helpful resources – Rachel MacDonald

32 Ways to Use Pinterest to Plan Your Wedding, Grow Your Blog, Achieve Your Goals & Sell More Stuff!

30 January, 2012

According to Hitwise reports, in the past six months or so traffic to Pinterest has increased 4000%. Yes, you read right – 4000%. Wowsers.

It’s no secret I’m gigantic Pinterest fan (I’ve written about it here and marvelled at it’s awesomeness more times than I can remember) and I was talking to a few friends about the site recently – most are newcomers and agree that pinning a few beautiful images every day is highly relaxing – and it got me thinking about the other ways Pinterest can be used for everything from pimping out your products to keeping you on track with your yearly goals.

Read on to find out how to get the most out of your Pinterest account – oh and before we start, you can follow me on Pinterest here!

1 // How did we all plan weddings without Pinterest? It’s been essential for my planning, and my ‘dream wedding’ board is seriously bursting at the seams with inspiration for our Big Day! Brides-to-be, do yourself a favour and make Pinterest your first port of call before you even consider buying expensive bridal magazines.

2 // Create a specific board for wedding DIY’s to save yourself hunting around the web every time you want to make a doily lantern or burlap bunting.

3 // Gather images for wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses in one spot so you can see how colours and styles will work together.

4 // Save images of wedding day hairstyles to help your hairdresser out.

5 // Likewise, pin images of pretty made up faces so you have a bunch of inspiration to show your make-up artist.

6 // Create a board for photography – the styles you love, different poses, the kinds of shots you want to ensure your photographer gets on your special day.

7 // Invitations. I can’t tell you how much I used Pinterest when I was looking for inspiration for our wedding invites. Pin examples of fonts/ calligraphy, colours, examples of wording and creative Save the Date ideas.

8 // Unless you have a specific idea on the types of flowers you want for your wedding, navigating this important element of the day can be tricky because there are so many options (a lot of them season-dependant). Use Pinterest to gather images of a variety of different bouquets and blooms and see which ones you’re leaning towards when you go back and review your board. It’s so handy to have all the options in front of you!

9 // It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but use Pinterest to source stunning imagery to complement your blog posts.

10 // Take a leaf out of Victoria from sfgirlbybay’s book and create a ‘Blog Log’ board for all your favourite blogs (see example above). Much prettier than your standard Bookmarks bar!

11 // Read Bree’s super informative Pinterest post and add a Pin It! button to your blog like I have below, so people can pin images straight to Pinterest (which will link back to your site). The plugin I used is called Pinterest ‘Pin It’ Button.

12 // Discover which images from your blog have made popular pins (market research!) via www.pinterest.com/source/inspacesbetween.com (add your blog URL to the end instead).

13 // Following influential ‘pinners’ gives you a great insight into upcoming trends, that can therefore inspire future posts on your blog. Some stylish pinners I follow (who always find the coolest stuff) are: Bri Emery from Design Love Fest, Kate Arends from Wit + Delight, Ez Pudewa from Creature Comforts, Joy Cho from oh Joy! and Victoria from sfgirlbybay, as mentioned above.

14 // Network with other bloggers by leaving comments under their pins.

15 // Save screenshots of logos, typography, colour schemes and other graphical elements you love to inspire future redesigns for your blog.

16 // Let Pinterest help increase your website traffic. Pinterest is the fifth highest referrer of traffic to In Spaces Between.

17 // Use Pinterest as a ‘virtual vision board’ by pinning inspiring quotes to a ‘Words of Wisdom’ board. Make it the first thing you look at every morning before you begin working to start the day off right!

18 // Pin aspirational images of places you want to explore on your next holiday and write a few words underneath each one to keep you motivated and on track with your savings. You might like to write a positive intention underneath such as ‘I will be lying on a sun lounge here in August 2012’ or something more specific that will pump you up every time you read it.

19 // Take your own photos and use a program like Photoshop to write your favourite quotes on them. Instant pin bait!

20 // Create a ‘Fit & Fab’ board and pin images of healthy, fit people to keep you focused on your fitness goals.

21 // Pin images of exercises and yoga poses to one board and have your computer screen open next time you’re working out at home.

22 // Create a board for your favourite books, people that inspire you, your bucket list or meditation resources.

23 // Save recipes for healthy snacks and meals – you won’t believe how helpful this is! Likewise for party planning – you can have recipes, table settings and decoration ideas all in one place.

24 // Pinterest is hugely popular for creating curated galleries of products people love. Use it to sell your products/ services by pinning your products and linking through to your Etsy store or website. As an added bonus, include your prices.

25 // Conduct market/ competitor research.

26 // Create informative tutorials that link back to your website or business blog.

27 // Pull together moodboards for concepts that you can direct your clients to.

28 // Showcase your portfolio, with descriptions on each piece of work. This is a fantastic way to drum up new business! As I mentioned before, Pinterest traffic is up nearly 40-fold on 6 months ago – that’s one mighty big pool to dip your toes into!

29 // About to embark on a home reno? Plan out each room by creating separate boards for your kitchen/ bathroom/ lounge room/ bedroom and pinning images that represent the mood, colour palette and design elements you want to incorporate.

30 // Save links to Etsy stores that sell beautiful artwork or imagery to adorn your walls.

31 // Get tips and tricks for outdoor DIY’s or decorating small spaces. My ‘pallet love’ board came in particularly handy when we were looking at furniture to make from recycled pallets.

32 // Discover a plethora of ideas to maximise your wall space. Some of my favourites in my ‘home is where the heart is’ board are pics of magazines hung on stark white walls, gallery walls with mismatched frames and polaroids shaped into a love heart display.

BONUS: I also love Bonnie Tsang’s idea of keeping a copy of her iPhone photos on one Pinterest board.

+ Are you a mad pinner too? Have you ever thought of using your Pinterest account for more than just bookmarking pretty images?

If you liked this post, I’d be forever grateful if you could share it on Stumbleupon or use the Facebook/ Twitter social sharing buttons below!

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4 Essentials For A Magnificent Blog: Problogger Event Recap // Part II

28 October, 2011

* Steph from Lipstick & Cake, Bree from The Blog Stylist, Darren Rowse from Problogger (I’m sure you all know him!) and some random chick from In Spaces Between, this awesome site you should tell EVERYONE about. Ha!

As I mentioned in Part I of my Problogger event recap, I loved my trip to Melbourne last week (for lots of reasons) and I wanted to share some of the highlights from the Problogger event and the lessons I learned that will hopefully be of benefit to you if you have a blog of your own.

I want to preface these points by saying that I believe a lot of the time, when you’re passionate about something, you’ve probably already read stacks of books and researched your little heart out online on that topic, but there’s something about attending a conference or workshop and interacting with like-minded people that really helps your motivation levels soar. Even if you only walk away with one great idea to implement or a new perspective on something, the event has been worthwhile in my opinion. That said, I walked away with a boatload of knowledge this time, and most importantly, a group of new bloggy friends, which in my eyes = total success!

Here are some of the points from the speakers that really stood out for me:

1. Unleash Your Passion

When you’re passionate about your blog, you attract passionate readers. People remember stories and how they make them feel. These can be your own personal stories or case studies or interviews (other people’s stories). In his talk about ‘Blogging from the Heart,’ Darren talked about the personal posts he had done on his blog that went on to become immensely popular. Videos are also an effective way to connect with your readers.

Aim to solve a problem in your readers’ life. Inspire people to go on a hunt for for information, be playful, surprise your readers, write in your own style and most of all, be really useful.

2. Think Business

If you want your blog to be a business, treat it like one. You can do so by:

1. Identifying your goals – where do you want your blog to take you? Is it simply a creative outlet – a place to document your thoughts – or do you want to eventually make money/ land a speaking gig/ consult for clients/ write a book?

2. Creating reader profiles – I love this idea. Grab a piece of paper and have a think about who your ‘ideal reader’ is (use a photo if it helps you visualise them better). Detail what they like, what kinds of things they do/ buy/ wear/ eat. Get clear on who you’re targetting.

3. Branding – what do you want people to say about your blog?

4. Defining your call to action – what do you want people to do when they visit your site?

5. Research – get in touch with your most loyal readers and get inside their heads. What do they love about your site? What would they like to see more of? These are the types of readers you want more of, so find out what’s doing it for them (or not).

6. Structured content – I do this here with Blogs to Bookmark every Tuesday and Making Me Happy every Wednesday. This is content you’ll always find on my site each week and the structure keeps me on track because I know that 2 out of 4 (or 5) days are accounted for. This may not fit with your free-flowing, write when the mood strikes posting style, which is fine but it can be a great way to keep people coming back for more and build participation levels. I’m assuming this is because people start to feel more “comfortable” with commenting on a post that they see others commenting on regularly.

7. Biz cards – go for well-designed regular ones, or if you want to do something fun and different, take a leaf out of Danimezza’s book and make up some cute badges and stick them to your business card. I got one from her that said “I’m totally going to blog about this.” Cute!

8. Network – attend events, plan blogger meet ups in your city.

9. And one from me: Think about your “elevator pitch” – although I think the term elevator pitch is a touch wanky, there’s merit in having a concise statement that answers the inevitable “So, what’s your blog about?” question. My blog is quite hard to define given that it’s not focused on one particular niche (covering inspiration across the board, from beauty to weddings, health and fitness and personal development and more) so my take-away from the event is that I need to work on summarising all that into a statement that is short, snappy, succinct.

3. Establish a Presence

1. Comment on other blogs – regularly. Lady Melbourne said in the early days she’d visit up to 50 blogs a day and leave a comment, which is bloody impressive to say the least.

2. Email other bloggers personally and ask if they’d consider adding you to their blog roll – I actually didn’t know if this was du jour these days, but well, everything helps so give it a go! I think the key is emailing the blogger rather than leaving an “Add me to your blogroll!” plea in their comments.

3. Make YouTube videos.

4. Regarding traditional media, Lucy from The Design Files said that some editors are supportive but because blogs are so prevalent these days, you need to be doing something newsworthy (eg: running a pop up shop, launching an e-book/ book).

5. Create shareable content. Take a look at the posts by other bloggers that get lots of comments or retweets and apply that formula to your own content. List posts are winners!

4. Think About Planning Editorial

If you have something you’re promoting and you want to bring attention to it – an eBook is a good example – start talking about it ahead of time. Give readers snippets, generate discussion, ask for opinions on certain parts.

Also think about big events coming up (eg: Christmas) and start forward planning. WP Editorial Calendar is a fantastic widget for planning content.

Other Fun Stuff

+ Author of ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’ Tim Ferriss surprised us all on the day by dropping in and delivering a punchy speech. There were audible gasps.. and yes, I was one of the gaspers. His advice: “Very clearly define what success means to you.”

+ Pink hair was abundant.

+ You know those people that are hired for events to rev up the crowd? Potential career for Mrs Woog – she had everyone in stitches and I’m pretty sure she didn’t even think she was being funny. She just was.

+ And for a bunch more recaps on the event, there’s a full list over on Problogger.

+ All in all, a fantastic event that I’ll definitely go to again next year! What about you? Have you ever been to a blogging/ social media conference, and if so. what did you learn?

Images: 1. Trendhunter 2. You Are My Fave 3. Some E-cards 4. Emmas Blogg 5. GTV One

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Making Money From Your Blog: Problogger Event Recap // Part I

25 October, 2011

Last Friday I attended my first blogging event and I loved it. It was actually the first conference I’ve (ever) been to where I thought time was going too quickly and where I wasn’t pretending to go to the bathroom at regular intervals so I could kill some time/ ring someone/ stretch/ have a micro-sleep/ eat something horrific from the vending machine/ get the hell out of there. Which obviously speaks volumes.

I’m going to break my wrap up of the event into two parts because I took A LOT of notes and I don’t to bombard you all too much, so I’ll kick off today by summarising the most important bits from the talk the inimitable Phoebe Montague of Lady Melbourne fame gave on ‘Monetising Your Blog.’

Before I start, can I just say Phoebe was one of the most engaging speakers I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. There were several breakout sessions throughout the day and the room was packed for hers, so in a limited timeframe Phoebe zoomed through her presentation with a whole lotta sass and a healthy dose of tough love. Her advice was it was insanely practical – she used real numbers, detailed her own stats and prices for advertising, and showed us her current media kit as an example. As a newbie blogger, I found this really helpful. There wasn’t ‘pie in the sky’ advice – it was realistic and actionable. The best part was seeing someone deliver their talk with conviction on a topic they are clearly very passionate about.

How to Make Moolah From Your Blog With Advertising

1. Build Your Audience First

This is a given, but if you’re asking yourself what that magic number of hits is that advertisers are looking for before spending money on your site, as a general rule, you’ll need at least 10,000 hits/ page views per month.

2. Get Your Network On

Walking into a crowded room by yourself and walking up to a stranger can be nerve-wracking. I get that. I actually did this on Thursday night at the Problogger event pre-drinks and the first person I met was Emma Merkas from $30 Date Night who totally took me under her wing and introduced me to a bunch of people, for which I’m extremely grateful. That’s the thing with networking though, everyone is in the same boat and that person you’re nervous to meet is probably nervous about meeting people sometimes too. As someone wise once said: “Get amongst it.”

The next step is to pimp your blog out, and not just at networking events. Anywhere. Get business cards made up with your URL, your Facebook page and your Twitter username (you might like to include your Instagram name or Pinterest profile as well). Always be ready to let people know that you have a blog and would love them to check it out. Phoebe made an awesome point when she said that no-one else is going to do it, it’s up to you. Your mum might tell the world about your blog but that’s about it. You need to be out there spreading the word. Amen.

3. Finding Advertisers and Responding To Emails From PR’s

Finding Advertisers

Look who is out there targeting and advertising on other blogs as they’ll have a better understanding of working with bloggers.
Go local.
Look at other bloggers – they may be willing to advertise on your site, especially if they have a store attached to their blog (EG: Etsy)
Cold call: email businesses/ brands and let them know you already use their product and would love to work together on a giveaway or build a mutually beneficial relationship.
Ad agencies like NuffNang in Australia, BlogHer or Google Ad networks can help you find advertisers and cut out a lot of the work – but remember you may lose some control over your content and you will be paid on a 30-90 day basis.

Working with PR Reps

Be extremely clear about what you will and won’t do from the outset.
Do not work for free.
Get used to saying no more than you say yes.
Answer every email.
Be polite. If the brand isn’t the right fit for your blog and won’t add value for your readers respond by saying: “Dear X, Many thanks for considering me for your latest campaign. The XXXX looks gorgeous but it’s not the right fit for my audience. Many thanks for thinking of XXXX blog name. Warmest, Your Name.”
Think of all the added extras you can include – tweets, Facebook updates, newsletter mentions.

4. Developing A Killer Media Kit

Your media kit is designed to entice advertisers into advertising with you so ensure it looks as professional as possible. Hire a graphic designer and think about including the below:

Overview of who you are and what your blog is about
Facts and Stats
Why You’ll Love {insert blog name}
Testimonials
As Seen In – include any press clippings
Rate Card At A Glance – see Lady Melbourne’s condensed rate card
Advertising Options
Terms and Conditions
Contact Details

5. Giveaways and Sponsored Posts

For giveaways on Lady Melbourne, Phoebe charges $150 (her fee), and says that the brand needs to provide her with the product (for testing) as well as the product for the winner. She also emphasised that the brand must send this product out to the winner and advises saying to the client that if they post overseas, they’ll get a better result overall.

For sponsored posts, Phoebe charges $1000 (for long posts) and she says to do them well you need to:

Write in your natural voice.
Include loads of pictures.
Be honest.
Be enthusiastic – but not fake.
Only take sponsored posts where you would use the product yourself – readers will see through it otherwise.
Ask “Can we add value for my readers?” by doing a giveaway/ providing an experience for them.

+ And that concludes my first wrap up! I hope you find this information useful. Let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check back for Part II of my Problogger Event wrap up later in the week.

+ Check out Part II of my recap.

Image: TW Collins

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5 Game-Changing Image Search Tools

18 July, 2011

If you’re like me and you’re constantly on the search for amazing imagery online, I’ve got a feeling you’re going to love a few of my favourite image search tools. Oh yes. You’re welcome.

1. Pinterest

I’ve spoken about Pinterest before (and a whole bunch of you have told me since how addicted you’ve become!) but it’s definitely worth mentioning here again as an incredible resource for finding inspiring imagery. Get amongst it and follow me here so I can follow you right back!

2. Multicolr Search Lab

Are you a blogger looking to create a moodboard of images in the same or similar colour schemes? Look no further than one of the coolest colour-based search tools on the web, Multicolr Search Lab. Simply click a single colour swatch and look on in wonder as images of that colour load from more than 10 million of Flickr’s most interesting photos. Or if you’re looking for something to fit a “theme” – for example, a nautical theme of blue, red and white – click the relevant colour swatches (it allows you to choose up to 10) and images containing these colours will come up. Brilliant.

3 . Compfight

CompFight is a Flickr search engine that allows you to easily find beautiful photos within the vast pool of Flickr uploads. CompFight lets you search based on tags and text, and displays the images quickly in thumbnails allowing you to look through hundreds of images without having to go through the regular (more time-consuming) Flickr search.

4. Tineye

Ever found an uncredited image and needed to track down the original source? Insert: TinEye. TinEye is a reverse image search and once you upload the image in question or paste the image URL, the software will tell you where it originally came from. Perfect for identifying sources for images from Pinterest or Tumblr that may be uncredited (very common!)

5. OSkope

oSkope is a visual search engine that allows you to sort through images and products from sites like Ebay, Amazon, Flickr, and You Tube (you can choose the one you want via a drop down menu).

When it comes to eBay searches, this one is seriously rocking my world. I’m in the market for an Alexander Wang bag at the moment and wanted to see what was on eBay, so basically, I went to oSkope, selected “eBay” in the drop down then selected the categories (Clothing/ Shoes/ Accessories – Women’s Handbags – Handbags & Purses) and the below selection came up, with the style name and prices shown. You simply click through to the original listing for more info or to purchase. Can anybody say AWESOME?

+ How do you search for images? Any great tools I need to know about? Send them through!

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The Ultimate Guide to Your Dream Wedding: Budget and Venue

13 July, 2011

Timeline: 12+ months out

Budget

I had grand plans to coerce my Excel Spreadsheet Extraordinaire fiance (who works in finance) to whip up a killer wedding budget document, but then we found that Style Me Pretty had created a super comprehensive budget available via Google Docs, so here you go. Get that budget happening from the outset beautiful brides and generous grooms (haha)!

Venue

One of the biggest decisions you’ll make when planning your wedding is where your ceremony and reception celebrations will take place.

From personal experience, I recommend making the search for your perfect venue one of the first things you do when you start planning your big day. Everything will become clearer after you have an idea of the type of space you’re working with. As a general rule, booking the venue should done “as soon as possible” after the planning process begins, but it really depends on the availabilities of venue and I would say if you work to a 12 month time frame you should be fine.

All up, it will be 21 months for us from the time we got engaged to when we get hitched (seems like so long, but really, it’s flown!) and we booked our venue in February this year, 15 months out from our big day. Granted, we did book quite early but the property we’re holding our wedding at only hosts one wedding per month so we had to get in quick! (I’ll keep you in suspense on where we’re having our wedding… but let me tell you, the location is stunning!) We’re holding our ceremony and reception in the same location, but remember that if you’re scouting two locations, you may need a little extra time.

I should also mention here that the venue we have selected “comes with” (for want of a better term) a wedding planner – who we’ve totally fallen in love with – and who we have looking after some of the logistics like the marquee and furniture hire and transportation. If the thought of organising a wedding from start to finish makes you want to stab yourself in the iris with a pen (!!), I’d definitely recommend seeking out the services of a great planner who can put you in touch, or assist with sourcing, suppliers that will work within your budget.

A few venue-related tips I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Before you start hunting for your perfect venue, pull together a rough guest list so you know what you’re looking for space-wise.
2. Have a loose idea of the overall theme or style you’re going for while you’re researching venues. If your dream is to have a chic, high fashion-inspired wedding with a glamourous dress, then a beach setting probably won’t work with your vision. And so on.
3. In your initial consultations with the wedding planner/ person who will be looking after the booking and wedding from the venue, ask things like:

+ What is the total cost for the hire of the venue, including on-site accommodation if applicable?
+ What are we able to bring in from external suppliers ie: catering, decor, drinks, AV equipment?
+ How many weddings are hosted at the venue a year?
+ What is the contingency plan if it rains (for outdoor ceremonies/ receptions)?
+ Is there electricity in the area? (for music and microphones if needed)
+ Is the area accessible for elderly or disabled guests?
+ Can guests park their cars at the venue or will transportation (ie: coaches/ cars) need to be arranged?
+ How long can we have the venue for – are there restrictions around noise/ finishing times?

Ultimately, your wedding celebration is a reflection of your personal style and there really are “no rules” when it comes to choosing a venue that feels right for your nuptials. From a superbly decorated garden marquee, to a relaxed, natural location, an ultra-glam extravaganza or a family BBQ in the backyard, the options really are only limited by your imagination. To get the cogs turning, I’ve detailed a few of the more popular options for wedding festivities below.

In closing, think outside the square when it comes to your venue styling and the theme or “mood” for your day. Google, Google, Google. Trawl Pinterest. Make moodboards on The Lane. Weigh up the pro’s and cons, make a weekend out of driving around with your lover looking at prospective spaces.

After walking down the aisle and exchanging loving vows, the wedding reception is where you get to let your hair down and have fun so seek out a venue that is totally “you.” Your day, your way, after all!

Top images: 1. Pinterest 2. Sarah Yates
Images: 1. Jonathan Ong via Eat Drink Chic 2. Jose Villa 3. Style Me Pretty 4. Jonas Peterson 5. Jonas Peterson 6. Pinterest 7. Kiss the Groom 8. Michelle Arlotta 9. Gruber Photographers 10. Max Wanger 11. Project Wedding 12. Once Wed

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The Ultimate Guide to Your Dream Wedding: Wedding Blogs

21 June, 2011

On 12.05.12, I’m marrying the man of my dreams… and I couldn’t be more deleriously happy if I tried!

To me, the idea of planning our wedding holds a magical and alluring appeal. The anticipation, the love story, the beauty and the characters all lending themselves to this joyous celebration that truly can be whatever you imagine it to be. To say I’m excited would would be a major understatement.

My initial plan was to provide some insights into my wedding planning adventure over the next 11 months as we lead up to our big day, but I’ve decided I want to make it bigger! Better! Sparklier! Which is why I’m excited to announce that I’ll be creating The Ultimate Guide to Your Dream Wedding series and posting it right here on In Spaces Between for your viewing pleasure. Hooray!

This definitive guide will detail all the tips, tricks and delicious secrets I uncover on my journey as an excited bride-to-be. I’ll share the inspirations I’m swooning over and document as much as I can here without giving all the surprises away for our guests (hello, I know you’re reading this!)

What exactly will I be talking about?

Well, everything from mapping out your budget, gathering inspiration, selecting a venue, finding your dream dress, choosing a photographer and videographer that will document the tribute to your love perfectly, floral and styling inspiration, catering, DIY’s and how-to’s, organising the hen’s and buck’s parties, deciding on your honeymoon destination and beauty tips to help you radiate on your big day. Wowsers! How does all that sound to you? I’m sure I’ve forgotten something but let’s just say it’s going to be epic.

Anything I learn along the way (and I’m sure there will be more than a few things), I’ll be sharing with you. I want this to be a place that you can turn to for ideas, where we can impart words of wisdom and chat away in the comments about seamlessly planning an authentic wedding. When I say authentic, I mean a wedding that truly reflects the style, vision and imaginations of the bride and groom. I don’t know about you, but the wedding of my dreams is a beautifully curated celebration of love, wrapped up with sweet details and unforgettable moments shared between friends and lovers. Pure magic.

I’ll be categorising everything related to this series under Dream Wedding Guide in the right sidebar to make it easy for you to refer back to whenever you like. My hope is that this guide conveys the message that the planning part really can be a lot of fun. It’s the lead up to one of the most memorable days of our lives and armed with the right resources, a great (manageable) plan of attack and a few unique ideas, I guarantee there’ll be no reason for the much-maligned Bridezilla to come out of her box!

So, first things first: before I even had a ring on my finger (well, I did know it was coming!) I started hunting out the best of the best in terms of wedding blogs and websites. To save you the hassle of doing your own web trawling, I’ve compiled my favourites below. I know you’ll adore them too. It’s never too early to start filing away inspiring images and remember you can always use Pinterest to organise your favourites onto moodboards.

To view the sites below, simply click the pink title and prepare to lose several (days) hours searching through their gobsmackingly pretty pages. If you’re new to this, a big, dazzling world filled with peonies and place settings is about to open up right before your eyes, so brace yourself…

1. The Lane

The Lowdown: “LANE is not your average wedding website. We won’t sell you cheesy done-to-death wedding themes, or scare you with pageant style gowns and kitten heels. More importantly, we won’t promote just any brand willing to throw a few dollars our way for advertising.

LANE is the wedding industry’s definitive online fashion directory. Inspired by my own experience as a bride and event stylist, LANE is the breath of fresh air I felt the wedding industry desperately needed. LANE is cutting edge bridal fashion. It’s raw, honest articles. It’s beautiful content that moves and inspires you. But most importantly it’s about real emotion, real passion, and real connections with our audience.

My goal is to bring a new perspective to wedding planning, to break away from typical bridal fashion, done-to-death styling and help brides dream up a wedding that is completely unique to them. Style is personal. It’s about embracing who you are as individuals and allowing this to be reflected in every element of your wedding, from fashion to décor, to photography. It’s the passion and imagination a wedding exudes that makes it truly unique- the kind of stuff that gives you goose bumps. Style is the heart and soul behind the LANE brand.”

2. Style Me Pretty

The Lowdown: “Style Me Pretty is a style savvy wedding resource devoted to the modern bride. We cover everything from gorgeous real weddings to up and coming vendors and seasoned pros in the invitation, floral, fashion and photography industries. We feature only the most chic and style centric wedding related content, continually discovering new and brilliantly talented vendors, brides with an eye for all things gorgeous, and the personal loves of editor, Abby Larson.

Launched in February of 2007, Style Me Pretty has become a mainstay in the wedding industry. With nods in nearly every major bridal magazine, including Real Simple Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, Elegant Weddings and Modern Bride along with features in such publications as Blog Watch in the Wall Street Journal, SMP is quickly becoming one of the most read wedding resources on the web.”

3. 100 Layer Cake

The Lowdown: “We are 100 Layer Cake. A creative collaboration between friends and fellow designers Jillian, Kristina and Amanda. 3 women, 2 weddings, years working as designers (not to mention thousands of hours poring over wedding and wedding related blogs), and many extremely excited conversations later, 100 Layer Cake came to be.

We are a unique, comprehensive wedding planning resource for and by thoughtful, crafty modern women. Our vendors, projects, weddings, resources, and marketplace are hand-picked and thoroughly researched with the hope that every single one is a truly unique addition to both your wedding and your planning process.

4. Once Wed

The Lowdown: “OnceWed.com was launched in March 2008 by Emily Newman. After trying to sell her wedding dress online, she realized how few options there were out there for other brides looking to do the same thing and decided to launch the first and only free online listing service for wedding dresses. The success of the wedding blog she writes daily came as a bit of a surprise, and was the catalyst for the recent re-branding of Once Wed into the ultimate resource for brides who aren’t looking to plan the typical wedding.”

5. The Inspired Bride

The Lowdown: “The Inspired Bride™ was born on New Year’s Day in 2009 when I was in the middle of my own wedding planning. I’d found a lot of web sites and blogs that had a strong “Real Weddings” focus but they didn’t fit my way of thinking. Although they were beautiful to look at, I didn’t like having the finished product handed to me and felt like looking at what other people had done for too long would prevent me from injecting my own creativity and personality into my wedding. Call me picky, but I was also looking for something that fit my taste and was also thinking about the big picture. I wanted more of an emphasis on the “how to” – how to pull it together, how to make the favors, how to choose between this and that. I had always been into entertaining and party planning, and I was really enjoying how my own wedding was coming together, so I figured if it didn’t exist, I should just make it! Since its inception, I’ve been really influenced by my experience as an art director and by stylists I’ve worked with in the past (including some former Martha Stewart Weddings folks!) to find unique, stylish, and pretty details to work into any wedding.”

6. Polka Dot Bride

The Lowdown: “I’m all for doing things traditionally, but admit there’s a slight touch of anti-bride in my system. I believe that’s more to do with making your wedding unique to you and a heck of a lot of fun! I love a wedding where the couple shines. I hope to touch on anything wedding related that is useful to today’s bride – style, unique finds, fabulous suppliers all with a little bit of fun thrown in! I want to inspire you, to make you dream, to ease the wedding stress and to create an event that is beautiful, and is ‘you’.

Located in Australia, the options are somewhat harder to find, but when you find one it’s all the more fun! In this blog, I discover the unique, the stylish, the fresh and the quirky wedding ideas for Australian (and international!) weddings – most of all I hope to discover things that can make your wedding fun and about YOU!”

7. Rock ‘n’ Roll Bride

The Lowdown: “Rock n Roll Bride promotes individuality and general awesomeness within a cookie cutter, pastel and puke-worthy wedding world. Don’t let the wedding industry define your day – let *you* define your day.

Rock n Roll Bride is a UK wedding blog which was launched in October 2007 as a simple wedding planning site but was rebranded and re-launched in January 2009 as a ‘Mecca for gorgeous photography and inspiring real weddings.’ Rock n Roll Bride was included in the prestigious industry awards – BrideTide’s Top 100 blogs to watch in both 2010 and 2011 and came first in the Best Style Blog category of the 2010 Bridal Blog Awards hosted by The Wedding Channel and The Knot.”

8. Ruffled

The Lowdown: “I started this blog in 2008 as a source of inspiration for vintage brides planning their weddings. When I was planning my own wedding in late 2007, vintage inspired weddings weren’t as “in” as they are today, which made it a challenge to inspiration and resources to plan my 1930s inspired wedding.

Ruffled inspires sophisticated creativity for your wedding without any sacrifice. Fashion conscious sensibility combined with trendy attitude and vintage inspired romance reflects the spirit of today’s stylish bride. We’re a reflection of our readers – smart sassy and hip to the latest trends with a hint of sophistication looking to stand out amongst the crowd. Ruffled celebrates the savvy indie chic bride with a collection of witty perspectives and clever ideas to inspire your unique style.”

9. Snippet & Ink

The Lowdown: “Snippet & Ink started in 2007 as a creative hobby, so it is truly a labor of love. From inspiration boards to real weddings, my aim is to showcase a variety of highly-curated features, and to create a place where brides and grooms will see that there’s no one right way to have a wedding, that simple can be beautiful, and that meaningful matters. And of course, as the tag line says, Snippet & Ink is all about daily wedding inspiration.”

10. Green Wedding Shoes

The Lowdown: “I launched Green Wedding Shoes in October of 2008 as a creative outlet for myself to share my love for gorgeous photography, pretty dresses, vintage details, graphic finds, and other ideas to inspire couples planning their weddings.

Green Wedding Shoes, which began as a hobby, has quickly become one of the most popular wedding blogs today. I’m grateful to be surrounded with a great group of wedding bloggers and love that the GWS community of readers is so invested in the site. Every wedding, vendor and project is carefully hand picked and only the most unique and creative are selected to be featured on GWS. It’s my hope that you’ll find inspiration and learn new and creative ways you can make your wedding day a true reflection of you as a couple. My site often focuses on weddings and vendors from Southern California, but I also love seeing weddings from all over the world. I am inspired by the Southern California lifestyle, fashion designers, stylists, musicians, and photography.”

11. Grey Likes Weddings

The Lowdown: “Under the guise of her nom de plume, GREY, stylist and curator, Summer Watkins compiles and blogs stylishly handsome finds for voracious lovers of the good and pretty. She’s an advocate for the proper treatment of details and is over the moon for fierce creativity, brave color palettes, and fashion inspired motifs. Most of all, Grey Likes LOVE. Well-Styled.”

12. Dandelion and Grey

The Lowdown: “Erin McDonald, the Owner & Creative Director of Dandelion & Grey, is an established prop stylist & event designer based in Los Angeles. She is inspired by glamorous antiques & overgrown country roads and has received praise in numerous media avenues for her keen eye for all that is romantic, rustic, effortless & beautiful. With a background in fashion & entertainment, she has developed a creativity that now lends itself to publishing a carefully curated selection of images, ideas, real weddings & inspiration for Dandelion & Grey and crafting one-of-a-kind events.”

13. The Knot

The Lowdown: “The Knot provides today’s to-be-weds with comprehensive wedding planning information, interactive tools, and resources. With a fresh voice and real-world sensibility, The Knot has extended its brand to every venue brides and grooms turn to plan their weddings.”

14. The Wedding Chicks

The Lowdown: “We are here to share everything new, classic, funky, hip and just plain fun for weddings. Of course, we want to make sure your days are filled with inspiration and beauty as well. Let us help you find that perfect vendor and of course share with you all of our pretty things over at our wc shop.”

+ So, what do you think? Plenty of treasures to bookmark there, right?
+ If I’ve missed any, please share the links in the comments – one can never be too inspired, after all!

Images: 1. Jose Villa via Once Wed 2. Megan Sorel Photography via Style Me Pretty

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