Let’s Color

One of the things I love most about Pinterest is that it brings the concept of the inspiration board to everyday people — not just artists and designers. I’ve been a massive fan of the inspiration board for years and love getting inspired for many things — from character development in a piece of nonfiction to party planning for a friend’s birthday — by creating mood, color, and concept boards.

As you plan your wedding, you might know automatically which colors speak to you and nail them down right away. I thought I had it all figured out — navy and pale pink — until I looked at all the inspiration I was gathering and realized I was way off. In addition to your pinning, which is ridiculously fun, I recommend making some actual mood boards to get you feeling inspired. Grab lovely images and scraps of fabric, ribbon and magazine pages — throw in an old selfie of you two, and so on. Roll up your sleeves and start working on a massive collage of what your wedding means to you. You might just find, as I did, that your perfect palette emerges.

You can also check out how mine developed on my personal wedding board, We Were Married By the Sea.

If you love lavender, seek inspiration photos that include deeper purples and other accents like the cream in this table setting. The lime flowers also call to mind multitonal greens, which can be worked in multiple different ways.

Love isn’t always a matter of black and white, but if your wedding will be, consider warming things up with gold or cooling off with silver. The subtle glow of coral-brown in the stairwell picture above could be inspiration for the perfect, complimentary flowers to fit your wedding day.

Don’t choose between red and pink — just find ways they can work together. This bold and super-sweet palette is rockin’ … and timeless in its own, wild way.

Images used in this post have been borrowed from Pinterest. Collages were created by Jensy.

Black & White & Chic All Over

Planning a black and white wedding? It’s quite the undertaking, but the results can be resplendent. I remember the first time I saw such an affair documented in a bridal magazine. I literally had to lift my jaw off the floor. The couple utilized a blend of bold, traditional and semi-whimsical patterns to bring warmth to the stark contrast of their colors. Without any accent hue aside from the green stems on their flowers, the wedding delivered major wow power.

For those who dare, this scheme can work in many styles. From black-tie to barefoot on the beach, read on for some black and white wedding inspiration that will leave your guests speechless:

With nods to the past, this composite works well. Chevron bowties, a striped tent, bow-back bridesmaids dresses and a parasol? Oh, my!

Black and white can work for a more rustic affair, too, as seen with this barn wedding featuring feathers, long bridesmaids gowns, and a chalkboard theme on the invites.

Try offsetting the stark contrast of black and white with a warm, lemony yellow. This wedding was done perfectly.

Three different takes on the black and white cake, from whimsical to classic to vintage. How could you choose just one?

She adhered pretty heavily to the color scheme but brought in pops of gold sparkle and pretty pink to offset it. This wedding is a combination of bold, modern and sweet.

What can I say? A few long gowns, tuxes and a Boston Terrier bring it all together.

You’re Golden

We talk about gold a lot. Perhaps it’s because I loved using it as an accent color at my own wedding. Maybe it’s due to the rise in the cost of gold, that makes anything gold in color more trendy. Or could it be the lasting Gatsby craze that nods to a time of opulence with gilded edges? Gold is a versatile color that can be the basis of your palette, or can accent a variety of color schemes gorgeously.

I literally loved everything about this old-meets-new, Gatsby-inspired wedding featured on StyleMePretty.com last week. You must check it out!

If you’re unsure about adding gold to your decor, but still want to include it, glittery shoes are an excellent choice. Bonus: these Kate Spade sparklers are totally wearable for years (and other weddings!) to come. $298, saksfifthavenue.com

Like the mason jars we made this weekend, gold-dusted champagne bottles are a really cool favor. Luxe without being over-the-top. From dreamweddingplans.blogspot.com via Pinterest

We sprinkled gold stars in the invitations and mirrored the effect on the place cards and tables for a touch of shine. This was easy to do and looked lovely. Photo courtesy of Elisabeth Millay

Matchy-Matchy

Matching is such a tricky thing, right? You can take it too far and look like a fool, you can ignore it altogether and look either amazing or absolutely tragic… you can toe the line and still not know whether you’re getting it right or not. As weddings have this tradition of matchy-matchy tied right into them, I went kicking and screaming into ours with a different idea. As with my general approach to fashion, I decided I wanted the different elements of our nuptials to “relate,” not to match.

white with blue. pretty!

Hence followed five bridesmaids in five different dresses (styles and colors!), groomsmen wearing different ties, a candy table that bore no real correlation to our core palette but jazzed things up at the end of the night, and so on. When it comes to wedding coordination, how “by the books” are you? I’ve seen some one or two-hued affairs that are absolutely amazing. All-white with the subtlest pops of metallic or pastel? Sign me up. Bolder Autumn hues that coordinate gorgeously and complement a diverse range of skin tones? Yes, please. Black, white and gray? Not mad at that either.

almost matchy-matchy, but not quite!

What was the coolest wedding color scheme you’ve seen recently? Or here’s another question for you… as a guest at someone else’s wedding, how much do you think/care about the colors? We will be rolling out tons of inspiration pages on colors in the coming months, and I am stirring my idea pot right now!

Gold Rush

I have officially decided on gold as my accent color for the wedding. We are going for this somewhat bohemian, somewhat Gatsby theme and gold just feels right. It’s the best of the 20’s, the best of the 70’s, and it’s pretty damn hot right now too. Now, forgive me for not phrasing this, “We have officially decided on gold as our accent color for the wedding.”

Let’s face it. Josh could not care less about what type of metallic sparkles end up in the centerpieces on the tables. Or the color of the shoes our bridesmaids will be wearing. Or whether the hue works its way into my eye shadow, headpiece, or jewelry. What does he want? A beautiful wedding. What am I going to ensure? Just that.

So, gold it is.

While deep navy and pale blush pink (without a hint of gray!) will be the predominant hues of the affair, gold will work its way into the decor in lovely little ways. Here are some of my ideas. Post your comments with more!

Little gold flower pots in varying shapes and styles to hold white flowers, scattered throughout reception…

Glittery gold shoes on me… or at least the bridesmaids…

STOP IT right now with this table… everything about which I love, especially the gold cutlery.

Photo booth props anyone??

Nails?
Maybe for the flower girls!