Dear Abby
It has been FAR too long since we’ve done a Dear Abby Session. I have some great reader questions that I want to share with you today with the hopes that collectively, we can help solve some wedding day dilemmas.
Q. So…here’s my dilemma. I work for Rebecca Taylor and want to use something from our collection for my bridesmaids. I fell in love with a certain dress that was almost the right color, which I thought would be fine, but now it’s driving me crazy. Now, I know that not everything has to be matchy-matchy, but I’m not sure how to fit it with the color story I orginally wanted. I always admire the way you put colors together, so I’m hoping you have a brilliant idea for me.
The original idea was: navy, classic, gold chiavari chairs, cream linens, champagnes, warm and traditional with an edge. pink peonies, floppy bows, and city formal
without being cold….
So – the bridesmaid dresses are not quite navy…more dark blue with a periwinkle tinge. The problem is, now all I can see is pink and blue when I picture the dresses and my must-have peonies together. For some reason, this color combo says more casual, bold, bright to me and less classic. Now that it’s time to pick out invitiations, etc. I still gravitate to navy and I’m not really that into embracing the new dark periwinkle color for everything else. Any thoughts?? Go on with navy for everything else and pretend the dresses are navy? Give up on navy and go periwinkle even though I’m not really into that color? Find a way to combine? I just really want a cohesive color palette for our event
We’ll have more questions throughout the day, but for now, can you help this reader? I will post my thoughts towards the end of the day…
A. Okay! I think that this is a pretty common problem…brides have a very particular idea of what they want in their head. Then they fall in love with a gown or a bridesmaids dress that fights their original idea. My best advice is this…go with what you love. Designing a wedding, is like decorating your living room. If you try too hard to achieve a “look”, you will fail miserably. If you focus on elements, colors and textures that you love…the wedding will turn out to be just as you’ve always imagined and more importantly, it will truly reflect you.
Here is a photo of the bridesmaid dress that this reader loves (I love it too, big time love it)…
The blue dress is STUNNING. And, it would look perfect with creams and golds, so elegant…so feminine, but so sophisticated….I think that a soft pink brought in subtly would only add to the beauty of the palette. I know that you are attached to peonies (who isn’t). There are quite a few really beautiful hues available for peonies. What about going with a super soft, almost white pink peony? This will allow you to still have that elegant look, with a rosy shade of pink to break up the palette a bit? I will work on getting a color palette together so that you can see what I mean.
Bottom line…go with the element that you love, then build around that. Everything else will fall into place!
I think you're trying to achieve an awful lot of adjectives so I'm suggesting a deep breath to start with. You don't say what time of year you're getting married but as it's peony time I'm assuming early summer. In which case, I would embrace the dark periwinkle blue and up the ivory. If you have a few pink peonies as the accent colour it will be gorgeous and the danger with navy is that, if the sun is too bright, it will end up looking black in the pictures. Seasonally dark periwinkle, cream and touches of pink will set just the right tone that your images are heading towards anyway.
What does everyone else think?
Um, you do know that everything doesn't have to match, right? Matchy matchy is totally boring. My bridesmaids aren't even all wearing the same color but they will coordinate. As long as everything flows together, it will be beautiful. You will have a lot more important things to worry about in the future. I wouldn't lose sleep over a color that isn't quite navy. If you love the dress then go for it and move on.
I agree with Helen. And why not do a periwinkle, cream/ivory and navy color scheme with touches of peony pink?? That sounds absolutley fabulous to me. Do the navy invites still. The overdone, overthought out colors thing has been done to death.
Navy will be a wonderful grounding colour to your scheme to provide depth. You could use the navy ribbons to wrap their boquets and maybe navy table dressings. It will really add to the glamour of the event. Sounds beautiful!
I think the important thing is to keep the navy, and you should definitely trust your initial impulse to have it. If you only have the lavender/periwinkle, pink, and cream you could run the risk of having things look a little too sweet, anyway. I think the navy adds a strength, modernity, and crispness to the palette. What about adding navy accents to the bridesmaids' ensemble? You didn't post a picture of their dresses...but...could their bouquets have navy ribbons around them? Could they have navy shoes? And I agree that it's much more interesting if things don't match as much as look like they live well together.
if navy is your color, go with navy. However, I think the periwinkle dresses could work. is there a way to incorporate navy accessories with the dress/bridesmaids' bouquets? as long as the two colors go together well, that seems like the easiest solution to the problem and it could turn out looking amazing!
also, is there a way to maybe hint at the periwinkle color in your bouquet or the floral arrangements that will be in your ceremony/reception. It could simply be the tiniest hint in one of the flowers and there...now it's all cohesive.
layering of similar hues of color is super popular anyway and, I think, always looks amazing and way more interesting than just "matchy-matchy," as you said.
hope that helps!!
.xo. Jenn
Does anyone happen to know who that dress is by?? i would absolutely looove to get is for a good friend's spring black tie wedding (as a guest, not bridesmaid, but the dress is just stunning!). any thoughts would be so appreciated! thanks very much!
I too love the color and the idea of going with what you love most. I just wanted to suggest that when I saw the color I immediately thought of Hydrangeas they would be lovely mixed in.
Yes, I MUST know who this dress is by!!! Please............
Simply divine.
I believe that it's Rebecca Taylor...though it's not on her site yet. I am assuming that it's one of her newer designs.