Tips for choosing your Wedding Colour Scheme

Tips for choosing your Wedding Colour Scheme

Categories

Wedding Colour Schemes

Picking your wedding colours is sometimes easier said than done, but it’s an important step in your planning process. In addition to being an extension of your personal styles as a couple, a carefully chosen colour palette can make all the difference when creating a cohesive wedding look. It’s a good idea to start thinking about your wedding colours shortly after you’ve set a date and chosen a venue, but how should you begin? By considering your basic wedding details, such as season, location, and theme, you can start to narrow down the colours that will play into the look you want. Once you’ve decided on your colours, all of the other details will fall into place, from flowers and stationery to wedding party attire, table linens, and more.

Choose a base colour

Your base colour will be the one that’s used most prominently throughout your wedding. The base colour can be anything from soft blush pink or peach to elegant navy blue, punchy yellow, or even dramatic jade green, depending on the overall vibe you want to create. Most importantly, it should be a colour you genuinely love! Once you have your base colour, the next step is to choose a handful of complementary “accent” colours — generally two or three of them. These accents will round out your wedding palette, adding dimension and variation to prevent the colours from being over-the-top matchy-matchy or kitschy. Your accents can be anything from bold, contrasting hues on the opposite side of the colour wheel, to neutral tones like grey, white, black, or beige. No base colour yet? Keep reading for more advice on how to pick your wedding colours from scratch.
Wedding photographer - JB Moments Photography

Think about your wedding season

While there’s nothing written in stone that says your wedding colours should match up with your wedding season, we can’t argue that some colours lend themselves naturally to certain times of the year. If you’re feeling stuck when choosing a colour palette, look to your wedding season for a bit of inspiration. Dark jewel tones, such as emerald green, plum purple, navy blue, and marsala red, for example, tend fit in better with cold weather surroundings, like changing foliage in the autumn or white snow in the winter. Bold and bright colours are generally more appropriate for a summer celebration, while pastel hues are traditionally associated with springtime weddings.

What about your Venue

Consider the colours of your chosen venue. Are there any particularly distinctive tones on any of the walls, carpets or furniture? If so, it’s worth working with that colour rather than against it, either incorporating it into your scheme or choosing complementary shades – there’s nothing worse than a room full of décor that clashes with the carpet!

If your venue offers more of a blank canvas – a barn, for example – then consider the amount of light and the size of the space available. Opt for light colours in a smaller venue to make it feel brighter. Darker colours can still be used, but be aware that they will create an intimate feel that might not suit every couple’s tastes.

Flowers

If your heart is set on a specific bloom and you really don’t want to swap, you might want to base your wedding colour scheme around the shades of your chosen flowers. So if blue hydrangeas or bold sunflowers are on your must-have list, make blue your accent colour throughout, paired with a complementary tone.

Wedding photographer - JB Moments Photography

Clothing

Likewise, if you’re desperate to choose a grey, gold, blush or pale blue gown or your partner only wants to wear hunter green, it’s probably worth adapting your colour palette to fit. Make sure your bridesmaids and groomsmen’s outfits work well with the scheme, too. After all, they all need to look good together for the photos!

Accessories

If you’re still struggling to pin down a wedding colour scheme, look to your accessories for inspiration. Have you chosen a statement handbag or pair of shoes? Gemstone jewellery? Take the colour of your accessory and let it influence the rest of your décor decisions, using it as your accent colour for a pretty palette.

Play up your palette with gradient

Can’t decide on a collection of colours that look good together? Keep it simple by sticking with one colour and opting for an ombré-inspired palette instead. You don’t need an assortment of different colours to create a gorgeous palette. For example, a wedding with three or four shades of blue (or whichever colour you like best!) can look just as beautiful as one with a rainbow of colours. This option is also excellent for creating a more modern, monochromatic look with your wedding decor.

 

What will your wedding colour scheme be?