When your wedding date and venue is locked in, the next step for many is choosing a color scheme for your event. Whether you opt for calm neutrals or bold pops of color, your palette is one of the most noticeable aspects of your big day. Your wedding colors will help set the mood, create a beautiful atmosphere, and tie all of your details together to build a coherent impression – from flowers to stationery and decor. Having a defined color palette will also make it much easier to communicate with your wedding vendors and make quick decisions along the way.
But how do you choose a color scheme that works cohesively and suits your venue, vision and personal style?
Our approach as designers is to make your wedding reflect your style as a couple as well as tying in with the overall look and feel you want to achieve for your event. We recommend starting with considering these four topics:
1. Follow your personal style. Your sense of fashion and choice of interiors already says something about your personality and style. Your wedding does not need to be a mirror of your life, but choosing a color palette you both like will make it a unique and personal expression that you are comfortable with.
2. Be inspired by the backdrop. Your wedding colors should work consistently with your venue and surroundings. The location already has it's own palette, and your added decor and details should ideally work seamlessly alongside the existing architecture, furnishings and landscape.
3. Consider the season. Traditionally we identify certain color schemes with certain seasons; light pastels for spring, bright and vibrant colors for summer, muted and earthy tones for fall and moody rich hues for winter. These are not absolute rules, and can easily be broken to create your own expression, but keep the weather and atmosphere in mind.
4. Build on your theme. What is the overall profile you are trying to create for your event? How do you want your guests to feel when attending? Blues and greens are often used to create a relaxed and grounded expression. Sage, dusty blue, navy or mint are great options for a natural and laid-back setting. If you want more of an upbeat and party-like atmosphere, then yellows, reds, and oranges are considered energetic colors. Peaches, burgundy, hot pinks and tangerine are perfect. For a romantic and ethereal profile, pinks and purples works great. Blush, lavender and dusty pinks creates a romantic silhouette for the day. For a traditional wedding profile, white and ivory is the most classic. Black and white will give your big day a formal profile, while opting for majority black can create a sense of rebel. Muted neutrals is often considered the modern traditional look.
Color association
Now let's look at some basic color psychology to further understand what colors signify:
Blue is one of the most popular wedding colors, and very versatile. Generally, blue associates with trust, loyalty, cleanliness, and understanding. But, each shade of blue can mean something different. Classic blue can mean creativity. Light blue can bring a sense of calm, peacefulness and spirituality. Dark blue associates with trust, dignity, intelligence and authority. A classic color that seems to never go out of fashion, and can easily be used in all seasons.
Green is the color of nature and signifies growth, rebirth, and fertility. In Muslim countries, it is a holy color and in Ireland, a lucky color. Green is also associated with balance, calm and harmony. A color that works well in various shades together and has a lush and timeless appearance.
Yellow exudes warmth, inspiration, creativity, and vitality. It means happiness and optimism. It can bring energy, attention, and cheerfulness to your big day. It is also associated with madness and caution. A bright yellow is a bold and vibrant profile, while a pastel yellow is soft and friendly.
Orange is the color of adventure and communication. It associates with enthusiasm, rejuvenation, courage and vitality. Dark shades of orange offer a sense of comfort. Light orange hues are soothing and healthy. Additionally, it’s an energetic and warm color. Like yellow, orange is also associated with joy, sunshine, and playfulness.
Red associates with energy, passion, love and action. It is also associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power and determination. Brighter reds, like scarlet, imply more energy and are bold and captive. Darker colors, like maroon or burgundy represent restraint and sophistication.
Pink associates with gratitude, romance, gentleness, innocence, softness and appreciation. Like red, pink relates to love. But, while red represents passion, pink stands for tenderness. Bright and vibrant shades of pink often evoke a bold and modern appeal. It also represents positive aspects of traditional femininity like nurture and kindness.
Purple associates with luxury, power, wisdom, creativity, and magic. It is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy. For this reason, purple often links to supernatural energy and the cosmos. Like blue, different shades of purple have different meanings. Light purple is lighthearted, floral, and romantic. The dark shades are more intellectual and dignified.
White means purity, innocence, perfection and integrity. It suggests goodness, cleanliness and clarity. This color can bring calmness, comfort and hope. Too much white however, can symbolize emptiness and isolation.
Black evokes power, authority, elegance, mystery and calm. It associates with elegance, and authority. This strong color links to intelligence, but it’s also associated with evil and grieving, and can easily have a rebellious demeanor.
Gray is solid and stable, bringing a sense relief from a chaos. It is also subdued, quiet and reserved. This color can mean intelligent, classic, solid, calming, reserved, elegant and formal. Gray represents compromise. It is the transition between two non-colors, neither black nor white. It takes the middle ground, neither one way nor the other. Dark gray is serious and solemn. Light gray is soothing and calming.
Keep it Simple
When you have decided on the kind of color profile you want, it’s time to refine this into a cohesive palette. The best approach for creating your color palette is to keep it simple, as choosing too many colors will look messy. Instead, choose 1 or 2 primary colors and 1 to 3 accent colors. For example, you might choose primary colors of white and blue, with accents of peach and olive. Your primary colors can be used for the most important styling elements, while your accent colors can be used to enhance the finer details and tie everything together harmoniously.
All photographs by: Les Anagnou
Location: Hydra, Greece
To see more from this wedding, visit Style Me Pretty