Not so many years ago, most brides automatically reached for the pastel shades when they got married. Choosing a bright colour or mixing up shades just wasn’t something anybody thought of for a wedding.
But now we’re pleased to say that these days we’re much more open minded about our use of colour at a wedding and, to be honest, pretty much anything goes!
Colour of the year
For 2013 the colour authority Pantone chose emerald green as its colour of the year, which looks dazzling at a wedding at any time – especially in the spring. Mix it with fuchsia, blue and lemon like the wedding above and you’ll guarantee yourself beautifully striking pictures! There’ll be another colour choice announced in 2014, which we’ll be telling you about as soon as it’s announced.
Remember, you don’t have to use one colour throughout your entire wedding. For example, with emerald green you could just use it to add accents of your big day. You could dress your bridesmaids in emerald green dresses and then add colour co-ordinated sashes for the flowergirls. If you’re outgoing enough, you could wear emerald green wedding shoes, with a traditional white or ivory dress. Rainbow Club will dye shoes in just about any colour you want. Alternatively some brides choose scarlet if they’re getting married in the winter and some tone it down with hints of Tiffany blue.
Bright and bold
Brights are another way of making your wedding look bang on trend. Putting your bridesmaids in mismatched frocks is a big thing in the US at the moment, so why not dress your maids in rainbow colours of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet?
You can then match up their shoes or go one step further and colour contrast those, too. Don’t forget to have multi-coloured flowers in the same hues and introduce the theme from the very start with your wedding stationery, reinforcing it at the wedding reception with seating plans and menu cards. If you’re looking for stationers to match your theme, we love Polka Dot Daisy who can match up your wedding colours to suit your look.
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Clashing brights
Ever heard the expression ‘blue and green should never be seen, without a colour in between’. Well, clash the right shades of colours and you’ll get a fabulous effect. We think emerald green and turquoise can look stunning together. Other colour combos could include bright orange matched with purple or browns and cornflower blues.
50 shades of ombre
If there’s a particular colour that you’re really in love with, perhaps you’ve always been a 50 shades of blue kind of a girl, then go for an ombre effect, which is going to be huge in 2014. You may know about ombre hair (that’s when hair is dyed to graduate in colour from roots to tips) but ombre can be used for shading at weddings in all sorts of ways.
Let’s say you’ve chosen blue as your wedding colour scheme. Dress your bridesmaids in different shades of blue, from the palest baby blue through to the deepest midnight navy, with every hue in between. Depending on your skin tones, your maids will suit different colours in any case – a blonde would look great in a pale powder blue while a dark brunette could stun in a rich navy.
You could work the ombre look through to your flowers, too, choose different shades of blue blooms for your table decorations. We’re thinking cornflowers, forget me nots, delphiniums, hydrangea and scabious. Also work this look into your wedding stationery – you could organise ombre save the dates, invitations, table plans and menus.
Pretty in pink
Hot pink has always been a popular wedding colour and this shows no signs of changing next year. Usually associated with princess-style big days, next year hot pink grows up and can be used as an accent colour in rustic or glamorous wedding themes. This colour is also a great for a beach wedding as it’s vibrant and works well under a bright sun.
Join in the conversation on the Wedding Ideas Forum and see what our brides-to-be are thinking about colours for 2014.
