How to Choose Your Wedding Colors
Bright and modern or elegant and understated, find hues for your wedding decor that will take the cake.
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You Will Need
- Venue
- Mood boards
- Paint or fabric swatches
- Pantone color guide (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Consider venue
Consider the colors of the venue when planning your color scheme. Hot pink and lime may clash with the venue's navy walls and yellow rug.
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Step 2
Take a cue from home
Take a cue from your home decor. If your style leans toward modern, minimal, and monochromatic, look for neutral colors. If you have one red accent wall, mix in a few bold splashes of color.
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Step 3
Create a seasonal mood
Choose colors with a specific seasonal mood, such as white, ice blue, and silver for a winter wonderland or red, brown, pumpkin, and gold to evoke a fall harvest atmosphere.
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Step 4
Make mood boards
Take pictures out of magazines with color combinations you like and put them together in a collage. You may have just two colors as a theme or up to five. Narrow down to your six favorites.
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Consider the mood you want to evoke. Beachy pastels take on a more formal look paired with a sophisticated metallic.
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Step 5
Collect swatches
Go to a fabric shop or paint store to get swatches in your prospective colors so you can choose and describe the hues accurately. Do you want sky blue, Caribbean blue, or lapis?
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Choose hues from a Pantone color guide, which is used by many cake decorators and invitation designers.
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Step 6
Mix it up
Avoid matching everything from the centerpieces and cake to the invitations and bouquets. Use varying shades of a hue or more than one hue, especially in the bridesmaid dresses.
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Step 7
Do the unexpected
Incorporate your colors in unexpected ways. Use a colored font on the invitation and a theme-hued ribbon on the favors or add a colorful sash to the wedding gown and work in colorful cufflinks.
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Blue was the color of purity in the Middle Ages. It's the origin of today's wedding rhyme with "something blue."
