Aspiration vs. Inspiration: Tap Into Your Creativity This Wedding

While browsing wedding blogs and websites,  I often come across comments or forum topics where people are asking for the template for banners, programs, menus . . .you name it.  While I know that not everyone has access to Photoshop or is handy enough with scissors to cut perfect circles, I find this a bit disheartening.

I don't think weddings should be cookie cut or designed by templates.  I think websites shouldn't be used as a "how-to" guide but rather as a "fodder for future thought" bucket.

Aspiration is defined as a goal or a strong desire for achievement.  Used in context with planning a wedding, these is the eye candy you find in magazines, blogs, "real wedding" photos and idea forums.  This is what causes the "oh, pretty!" phrase to tumble from our lips.  This is what causes us to "pin it" to a board or clip it and paste it in our binders as another "must-have" for our big days.

But don't confuse this with inspiration.  Inspiration is something that generates an idea or sparks a creative slant to your project.  Inspiration can be found on those same blogs, magazines and forums.  However, it isn't the act of finding them but what happens when those images or DIY projects have time to incubate in your mind.

Every new idea is a mashup of one or more ideas.  An each idea, picture, project or decorating concept is a remix of everything you have chosen to let into your life.  As stated in the book "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon, "you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see . . . you are the sum of your influences."

Read the blogs, study the wedding magazines and scour through the endless forums on wedding websites.  As Kleon said, "your job is to collect good ideas.  The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by."

Then, it is necessary to let the dust settle. Step away from the influences and wedding input to allow your mind to work the ideas like a Rubix cube, flipping ideas this way and that way in an attempt to find what works for you.

Use the aspirations to add to your influences and then use the influences to inspire your creativity when it comes to reception decor or the perfect gown.  This will help you envision the wedding day of your dreams, and not the vision of the wedding industry, friends or a forum poster.