Creating A Wedding Mood Board

Let’s be real — Pinterest can be both a dream and a total rabbit hole.

You start off looking for table inspo… and suddenly you’ve pinned 400 images of European chateaus, wildflower bouquets, candlelit dinners, and three completely different dress styles. It's beautiful chaos, but it can get overwhelming fast.

So let’s slow it down for a sec.

Your wedding mood board isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about intention. It’s your chance to define the vibe, the feeling, and the experience you want to create for yourselves and your guests. Think of it less like planning a party, and more like designing a memory.

Here’s how to make a wedding mood board that actually reflects your story, your style, and your love.

Start With Photos Not Feelings

Before you collect a single image, ask yourself:

• What do I want our day to feel like?

• What’s the first thing I want our guests to notice or remember?

• What kind of energy do I want surrounding us — cozy? romantic? wild? relaxed?

Write down a few words or phrases that capture your vision. Things like:

• Golden hour warmth

• Garden party meets vintage record store

• California coastal with a touch of nostalgia

• Modern, minimal, and soulful

• Intimate, candlelit, and deeply personal

This emotional baseline will become your compass as you start collecting visuals.

Choose Your Tools

There’s no one right way to build your board. A few popular options:

• Pinterest (great for digital inspo, easy to share with vendors)

• Canva or Milanote (for custom collage-style boards)

• Good old-fashioned paper & printouts (especially if you're a tactile person)

Whichever format you choose, keep it curated. You don’t need everything. Just enough to tell the story visually — and guide the decisions that follow.

Pull From Outside The Wedding World

Some of the best inspiration comes from places totally unrelated to weddings. Think:

• Editorial fashion shoots

• Architecture

• Film stills

• Nature (desert tones, ocean blues, overcast skies)

• Favorite restaurants, cafes, or interior spaces

• Vintage family photos

This adds depth to your board — and helps you move away from cookie-cutter ideas into something that feels truly personal.

Include Texture + Color + Mood

When you’re gathering visuals, try to represent more than just decor.

Include:

• Textures (linen, lace, raw wood, metallics, velvet, etc.)

• Color tones (not just one "color scheme" — but how all your colors feel together)

• Lighting and atmosphere (soft and moody? crisp and coastal? candlelit and warm?)

These subtle details help your planner, florist, photographer, and other vendors understand your vision.

Use Your Mood Board as a Filter — Not a Rulebook

Once your board is done, let it guide you — but don’t let it box you in. It’s totally okay if your wedding evolves and doesn’t match your board perfectly. That’s real life. That’s love.

Use your board to:

• Make design decisions more easily

• Communicate with vendors

• Stay grounded in your vision when options start to multiply

Most importantly? Let it inspire you to create a day that’s yours, not just “on trend.”

Bonus Tip: Share It With Your Photographer (That's Me!)

Your mood board gives me such a rich window into what matters most to you — visually and emotionally. If you’re drawn to a lot of natural light, we’ll prioritize shooting during golden hour. If you’re all about moody tones and romantic candlelight, I’ll know to look for those shadows and intimate details.

When I know the vibe you’re dreaming of, I can help capture it — and elevate it — in ways that feel totally authentic to you. Your wedding day isn’t just about pretty details. It’s about telling a story — your story. And your mood board is the first step toward bringing that story to life, visually, emotionally, and intentionally. You don’t need it to be perfect. You just need it to feel like you.

Looking For Your Wedding Photographer?

I’m Alex Christensen — Southern California-based wedding and couples photographer, storyteller, and quiet moment collector. If you're dreaming of honest, artful images that feel like you, I’d love to help tell your story.