Reader Post: “Picking Your Wedding Colors” by New Bride Tayo

Elizabeth / Tuesday June 18, 2013
Aisle Perfect: Pale Pink Inspiration

It’s been 3 months since he put a ring on it, and excited as I am to be planning the wedding of my dreams, there is one thing that has totally gotten me all worked up- picking colors! (apparently my dreams were in greyscale) A lot of couple’s go the simpler route by  choosing their favorite colors. In my case, my absolute favorite color is purple. It is the most gorgeous color ever but it’s also possibly the most popular wedding color ever, so I knew I couldn’t use it. My man’s favorite color on the other hand is black, sooo uhmm….yeah, thanks but no thanks!

Most Popular Wedding Colors by The Knot and WeddingChannel.com

Armed with all this in mind, the hunt for the perfect color scheme began; I checked out Real Weddings on so many different blogs and lived on Aisle Perfect‘s inspiration page (click here). You see, the thing with picking colors for a wedding is that it goes beyond what looks nice on an inspiration board; there are soooo many things to consider. The color sets the entire tone of the wedding; So. Much. Pressure!!!

I’ve tried to put a list of things I considered most important when picking my colors:

• The theme of the wedding: What kind of bride are you? What’s the theme of your wedding? Do you want a soft romantic event, or a jumping high energy party? Would the colours you’ve picked help set the tone you’d like?

• What needs to follow the colour scheme I think this is definitely the most important. I stumbled across a wedding recently, the bride had chosen a very strong primary colour and every bit of the wedding seemed to incorporate this colour – the decor, the cake, the bridal party’s outfits, the guest aso-ebi etc etc. It was just too much and succeeded in making an otherwise gorgeous colour look a big mess! I’m no expert but I think if your colour scheme is very strong you need to limit what follows the scheme so it doesn’t look overpowering. Plus you don’t really need your guests to think uhm…yeah burnt orange, we got it. • The ease with which the colour can be worked with As I said above your entire decor and wedding doesn’t have to follow the colour scheme so whilst picking your colours consider how easy it’d be to find other colors to softly complement them.

• Lastly speak a language your vendors understand In the last 3 months I have stumbled across more colors than I ever knew existed. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a seafoam inspiration board on pinterest. Did you guys know there was a color called seafoam? Yes? Ok I knew too…lol. Well now I speak the language of colours- seafoam, dried plum, salmon, coral etc but whilst you are speaking the language please ensure your vendors understand the language. It would be a shame if you walked into your hall and realised your décor was fuchsia instead of salmon, …ok extreme but you get my drift.

Tradspiration: Emerald + Red

In Nigeria, apart from the white wedding we also have at least one other traditional wedding ceremony that colors have to picked for as well. I have to say this was way more difficult for me than picking the colors for the white wedding. As is customary there are two sets of colors for the aso-ebi, which is used to identify close family (well recently it’s pretty much to show which one of the couple the guest identifies with). I knew I definitely wanted bright colors but I still wanted it to look chic so I got different inspiration boards done. This one Kunbi made for me (below)  is one of my favorites.

Aisle Perfect: Burnt Orange + Champagne
But then I started to consider what colors my groom could pick that would complement my set of colors. I don’t want any color overshadowing the other. I wanted them both to be strong colors but I needed them to look good together. Shouldn’t be too difficult right? Wrong! Just when I thought I had finally figured it out I got this bit of advice, “Take a minute, pause and visualize your entire hall with a sea of people in those colors. No, you don’t want your hall to look like rainbows fighting”. Needless to say I scrapped my beautiful orange and champagne idea. I think that’s the best advice to give anyone picking colors for the traditional wedding because I mean EVERYONE (well almost) will be wearing those colors.
Whilst I think I have finally found the winners for both the white and the traditional wedding, I’m still figuring out the best way to execute them.
Wish me Luck!
Tayo


Check out our Guide to Picking Wedding Colors infographic by HomeAway HERE