You’re engaged. CONGRATULATIONS! 💍 Now it’s time to plan a wedding. But where do you even begin? Wedding planning can be a daunting task, but it can also be a lot of fun! Creating wedding inspiration pages has been the most fun part of my wedding planning journey so far, and I want to share the fun with you. I’m going to show you how to make a stand-out wedding inspiration binder that that will help bring your wedding vision to life. This should take you a few hours per page to complete. Each page from beginning to finish took me about 3 hours to complete.
I also have a free downloadable Wedding Dress Checklist which you can find on my Proposal Story post!
For this project you’ll need:
- A wedding planning binder – I recommend this Kate Spade planner that I used which includes blank pages for inspiration
- Scissors
- Glue stick – I used a Gorilla Glue stick
- Canva Pro (preferred) – can still be done with free version
- Color printer
👉 Let’s get to it! Open up Canva Pro (or free version if you don’t have Pro) and create a new design with custom 8.5 x 11 in dimensions.
PART 1 (1-2 hours)
This first part will likely take the most time to complete. Go through your Pinterest boards and do some online research to find inspiration. When you find a photo you like, you can right click and select “Copy Image” or use the shortcut SHIFT + WINDOWS + S to screen grab just a section of the page. Paste the image into your Canva document.
After pasting the image on Canva, you want to remove the background. This feature is only available to Canva Pro users. You can get a free 30-day Pro trial when you sign up for a free Canva account.
To use the background remover tool, make sure your image is selected. Click “Edit Image” at the top and then click on “Background Remover”. This will automatically remove the background of the image making it easier to arrange the images on the page.
Repeat these steps for each image that you add to your page. Rearrange the images in a way that allows a little space between each one. You will need a little space to cut around each image when you cut them out.
⭐ I recommend having a dedicated page for each category so you don’t mix anything up.
Have one page for florals, one for wedding dresses, one for hairstyles, etc. Add additional pages for each different category you want to make an inspiration page for. I found that each page took me about an hour to complete.
When you are finished with your inspiration page, you’ll want to download it before printing.
Click on “Download” in the top right. Click the first drop down menu and select “PDF Print”. If you wish to save or print just a single page you can click the second drop down menu and select the page(s) you wish to download.
This is what my finalized inspiration page looked like before printing 👇
When you have completed your inspiration page(s), connect your computer to a color printer and print out the page(s) you wish to use. Make sure you only print single sided and the double sided option is not selected. After your pages are printed, it’s onto the second part!
⭐ If you want to make this SUPER simple and save a lot of time, you can design your pages in Canva, print them on cardstock and punch holes in the pages to put directly into your binder. If you choose this option, I recommend putting text at the top of the page such as “Floral + Centerpiece Inspiration” or “Wedding Dress + Accessories Inspiration” so you can easily identify each page. I had pre-labeled pages in my binder so I chose to cut and glue all of my inspiration pages (instructions below).⭐
PART 2 (1-2 hours)
This is the fun part! Now you get to design and put together your inspiration pages! If you’re a perfectionist like me, this step will likely take you at least an hour, maybe 2 per page.
Carefully cut out each image from your page. If you are doing more than one page, make sure to keep your cut out pieces separated by category so you don’t mix anything up on your inspo pages. If you want to save time you can cut generally around the image instead of cutting out every curve, dip and corner. I chose to cut out each image to it’s exact shape which took a long time.
Once you have each image cut out, lay them out on the page you will be gluing them on. Arrange them in a way that looks good to you before gluing anything down. This is to make sure all of your images fit on the page and aren’t overlapping or crowded. Be sure to leave a little space between each image if possible to avoid crowding.
⭐ Your images may not fit on the inspiration page in the same way that they are laid out on the page you printed.
When you are happy with the layout and look of your page, it’s time to start gluing on each piece.
To begin gluing, pick up one piece, leaving all the other pieces in place where you laid them on the page. This makes it easy to keep the layout you want instead of guessing where they go. Apply glue to the back of the piece as best as you can and place it back in the spot you had it.
Use the bottom of the glue stick to press down on the piece you just glued. Apply light pressure in an outward motion across the whole piece to make sure it’s glued all around on all edges and sticks to the paper.
Before gluing the next piece, make sure all the edges are glued down on the current piece. Glue can dry quickly and leave edges unglued. If you notice an edge or part of the piece is not glued, gently lift that part with your finger and apply a bit of glue underneath. Repeat the previous step, pressing down in an outward motion to glue it.
Repeat the above steps for gluing each piece on your inspiration page. I recommend starting from the top and working your way across and down as you glue each piece. Once again, make sure you leave the unglued pieces in place on the page so you can easily place each piece as you glue it. After you’ve glued each piece, you are done!!
THE FINISHED LOOK
This is what my pages looks like when finished. I left a little space on the accessories page for additional items, as I may see something else like as I continue searching. It’s ok to leave space for additional inspiration. If you know exactly what you want, go ahead and fill it up. This is your vision and inspiration so it is completely up to you!
I hope this tutorial was helpful and enjoyable. I wish you all the best on your wedding planning and hope you have a lot of fun planning! If you want more wedding inspiration come check out my Wedding Board on Pinterest! And follow me on Instagram for everyday style and travel inspiration.
And don’t forget to check out the Wedding Category for additional wedding resourses