Choosing Your Shade & Accent Colors:
Now that you’ve chosen your wedding color, it’s time to finalize the shade and choose your accents. The most important piece of advice I can give when finding items in your wedding color is “be flexible!” Your wedding planning will be so much more enjoyable for you, for him, and for all your friends and family helping you plan, if you stress less about the exact, spot-on color and go with a shade of the original color. Another perk of being flexible is the beautiful depth and richness that will be created by using shades.
The most color-concentration in your wedding will probably be your bridesmaid dresses. I have had girls come in with an exact color swatch, which they bought from another bridal store, and they are adamant: “this IS the color I want.” Chances are, when you start with the color swatch you’re going to have a hard time and become frustrated, finding a bridesmaid dress that comes in that exact shade. Rather, be a little open-minded and choose the bridesmaid dress before the color swatch. Your bridesmaids want to be comfortable wearing what you choose and you want them to look nice beside you; therefore, don’t limit your options of styles right away by being so stuck on one exact color swatch. Once you choose a couple styles of dresses, then check out the color swatches and see what shades are available in your color. If one dress doesn’t have a color you’re happy with, eliminate that dress. Keep an open-mind and eventually you will find the color you’re happy with in a dress that will look good on all of your girls!
Now that the main color (and exact shade) is set-in-stone you can play with the accent colors. If you got away from the shade of color you had originally thought you’d do, it’s time to revisit it! Is there a place in your wedding to incorporate that original shade you loved? For example: if you wanted to do charcoal grey but your bridesmaid dresses only come in a pewter/sterling grey color, can you incorporate the charcoal back in as an accent color? Could you put your groomsmen in charcoal vests and ties, or incorporate charcoal ribbon into the floral arrangements? Think about how shades of color work together to unify and create depth, then play it up!
If you didn’t have any trouble finding the right wedding color, but need ideas for the accent color, first consider other colors you considered for your main wedding color. Do they “go together?” Example: He wanted red, you wanted purple but you compromised on a shade of teal that you both liked. Now, you can consider if you want teal and red, or teal and purple.
If that doesn’t do the trick in finding an accent color, go back to art class…seriously! Consider the color wheel when finding a color to balance and accent your wedding color. You will find complimentary colors across from each other on the color wheel, and of course, shades of colors or, analogous colors, beside each other. You can also check out Pinterest and wedding magazines for other ideas on color schemes.
Have fun with it, make it yours! Remember, there are no set ‘rules’ for how many colors you can have; however, to keep everything looking cohesive when put together, don’t over do it! You’ll have your white/ivory and black/grey/brown, but then try to limit it to two or three other colors. Any more than that and you may find it difficult to bring everything together.
Side note: Exact names of colors depend on the company making the item: light yellow might be called ‘light yellow’ one place and ‘butter’ or ‘buttercream’ somewhere else- don’t get too hung up on the name.
