I don't know if it was my recent birthday or what... but I've been in a SERIOUS funk this week. I started feeling cranky about my birthday last week - and by the time Sunday rolled around, I was just over it. I don't care about my birthday and I was so stressed over random things that I was a pill to be around.
Needless to say, my 26th year of life is starting on a blah note... it can only go up from here, right?
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We've hit a bit of a stalling point in terms of wedding planning. Mostly because I can't wrap my brain around one simple thing: how in the heck do you choose wedding colors?!
Is it supposed to be your favorite color? His favorite color? Your favorite color TOGETHER?
I'm sure there are 245 Knot.com articles about this... but I just can't seem to answer the question for myself.
On one hand, I am a simple, classic (classy!) girl. And therefore black and white seems the simplest of all.... but then again, my BFF had black dresses at her December wedding. And that would be stealing.
I love me some pink, especially some hot pink, but who forces their bridesmaids to wear bright pink? Especially for a September wedding? Seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Kinda.
Fall weddings call for awesome autumnal colors... but like hell am I sending my maids down the aisle in burnt orange. No thank you.
There is one other color... blue, cobalt blue. It's been my color for about 6 years now, maybe longer.
This photo was taken in college with my college BFFs on a campus photo-shoot. We were all grumpy by the time we got rolling... but, as usual, I treasure the pictures. And thus, my signature color was born.
I haven't really found a blue as amazing as this one since that Gap t-shirt... which of course my dad shrunk in the dryer shortly after this photo.
I'm not sure if the blue even looks that good in the picture, or if my hair just looks rather awesome from the good wind. Ha.
So, I'm heavily leaning toward some kind of blue frock... but does that mean the rest of my wedding needs to be blue-blue-blue? I'm not one to follow rules very well.... so I need your help.
Oh wedding experts of the internet. Or, just my BFF strangers from the internet. Either-or.
Was your wedding matched down to a T? How did you pick your colors?
Am I overthinking this whole situation?
Duh.
Happy Wednesday!
Fall weddings call for awesome autumnal colors... but like hell am I sending my maids down the aisle in burnt orange. No thank you.
There is one other color... blue, cobalt blue. It's been my color for about 6 years now, maybe longer.
I haven't really found a blue as amazing as this one since that Gap t-shirt... which of course my dad shrunk in the dryer shortly after this photo.
I'm not sure if the blue even looks that good in the picture, or if my hair just looks rather awesome from the good wind. Ha.
So, I'm heavily leaning toward some kind of blue frock... but does that mean the rest of my wedding needs to be blue-blue-blue? I'm not one to follow rules very well.... so I need your help.
Oh wedding experts of the internet. Or, just my BFF strangers from the internet. Either-or.
Was your wedding matched down to a T? How did you pick your colors?
Am I overthinking this whole situation?
Duh.
Happy Wednesday!
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32 Classy Comments:
For my first wedding I chose lavender because I love it. any purple hue. I was just remarried and certainly didn't want to really repeat that so I chose navy blue because my groom looks gorgeous in it. then I found a beautiful dress in a champagne color and just like that, I had my wedding colors. I would guess the important thing is they are colors you love, feel good in and make you happy.
I found a BM dress I really liked, picked one of the colors of it, then choose a complimenting color!
I think you just pick something and go for it. I knew I wanted red Bridesmaids dresses, so obviously black went with it too. Then I threw in a dark silver and it all just worked. I think with the right blue the black and white would look good with it. Or you could do a lighter silver...just thoughts. That would be gorgeous for September!
I think the majority of people look amazing in blue. You could do navy or royal dresses. Then do a lighter blue as an accent with a pop of color. instead of wearing burnt orange dresses (Hell you could add some pretty orange and coral flowers.
I'm also sure that if you do black dresses it's not stealing. I've been to many black/white weddings but you can definitely make it your own by adding pink or even doing a rainbow effect letting each bridesmaid pick their shoe color and matching the groomsmen.
There is no really wrong answer here. You do what you want and it will be amazing!
Check out this wedding:
http://blog.waldorfphotographicart.com/?p=5655
She used a really pretty blue dress for her BM and then had pops of hot pink in her decor.
Blue would be fabulous. If that's your "signature color", what better color to use for your wedding!
For accent colors, you could add navy, apple green, or even sunflower yellow.
I think blue would be beautiful. My sister-in-law did navy with a yellow accent. We wore navy dresses and carried yellow flowers. The tables all have gold tablecloths and accents with some navy details in the place cards, menus, etc. and gorgeous yellow flowers. I love how it turned out.
I let my husband pick one and then I choose the other. He choose a marine blue so I added silver.
I say try to choose a "vibe" you want your wedding to have and then see what colors fit in. Classy and upscale seems very black and white with pink accents to me, classic, yet fun seems like blue. Vintage with a hint of modern, greys and yellows.
I say go with your signature color. plus a ore muted color (be that a grey, an ivory, whatever) and let the muted color be the main one with pops of cobalt blue. for example if you go with an ivory or cream color, your linens are the ivory/cream and your centerpieces and napkins are cobalt blue.
Hope this helps!
I second Karen's comment.. I thought about the "vibe" I wanted and then colors fell into place. I also have seen too many brides pick STRICT colors "yellow and blue" or "green and yellow" and then get uber hung up on making sure everything was the RIGHT and SAME shade. No thanks.
I saw a photo on Pinterest of a black IKEA lantern on a table with a tan/burlap looking cloth, soft glow from the candle.. and knew that was the "vibe" I wanted. So, instaed of saying "tan and black" I have just been using tans, creams, burlap, lace, and black accents.
That being said, David's Bridal's "Horizon Blue" is a BEAUTIFUL blue color- the color of your shirt. I ordered a pair of their shoes in that blue for my "something blue" but have seen mismatched bridesmaids dresses in that color and it looked STUNNING.
This is the exact reason I went the non-traditional route and did not have bridesmaids. However, I think that blue is an amazing choice! If I were you, I'd totally go for it.
I wanted a simple, yet elegant wedding and my favorite color scheme is black and white. But I really wanted a pop of color so I went with black bridesmaid dresses and bright green flowers for the "pop" of color. If blue is your favorite color then I say go for it!
I think you should find something that inspires you and take it from there. Our entire wedding was built around an invitation that my husband found on Etsy (which I highly recommend, by the way!). We fell in love with the simple design, font, and color scheme so we immediately ordered them. Everything else just fell into place after we started using the invite as inspiration.
I love cobalt blue!!! Great color!
I love that cobalt blue color! I thought about using that for our colors at first, but then changed my mind. We are using purple & grey (regency from david's bridal if you are familiar with those colors). We are doing a springy outdoor lake wedding though so I wanted to keep it casual.
my first wedding was black bridesmaid dresses. It was in September. The second I had my flower girls in a metallic ivory and my sister was my maid of honor and she wore a beautiful bronze shade. It was an October wedding.
Check Ann Taylor and JCrew for bm dress ideas and colors. Pick the colors YOU like. You could even do "heres the dress, you guys pick the color."
Good Luck and get out of your funk. It is hard sometimes but go to your happy place.
Hugs and love
I knew I wanted my girls to be in J. Crew dresses and I figured blue is a classic color, so I went with their Newport Navy and gold as my accent color. It also worked out that blue & gold are both Notre Dame & Navy's colors (:
Good luck!!!
I say go for the blue! I think black and white is hard to pull off, plus I love color! But it's all about what you love! Also, you don't have to be matchy-matchy. I think a general color scheme works best. That's what we did, plus it was hard to find stuff in mint green and coral.
So with the cobalt blue, you could do orange accents, pink(!) - would be hard to pull off I think, but it would be pretty, yellow, silver, green .. you could really go a lot of different directions with it!
Good luck!
black dresses are ALWAYS classic, and not at all stealing...especially since you wouldn't have the same flowers or anything!
cobalt/royal blue dresses with autumn tones of oranges and yellows and reds would look AMAZING together.
you don't have to pick colors right away either...you can figure out the "vibe" you're looking for with your venue, and then when you start looking at inspiration that way, some colors might stand out. or don't have "colors" at all...weddings don't HAVE to be matchy if you don't want them to be!
You are right to start with a color you like. But I agree that things look better when they are not matchy-matchy.
I had my maids in a beautiful navy that was more "cobalt" than "midnight" (Lula Kate "Navy") because I think everyone looks good in navy! I wanted to do a rose-pink but my girls just aren't pink girls.
But I went from there. I also suggest something that will coordinate well with your venue. Our venue was a historic, bright yellow mansion, and THAT is hard to coordinate with. I knew the navy would look good against it - and I basically stuck to just the dresses for the pop of color. Everything else (linens, flowers, etc) I kept neutral - pale pinks, ivory, champagne, pearl grey.
I love the way it turned out - you will never cringe down the road if you stick to neutrals! And I don't think you'll ever look back and think - gah! I should have done Malibu Barbie Pink!! :)
I chose tiffany blue and added pops of coral at the last minute because I was tired of it by the end of the wedding planning. I think it's important to go with a color that looks well on you since you will be in several pics with your bridesmaids. Keep in mind it is IMPOSSIBLE to match colors. So i did shades of tiffany blue, aquas, turquoise every company calls it something different. My wedding was a vintage outdoor wedding and it photographed well with the scenery. You can look at my pictures for some ideas
I love your royal blue idea, but don't be afraid to add some pops of color in the flowers or tablescapes to liven it up. :)
http://southernproductions.net/2012/02/beach-wedding-inspiration/royal-blue-bridesmaids-dresses/
Those girls had cobalt blue dresses with some pink/orange flowers.
Cobalt blue is fab. You would be so Kate. But, you really can't go wrong with black...always a classic AND that picture of you is sensational! You could always do a pop of hot pink with your flowers!
I agree with the "vibe" comments. I had no idea what I wanted. I looked at some photos online and realized that I wanted lots of brightly colored flowers, and my husband wanted their suits to look like Mad Men so black bridesmaid dresses worked great! We had an October wedding and they looked fabulous. I think the bright blue is super fun and perfect for the fall!
These were our photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.271728309528979.58914.190109807690830&type=1
I really love blue for your wedding! I think it suits you well.
I chose "casablanca blue" dresses (a cobalt blue) for the bridesmaids from JCrew. The only other items where I incorporated the color (beyond the dresses) were small handstamped tags on the menus. Too much of any color is overkill. The guys wore grey tuxedos with a pin stripe light yellow tie. As far as flowers, we did a mix of wildflowers in varied colors (but mostly natural - whites and greens and yellows) tied together with burlap. We also did wildflowers in mason jars and planters with ferns as the centerpieces - all on a white linen with a burlap runner. I hate, hate, hate matchy matchy colors where everything ends up being one or two colors. It looks tacky.
When I don't want black I always go for a navy blue. It goes with the fall theme so well and you can't get more classic than a good navy blue. I think it photographs better than black dresses as well. Added bonus, any other color you pick will compliment it beautifully.
Happy Birthday!
When I don't want black I always go for a navy blue. It goes with the fall theme so well and you can't get more classic than a good navy blue. I think it photographs better than black dresses as well. Added bonus, any other color you pick will compliment it beautifully.
Happy Birthday!
Wayyyyyy back ten years ago when I got married, I wanted cobalt blue dresses in the worst way and couldn't find them ANYWHERE so I had to settle for "indigo" as the closest option.
I definitely love the cobalt option, obviously. You could definitely tie in the burnt orange, yellow, etc. flowers in with the bright blue for autumn. In fact, it would look pretty freaking amazing. That's what I did! I did gerber daisies,etc. in those colors and it really stood out. Don't overdo the color, though. It is a beautiful wedding color, though, and it looks gorgeous on you. So if you're surrounded by bridesmaids in cobalt blue, then that's just awesome. :)
You aren't over thinking, it is a big decision! The colors you choose dictate the whole wedding. Blue would be fabulous!
I just chose a color that I loved, that happened to be flattering for everyone. My bridesmaid dresses were navy. I also had navy table cloths, and the ink on my invites/calligraphy was navy.
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