Copy vs. Being Inspired

Telling myself that I was too busy to blog was a lie. I'll be honest, I was somewhat disappointed with the wedding blog world as a whole because people seem to just reap off other people's ideas. Worst thing is, when CREDIT is not given to the original designer or creator of the idea and the other person tries to pull off the idea as their own. There has been so much copying due to the fact that the blogging community is so open and readily accessible.  Although I completely understand that originality and creativity come from being inspired/stimulated by each others' works but I also believe that you need to do this on a conscious level.

What is the difference between being "inspired by" and straight out copying someone?

In my humble opinion, if one sees something they like and say "Wow, I'm going to try something similar to that and bring it to the next level", then it's "inspiration".
If they copy it and say "Look what I did" with no reference to the original source then that's copying.

To make my point clear, here's our veggie/fruit bar we created which was featured on Amy Atlas last year. Photo Credit: Serena Grace
Some months later, another planner copied our design and posted on her portfolio section. I said 'copied' because she did not reference back to my site and posted the pictures under her portfolio section.

I won't reveal this planner's site out of courtesy.

If you are a fellow industry professional reading this post, I only ask you to credit your sources and link back to the original site. I wrote a post on this topic a while ago if you'd like to read further.  I'm sure all the bloggers/photographers/designers would appreciate this courtesy. To those desiring to be in the wedding industry or just starting out.. CREDIT your "inspiration" posts or pictures that you get from other blogs!  That's just good blogging etiquette.  ;) Here's an awesome post about crediting photos written by Chelsea from Frolic! http://www.frolic-blog.com/frolic/2011/03/blog-talk-crediting-photos.html
I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this topic. Please do remember that my intention of writing this post is not to point fingers at anyone. After all, it really doesn't matter WHERE you got your inspirations from as long as your work proves quality and better content.

P.S I actually held off posting a lot of our clients' weddings but I will be back to blogging now that I'm taking a maternity leave.  No more once-a-month posting! I promise! ;)