Picking wedding colors is more complicated than you thought. The chosen colors should represent the very essence of you and your fiancé’s style as a couple. So you should start by nailing down your general aesthetic as outlined in our article, ‘Finding Your Bridal Style’, and then following our guide to choosing the best colors for your wedding. And if you still can't decide, go with a rainbow palette! Just because the rainbow scale has been appropriated as a symbol of the Pride Movement doesn't bar you from utilizing it!
Colors are complex and have hidden meanings. The color you choose has the power to evoke strong emotions. Thus, it is important to understand what types of feelings are evoked with certain colors. For example, red is seen as the color of energy, passion, determination, and love. Blue is associated with trust and peace of mind. Before picking a color, or speaking to a designer about a color, familiarize yourself with what color has meant esoterically for humans. This way you will be able to invoke the emotions you want in the way you want on your big day!
Trying to think of the perfect color to match your personality on your big day might be a confusing process. But, if you take it slowly, step by step, it might be easier than you think. The first thing to establish in this procedure is the selection of the base color. Your base color will be the one most prominently used throughout your wedding, and you can further build your full color palette based on it. Therefore, it is important your base color should be the one you genuinely love. It can be anything from a jade green color to elegant navy color, or from lighthearted peach color to a dramatic punchy yellow. Once again at the end of the day, your base color will represent your very nature at your wedding, so take your sweet time to decide what type of color will perfectly represent you and your fiancé as a couple, as well as the whole mood on the big day.
When you have your base color, the next step is to choose a handful of some complementary accent colors that round up your wedding color palette. They are usually two or three colors that set up the mood along with the base color. They provide the essential variation and dimensions to colors to make them appear more vibrant. These complementary colors can be contrasting colors, bold colors, to neutral-toned ones such as grey, white or black.
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Can’t think of any color to select as your base color or complementary color? A great way to choose your wedding colors is to take inspiration from the season you are getting married. There is no written rule that dictates you to match your chosen colors with the season, but some colors lend themselves naturally to certain times of the year.
Got stuck with the selection? No issue at all. Look at the season for the essential inspiration. Let say you are getting married in spring, you can try flowery, light pastel colors for inspiration as they are traditionally associated with weddings in spring. Experiment with dark jewel-esque tones, such as emerald green, navy blue and marsala red for weddings in winter or in colder climates, these tones will invoke a sense of regality and sturdiness, working very well with the harsh but respected winter season. Bold and bright colors are considered excellent appropriations for summer weddings. Earth tones like moss green, gold, amber, and maroon are excellent for a fall wedding.
If it suits you, don’t be afraid of choosing a color that may be too bold. You can choose a color that perfectly highlights the tone of your skin, let say if a bold, bright yellow color is not doing justice with your skin tone, you can knock it out of the list of your selections, or tweak the shade to work better! Similarly, even if you are wearing a white wedding dress, it is still essential to think about the colors of all the accessories or other details, such as your wedding bouquet, to go along with your selected wedding colors. For example, mixing Yellow Gold, White Gold, and Platinum colored jewelry may not work in the traditional sense. However, if you plan your wedding colors to compliment the metallic tones appropriately, mixing isn’t an issue!