Wedding Colors: Easy Ways to Choose a Color Palette

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Once you’ve decided on your venue, you can start thinking about how to choose your wedding colors. If you’re trying to keep things simple, you might want to avoid having to match things.

You don’t have to have wedding colors, but choosing a color palette will actually make things easier. You’re going to have a lot of decisions for your wedding. If you have a color scheme to stick to, all that decision making will be simplified.

Plus, sticking to a few colors is an easy way to make your wedding look stylish and pulled together. Even if you go with low key neutrals, everything will look a bit better if you decide ahead of time.

Easy Ways to Pick Your Wedding Colors

Maybe you have a favorite color. But if you’re not an artist or designer, it might be hard to pick a color that matches. And if you’re looking at Pinterest, there’s so many options that it can get overwhelming!

If you need to narrow it down, you can choose a color scheme based on an element of your wedding, like your venue, a favorite flower or a wedding invitation.

Build a Color Scheme For Your Wedding Venue

Most wedding venues use neutral color schemes. But if yours has a certain style, you can build your palette around it.

For example, a barn venue could be great with natural, rustic or fall colors. A romantic ballroom venue could be perfect for a sky blue, sage green and blush pink wedding.

If your venue has an online photo gallery, look at the color schemes that other couples have used, for inspiration.

Pick Colors From Your Favorite Flower

Another easy way to pick colors is by choosing your favorite flower. Then build your color scheme around your florals. If you have a florist, they can help you pick out a complimentary color. Or you can use an online color picker.

Choose a photo of a bouquet that features your favorite flower and upload it to a color picker. My favorite site for this is Coolors Color Palettes Generator. You can build a gorgeous color scheme from any inspiration photo.

Use Wedding Invitations as Inspiration

You don’t need to buy your invitations until your wedding is a lot closer. But it’s never too early to start looking.

Looking at invitations is a great way to start thinking about different styles, themes and colors for your wedding. Plus, they’re designed by professional artists, so it’s practically guaranteed that the colors are going to match.

How Many Wedding Colors Should You Have?

Most couples choose one main color, plus one accent color. If you want to keep it simple, using two colors will give you plenty of options for your dresses and decor. If you’d like to add more variety, you can add a third, fourth and even a fifth color.

When you’re deciding on your wedding palette, start with a base color. This base color will be used for choosing bridesmaid dresses, bouquets and decor.

Once you’ve chosen your base color, you can choose a secondary color. Having a second color will add interest and make sure everything isn’t too matchy-matchy. You can use this color as accents in your bouquets, centerpieces and other decorations.

To add interest to your flowers and decor, you can include more colors in your palette. Lots of bouquets and invitations have a color scheme with 3, 4 or 5 colors.

If you’re trying to keep it simple, you can choose just one color. Then use that color in a few different shades. For example, you could have a palette of navy, slate and dusty blue. Or purple, lilac and lavender.

How to Use Your Wedding Colors

Once you’ve chosen your wedding colors, you can use them in your bridal party dresses, suits and accessories. You can also use them for your wedding day decorations, at the ceremony and reception.

Wedding Invitations:

Printing
Envelopes
Ribbons, stickers or seals

Bridal Party Clothes and Accessories:

Bridal jewelry.
Bridal bouquet.
Bridesmaid bouquets.
Bridesmaids dresses and jewelry.
Groom and groomsmen boutonnières, ties, pocket squares or socks.

Wedding Decorations:

Aisle decorations
Arch, altar or chuppah
Chair covers
Tablecloths
Table runners
Napkins
Coasters
Centerpieces
Favors

Wedding Reception Food:

Wedding cake
Signature drinks
Desserts

Colors for Wedding Themes

If you’ve chosen a style or theme for your wedding, some color palettes will be a natural match. You could also choose your color scheme based on the season, or the time of day.

Color Ideas for a Traditional Wedding

If you’re planning a traditional, ballroom wedding, lots of colors will be a good match. Start by looking at the colors and style of the ballroom you’ve booked.

If it’s got a romantic style, you might want to plan a pink, lavender or sage color scheme. If it’s more modern, you could choose a black and white color palette. Add a metallic, like silver or gold for an extra, elegant touch.

Color Palettes for a Neutral Wedding

Neutral color palettes are perfect for casual, rustic or boho weddings. For an elegant look, you can choose an all white color palette. Or you can add neutrals like ivory, cream or tan.

Spring Wedding Color Palettes

Soft pastels are perfect for if you’re planning a spring wedding. You could choose a color scheme of pinks, blues or purples for springtime. If you’d like a brighter color, melon, peach or yellow could be another great choice for spring.

Summer Wedding Color Schemes

Nearly any color scheme will work at a summer wedding. You could choose bright, cheerful colors like fuchsia, purple or turquoise. Or you could use blue, pink or lavender for a more romantic style wedding.

Color Ideas for a Fall Wedding

Burgundy, rust or brown look fantastic when you’re planning a fall wedding. For more neutral colors, you could choose a palette of tan, cream and ivory. If you’d like a more unique choice, you can use jewel tones, like deep green, purple and red.

Winter Wedding Color Palettes

Winter wedding palettes can be a classic choice of berry red and green. All white is another great choice for winter time. If you’d like more color, navy, icy blue or purple looks amazing at a winter wedding. For an elegant look, you can add a metallic silver to your color palette.

Take Your Time Choosing

Don’t feel like you need to get all your planning done at once. It’s completely normal to go back and forth a few times.

If you have trouble deciding, order some fabric samples or invitation samples. You can bring them to your venue to make sure the color and style will match.

Once you’ve made your decision, delete the old Pinterest boards! Get rid of anything that doesn’t match your color palette. Stick with the color scheme you’ve chosen and your wedding will look amazing.