Before you can pick flowers, bridesmaid dresses, and create all your DIY projects, you need to choose a color scheme or theme. Having one will keep all the colors in your wedding from clashing. It's more than just the dresses and the flowers that follow the color scheme. It's also the cake, the invitations, the napkins on the table, the escort cards, everything. There are so many beautiful color combinations out there, so here are a few tips on where you can come up with your own.
Coral reefs and their fishy inhabitants can be great inspiration for a color scheme with vibrant pinks, purples, oranges, and blues.
1. What is you favorite thing found in nature? I love fish and the ocean, so I created the above color scheme based around the little fish and softer tones of the corals and blues. I would add a soft, creamy off-white as the neutral. While all the colors would show up in my flower arrangements, I would focus on only two colors for things like my stationary, bridesmaids' dresses, and other details. You could draw inspiration from a red bird in the dark green leaves of an evergreen tree for a winter wedding, or purple wildflowers in a golden field for a springtime wedding.
2. Combine your and your fiance's favorite colors, add a neutral to tie them together, and call it your color scheme. Just be wary of this method, because if your favorite color is red, and his is green, you're looking at a Christmas colored wedding. Blue and orange is pretty, as long as it's not too Syracuse Orangemen. If your colors seem too gaudy, or connect to strongly to a holiday or sports team, try softening the colors, or changing blue to teal, and see what you come up with.
Films with strong styling, like the red and blue motif of The Aviator are great inspiration for movie buffs.
3. If you two are movie buffs, look to classic (color) films for inspiration. Think of your favorite settings, costumes, and cinematography. You can take the movie inspiration as far as you want, from just the colors, to making the film your theme. When you make a particular film your theme, make sure that the movie's ending is a happy one. As beautiful as Casablanca is, (spoiler alert!) they don't end up together. For my color scheme above, I chose The Avaiator for it's beautiful sky blues and bright reds throughout the film.
Look for inspiration for a western wedding in cowboy boots.
4. Fashion and art are really great places to look for color inspiration. Certain colors become trendy each season, and you'll see them repeated throughout designers' collections. If you have a favorite designer, look up their latest collection, winter, fall, spring, summer, resort, couture, or ready-to-wear. Check out recent fashion weeks, or look through their online stores. The same goes for art, whether it's paintings by Van Gogh or colorful trash sculptures by a local artist. Artists know how to use color to convey an emotion so they're experts on color schemes. Above, I based an all-red color scheme on a really great pair of boots. (And hey, if you have a color scheme based on a particular pair of shoes, you have a perfect excuse to buy them!)
5. My final tip is to look back on all the daydreams you've had about your wedding since you were a kid. What have you always dreamed about? Even if what you wanted isn't what you're having, you still have little bits and pieces. Was your favorite childhood color combo orange and yellow? That's perfect! Were you a little bookworm who pictured getting married in a library if you could? Well incorporate the rich colors of book jackets and sturdy wooden shelves.
Anything can be your color inspiration. You can't go wrong with colors that make you happy.
Check out Colour Lovers to play around with color palettes and patterns, and my profile more color ideas.
Coming soon: a follow up post about coming up with ideas for specific themes.
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