Picking Your Wedding Colors

One of the thing that so many brides seem to find to be a speed bump in their wedding planning is picking the right colors.

My advice has always been to start by looking in your closet. Face it, don’t you buy the clothes that look best on you? Well it only seems right that the colors you look great in would be a great place to start with the colors you want to surround you on your wedding day. Savvy?

So, look to your closet then look to your venue. How can you make those two work together? Still stuck? Throw the season of your wedding into the mix.

Now that you have some foundation of the colors you look best in and the canvas you have to work with, get busy with some of the best tools on the internet.

These are great for providing inspiration.

Preston Bailey’s Color Picker

Bride’s Color Studio for Receptions

Panetone Wedding by the Dessy Group

Still stuck? Here are a few tools that you can pop in a picture and it will break out all the colors in it.

ColourLovers

Big Huge Lab Color Palette Generator

Kuler

Ok, got your colors? You can search Google images by color and collect some image that inspire you and you are ready to make your inspiration board. Here are tool really easy tools for that.

Picasa

Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker

If you are anything like me, you have just spent an entire day playing with colors! I hope it helped you find the palette that makes your heart sing.

Far From the Pale. Soft, Romatic Weddings

There is something so romantic about pale, soft colors. ~sigh~

After the last few years of bright, bold, contemporary look in weddings, soft is making a come back.

Pale doesn’t mean colorless. This table decor has cream, yellow, silver, green and blue in a shabby chic look.

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The soft off white lace blends beautifully with the soft peach chiffon bridesmaids dresses.

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Not only are the colors soft, but the flowers in this bouquet from The Martha are soft and fluffy.

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Even when the design is over the top, these colors add a certain romance. Don’t you think?

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The colors, the flowers chosen and the very restrained use of black as an accent are what this look is all about.

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Rustic Table Decor

As weddings trend towards more casual affairs, it’s time to rethink your table decor. These rustic table are fun, pretty and certainly something you could consider DIYing.

1. Blue gift bags hold sunflowers and roses and lemons make unique place cards. Burlap makes a casual table cloth. {source}

2. A feasting table makes the most of the narrow confines of this barn. The mismatched china and garden flowers in mason jars give it a shabby chic look. {source}

3. Blue chairs, stemless glassware and lanterns are brightened up by simple arrangements of sunflowers in milk glass vases. {source}

4. A collection of bright colorful cans are re-purposed as vases and fill with garden grown zinnias. {source}

5. This look is perfect for a wine country or summer field wedding. The color palette of white with pale sage and brown is fresh and summery. {source}

6. This tented wedding is a result of the use of the tanned golden browns of a late summer field. The chairs really make it. Shop the picture with the rental firms in your area to see what alternatives they can offer. {source}

Pretty Aisle Decor

One of the first things your guests see is the aisle decor. Whether you are saying I Do in a church, a ball room or a garden it is one of the things that set the tone for your entire event. It gives your guests a taste of things to come. It is also an important part of the backdrop for your ceremony pictures.

Aisle decor doesn’t have to be boring, or expensive. I hope these inspire you do something fun with your aisle.

Oh and remember, you can always reuse these as part of your reception decor.

1. I love these rose petal patterns. {source}

2. While this technically wasn’t used as aisle decor, it certainly could be. This was done by friend of the Dish, Branching Out Event Florist {source}

3. I know I have used this image before but it just makes me smile! {source}

4. This little baby has that shabby chic look. I would be perfect in a slightly wild garden. {source}

5. Easy look for fall. Rent the hurricanes, add a bag of silk fall leaves. Presto! {source}

6. Pretty pomanders. What sets these apart is the attention to the ribbon detail; high quality ribbon and nice bows make them special. {source}

7. Floating candles and orchids are set off by good lighting choices. This would look spectacular at a night wedding. {source}

8. Aisle decor doesn’t have to be floral. I love the creativity of this one. {source}

4 Tips for Keeping Your Wedding Decor Budget Inline

Every bride wants a beautiful backdrop for her big day. When it comes to what you can spend on your floral and decor budget, the sky is the limit.

I was chatting with friend of the Dish, event designer extraordinaire Vicki Sanders yesterday and these tips came up. They are just little things to keep in mind that will trim your decor budget without resorting to the dreaded rose bowl with a single floating candle.

1. Limit your seating. Huh? Look at this, unless you are serving a seated plated dinner you do not need seating for every guest. By eliminating 2 or 3 tables you are also eliminating 2 or 3 centerpieces. If you are doing mostly heavy finger foods you could use a bit of lounge furniture and some smallish cocktail tables. Smaller tables, smaller centerpieces.

2. Choose your flowers carefully. I know that you already know that if you choose in season flowers you will save, but there is more to it than that. The minute you get you heart set on a specific flower, you are setting yourself up to spend more than you need to achieve your look. Work with your floral designer to determine which flowers will achieve your look AT THE TIME OF YOUR WEDDING. Short story, a bride simply had to have coral peonies, sadly her wedding was 2 weeks before they became abundant. By using coral roses and white peonies the florist could have saved her a bundle and still gotten her color and the fluff of peonies. If you absolutely have to have a specific flower, limit it to your wedding bouquet and let the florist make suggestions for the rest of your wedding decor.

3. Rent your containers instead of buying them. Even if you are going to DIY your wedding flowers this can save you significantly. You will get higher quality containers, you won’t have to figure out what to do with them after your wedding and you won’t have spent days and days running all over town trying to find them.

4. Think about your labor cost. Your floral design teams time is not free. Every little thing adds time. A bride recently told my friend that she wanted her vases lined with lime slices. Beautiful look. When she was quoted the price to do this she just didn’t get it, so she asked how much if she bought the limes and brought them to the florist. Fail. What was expensive was the time it would take to uniformly slice a case of limes and then double vase to hold them in place in the arrangement.  What you are requesting may seem like a minor detail, but take a minute to think about the labor involved.

These tips and tricks are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the knowledge that true wedding professional bring to the table. DIY or hiring a novice may seem like a great idea at the time, but in the long run, the true pros earn their fees because of what they know.

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