Choosing Your Wedding Colors ~ Fall Colors

Happy September!  This week on the blog we are going to be looking at some Fall wedding color inspiration, but today we will start the color discussion by addressing the following questions:

What is the best way to go about picking your wedding colors? Where do you get the inspiration? Where do you begin!?

Sometimes a bride just knows exactly what she wants, picks several colors, goes with it, and it works.  Sometimes a bride has one color in mind and isn’t sure how to go about pairing and picking colors to go with that color.  Sometimes the bride has no idea where to even begin. Hopefully these tips will help any bride in any of these positions.

Tips and ideas for choosing your wedding colors:

1. Draw inspiration from the setting and location. Do you know where you will be getting married? Let that setting inspire you as you decide on your colors.  Or if you have colors in mind already, let those colors help you in your search for the right venue.  Make sure the location and your color choices work together. You do not want to have your wedding colors completely clash with the carpet, walls, rugs, paint, decor, etc. at the venue.  The picture below is a beautiful venue, but the red carpet with a big pattern could clash with your colors.  

(Picture found here)

2. Set the Right Mood. Colors have the power to really set the mood of your wedding.  Do you want something dark, elegant, and/or dramatic or light, airy, and/or happy?  What style and atmosphere are you going for?  Your colors should reflect that.
3. What colors do you love in your everyday life? What colors inspire you?  What colors is your home decorated in? What colors are the most predominant in your own closet?  If you are good with the colors in your day to day life, you will enjoy them in your wedding too.
4. Research. There is SO much information available for brides-to-be.  There are magazines, blogs, Pinterest, other friends’ weddings, etc. to give you lots of inspirational ideas.
5. Look at and become familiar with the color wheel. Yes this takes us back to 8th grade art class, but this simple tool can be super helpful in picking colors.

• Option 1: Pick that one color that you really want to use to anchor your color scheme.  Then pick one or two other colors that are similar within that color scheme, maybe just one or two shades to the left or right in the color wheel. For example pick red and pair that with an with orange and a burnt red-orange.  This look goes for subtleness in color contrasts.

(Picture found here)

• Option 2:  Go for the contrast. Pick that one color you really love and then pick something totally on the opposite side of the color wheel.  For example, pick the color pumpkin and pair it with a dusty shade of blue. This pairs cool and warm colors together.

(Picture found here)

The process of picking your colors (simplified WAY down):

1. When choosing your wedding colors you want to pick one or two colors that will be your main colors.  For fall this could be any of the colors within the red, orange, yellow, brown, etc. color schemes.  (We will talk more later about the plethora of shades within each color scheme.)
2. Next pick some accent colors.  Accent colors can be as bright as you want them.  You may also consider more earthy tones.  Often people pick warm colors or metallics to accent. Gold makes a beautiful accent color for Fall.
3. If you can’t decide on just two colors, that is okay.  Find four or five that work together.
4. Once you have chosen two or three main colors, everything else can be filled in with neutral colors: creams, whites, or  browns, black, or metallic colors.

A few more words of advice:

1. Do not feel like you HAVE to pick the latest, most trendy colors. (Or the “typical” seasonal colors.
2. Don’t pick too many colors! (Oh the crazy trends of the 70s!)
3. Don’t limit yourself to just two colors.  (You totally can break your own “rules!”)
4. All colors do not have to be represented equally throughout the wedding.
5. Don’t pick colors that remind people of a holiday…(Red & Green, Black & Orange, etc.)  unless that is the look you are going for.  You can always tweak those basic colors to different tones that aren’t quite so reminicinet of holiday colors.  The picture below uses coral and emerald instead of Christmas-like red and green.

(Picture found here)

F.  Make sure your colors are narrowed down to an exact shade.  (Purple and yellow is FAR to vague and you could find some serious matching problems. Pick a SPECIFIC shade for your colors.

G.  Colors can affect wedding attire, flowers and other decor, your invitations, party favors, your wedding cake,etc.  So it is important to pick the colors that will work with your entire vision that you have for your wedding.

Ultimately, your wedding colors can be whatever you want. You can always pick the color palette that you love, and tailor it a bit to Fall with the accent colors, textures, and other decor at your wedding.  Do not fill constrained by seasonal “norms.”  Your colors should be a reflection of you.  They need to mesh well with the bride and groom’s personalities, likes, dislikes, and the atmosphere and aesthetics desired for the wedding.

Here is great quote on the subject:

“Fall colors are rich and vibrant, celebrating both the fruitfulness of the season and the blossoming of your nuptials. Use your color palette as a reflection of you, your future spouse, and your union. Don’t be afraid to stray from the “rules” if a shade grabs your attention and it’s outside the traditional fall palette. Simply anchor that color with others that you love and create your dream wedding.” -Crystal Schwanke  at weddings.lovetoknow.com

This week on the blog will be several examples of different color schemes and how they can be present and incorporated into the wedding  in the attire, the flowers, the invitations, the cake, and the wedding favors.