Conquering Your Color Scheme



www.sweetandlovelylife.com

So it's time to plan the wedding of your dreams. One of the first big decisions that you must make is the colors and theme. You probably have already had this whole thing mapped out in your head since you were six (or if you were anything like my daughter is, 3). I know, I know Barbie and Ken's wedding colors were the perfect shade of turquoise and fuchsia, but a lot has changed since then. For one, you have a real live breathing partner with real human emotions and opinions to take into consideration.

First think about some of the reoccurring themes and intimate moments you and your fiancé share. Where was your first date? Which shirt of his makes him look the most handsome? Where did he propose to you? Where was your first kiss? Every one of these moments has a mood that they invoke. And if you were to pick a color based off the most potent of those memories what would it be?



The Perfect Palette

Next think about the season in which you plan on getting married. This will help you decide which tone of your colors will be easier to find and which seasonal flowers will help to enhance your event and help your budget. Let's say for instance your main color is purple. If your wedding is in the spring then you would look at more of a lavender or a paler shade of purple. If you decide to get married in the fall then you would use a richer jewel tone like Plum.

Lastly look at your venue. Is there wallpaper? Is the color of the rug very noticeable? If there are things that really do stand out then why not just work with them instead of against them. Use some of your supporting colors to help enhance the smaller details of the event. Accent colors tend to be on the opposite side of the color wheel, but that doesn't have to be literal. The opposite of purple is yellow, and camel (a yellowish brown very close to khaki) works great with all shades of purple and is basically the matte version of metallic gold.

Color schemes have proven to be one of the most stressful aspects of planning a wedding, and being that I was a visual-art major you could argue that I am a bit bias. But thanks to the Internet there is a lot of help out there. There are millions of websites with idea boards and examples you can reference. My favorite is The Perfect Palette; they have so many examples to choose from that you can look up based on color and/or season. Pintrest is also a great place to look (there are millions of girls out there planning their make believe weddings). Also doing a Bing image search can help you get a few inspirational pictures that best illustrate your colors, theme and mood.

Good Luck!