s easier for Brides to cut cost and be more hands on than in the past. But beyond how authentic your wedding may be, how do the wedding Pinterest boards affect our future husbands? While there is no harm in admiring bouquet arrangements or how someone had their dog as the ring bearer, my biggest concern is whether or not we should be picking out the things the fiancé has control over.
I’m not suggesting you should keep your dream wedding board a secret, but if you have countless pictures of rings and “how-to propose” instructions pinned, he will either love it or hate it. On one hand, he may love the fact you have made it so easy for him to pick out the ring, but what about the budget? What if he messes up the proposal and your best friend didn’t tell you to have your nails painted? Or what if he didn’t hire a photographer to capture a snap from ‘the moment’?
We’ve all heard someone say, “If it isn’t on Facebook, it didn’t happen”. This raises the question, if it isn’t on Pinterest, did your wedding even happen? Pinterest has created a culture of women judging how “Pinterest Perfect” a wedding may be.
While we can all continue to dream about the dress and then man, maybe we can refrain from dwelling on the ring. So let me take this moment to suggest we all take a step away from the Wedding boards and focus on the priorities we have now. To love ourselves, be successful in our goals, and enjoy life.