Setting the Tone: First Attempt at Wedding Colors

Setting the Tone: First Attempt at Wedding Colors

April 21st, 2010 @ 11:23 am by Mrs. Seashell
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I feel like wedding colors, in many ways, set the tone for the wedding. I think of pink and green as springy and fun whereas aqua and red are a little more offbeat and funky. For me, a black and white wedding seemed like a perfect fit. I just can’t argue with a clean, modern simplicity.

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It seemed like the whole black and white thing would be easy to carry off.

Plus, I just love the idea of each bridesmaid in their own unique dress, and what’s easier than finding a black dress? I began searching for pictures, and even took my sister to White House Black Market to find her dress. (She may have even purchased something - oops! Jumped the gun there!) However, the more photos I found of bridesmaids in black, the more uninspired I felt. Something was missing. Additionally, Mama Seashell was horrified at the idea of black dresses and let me know it. She’d say, “But there are so many beautiful fall colors out there! What about a rich brown or burnt sienna?” I’d roll my eyes, envisioning brown, orange and dark olive greens—in my mind, the ultimate “fall wedding” cliche.

So then I had the genius idea of gold! We’d add gold touches to the black and white and put the bridesmaids in gold. Perfect! Research resumed.

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OK, not this gold. Yikes!

The more I looked, the more I found colors like “almond” and “buttercream”. It was not exactly my vision. Then I started receiving the advice that golden tones can make people look washed-out or pale, which was also not encouraging. Hmmm… was I striking out again?

Did you run into stumbling blocks when picking out your colors?

Tags: color schemes, providence |

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24 Responses to “Setting the Tone: First Attempt at Wedding Colors”

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thebriz (message) 448 posts, Helper bee

I’d don’t know if I’d say those colors are “the ultimate ‘fall wedding’ cliche”; most colors combos are cliche (incl just black and white); but what sets the color from the event to turn it into something not cliche is how the colors are intertwined and weaved into all facets of the day. Or in your case, the inclusion of another color to accentuate matters.

My colors are brown and green, perhaps viewed more for fall than spring, but with our venue and the different touches here and there, I think the event will be a very nice evening. I love brown and since our wedding would only have been in either the spring or fall, it worked. It became a chore of what to pair it with - not a pink person (yuck) and I don’t like aqua; green was the logical choice because it complements brown so much and there are plenty of different types of green, so the right combo made for a perfect color scheme for a spring wedding. White and ivory are the tertiary colors for other facets of the day (white primarily for the wedding, ivory for the reception), and I just love it.

4/21/10 @ 11:33 am (reply)

Member

Ragtop1 (message) 493 posts, Helper bee

As an old former “color consultant” - there are a few colors that are “universal” - they look good on everybody - a true red and turquoise - either of which would be a great pop color with the black and white.

4/21/10 @ 11:34 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Hamster (message) 4,046 posts, Honey bee

I love the black and white look! I definitely had trouble with colors - in the end we just chose a bm dress that looked good and let that kinda dictate what our colors would be.

4/21/10 @ 11:38 am (reply)

Member

shaydenise (message) 1,151 posts, Bumble bee

Our wedding is a black and white wedding and we are doing touches of silver and pearls (yes I know this isn’t a color but it’s a running theme lol). The BM dresses are black with ivory (because my dress is diamond white taffeta which isn’t a stark white, the ivory matched more) sashes. All my flowers and accents and such are white with pale green touches (because they are naturally seen in floral arrangements lol). Have fun with the planning of your b&w wedding! We certainly are!

4/21/10 @ 11:40 am (reply)

Member

sapphirebride (message) 1,750 posts, Buzzing bee

We’re doing black dresses, but with royal blue highlights (shoes, jewelery). I think it’ll work fine for our NYE wedding. Perhaps you could do brown dresses with gold accents (shoes especially).

4/21/10 @ 11:42 am (reply)

Member

mwwedding (message) 7 posts, Newbee

We are planning our wedding and I wanted it to be black and white. He wanted me to add a color so, I am using hot pink. For the bridesmaid dresses I am going to have them wear black. Maybe you can still have your bridesmaids wear black but, add a color belt to the dress or a color hair piece. That will be a nice touch. Goodluck!

4/21/10 @ 11:47 am (reply)

Member

messybride (message) 177 posts, Blushing bee

My November wedding will be white and gold with touches of black. I decided to go with black bridesmaid dresses after realizing that gold won’t look that great one everyone. I plan to purchase cute chunky gold bracelets for the girls to wear to tie in the gold theme as well.

4/21/10 @ 11:49 am (reply)

Member

andreaandchinelo (message) 535 posts, Busy bee

yeah I would say everybody’s color combo is ‘cliche’…I know three friends (all from the chicagoland area nonetheless who have had a black/white theme…I think it’s how you use those colors that will make it stand out and look classic or complementary…one used pink as an accent, the other two used variations of red/garnet…so go for it! I’m of the opinion that any accent color you use will go great with that combo.

4/21/10 @ 11:52 am (reply)

Member

krissybee (message) 3,921 posts, Honey bee

i love the black / white color scheme! i didn’t really have trouble with a color palette… i just chose colors i liked and rolled with it. (black brown and cream) my problem now is adding some sort of accent colors to that. we’ll see!

4/21/10 @ 11:56 am (reply)

10.

Member

Inkypoo (message) 232 posts, Helper bee

clover green, baby blue, white, and black are our colors. They’re not my original colors. Those have changed about a million times.
I would choose a color that you both love, fall or not, and accent the black and white with it. Run with it and have fun!

4/21/10 @ 11:58 am (reply)

11.

Member

alivoo01 (message) 2,625 posts, Sugar bee

Look through bridal magazines for color combos and see what hits ya? That’s how I chose my wedding colors. I saw a bridesmaid dress with two colors and thought, “That’s it! Those are my wedding colors!” haha!

4/21/10 @ 12:09 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Cardigan (message) 8,645 posts, Bee Keeper

I love the black/white color combo! We actually seriously considered it, but then I decided I needed a little more color. I think black & white weddings are so elegant, though!

4/21/10 @ 12:53 pm (reply)

13.

Member

TheReasonabLeGal (message) 13 posts, Newbee

I’m having my bridesmaids in gold dresses. They finally came in this week and look great. If you are still interested in gold dresses, try Aria in dark gold silk shantung. The bridesmaids can pick out whichever dress they want in that fabric. Here’s the link..

http://www.ariadress.com

4/21/10 @ 12:55 pm (reply)

14.

Member

winter (message) 1,333 posts, Bumble bee

i love the black and white idea as well. I wanted that but my mother was against it and being in between season for our wedding it was hard so we went with navy, pink and white! =)

4/21/10 @ 12:56 pm (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Taco (message) 950 posts, Busy bee

I’m really distracted by those gold dresses

4/21/10 @ 1:14 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

Jenn

One of my friends did a black, white and silver wedding. All the bridesmaids were in black dresses, and I have to say of the weddings I’ve been in, that’s the one where I felt the most fabulous!

4/21/10 @ 1:14 pm (reply)

17.

Member

Goldilocks1107 (message) 2,602 posts, Sugar bee

I was surprised when FH wanted a say in the colors. Wait - what? You care about the colors?!? Who knew!
So, my eggplant and pewter dream became eggplant and light blue (he wanted a medium blue, but I told him that wouldn’t work with purple, but “I’d change that color too if he wanted”).
That was my only issue with colors.

4/21/10 @ 1:51 pm (reply)

18.

Member

jordynrose (message) 6,351 posts, Bee Keeper

I love black and white weddings! That was definitely the runner up to our navy and pink choice.

4/21/10 @ 3:26 pm (reply)

19.

Member

ktbrady (message) 1,054 posts, Bumble bee

Colors are tough. I need, like, “The Official Guide to Purple” so I can learn what aubergine, eggplant, and all those other shades of purple actually look like!

4/21/10 @ 5:59 pm (reply)

20.

Member

tea (message) 7,295 posts, Bee Keeper

i was just talking about gold dresses with one of my friends today. she wanted her bms to wear gold but some of the other bms were complaining about looking washed out.

4/21/10 @ 9:18 pm (reply)

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