Ask Abby
Our third question is from Valerie who is looking for a little color palette help…
Q3:Sadly I am at a complete LOSS about weddings. I was one of those girls who never thought about getting married and now that I am engaged, I have become obsessed. I am getting married in July at a winery in Calistoga CA. The ceremony is outside, then a formal dinner inside. I am wearing a gorgeous Jenny Lee gown with ivory over blush — so it is a pearly color of white. No idea what colors to use. I need to choose a color for the bridesmaid dress. At first I was thinking a winery theme but is July too hot to wear burgandy/merlot dresses?
A: I really believe that when deciding on your color palette you need to try to think in this order…
1. Choose your venue…the venue itself should really set the tone for your color palette. So many people try to fight with the natural colors of the space that they have chosen, which is never good. You want your color palette to embrace and enhance the ambiance of your venue.
2. Start looking at bridesmaids dresses. Try to find a line that offers colors that compliment your reception space and your vision. It’s so hard when brides fall in love with a particular dress, then can’t get it in the color that they have been dreaming about.
3. Solidify the palette. Once you have your space and you know that you can find gowns that will coordinate with the look and style you are going for, tweak your palette so that it is just right. Perhaps a darker palette needs a touch of white or natural greenery. Or, a lighter palette might need a grounding color like chocolate, grey or navy.
So, for this particular wedding, I would fully embrace the beauty and the colors of Napa Valley. Having been to tons of wineries in the area, I think that your first instinct of using a deeper red or pink would be beautiful. You can lighten up the palette by using a variety of light peach and pink flowers and perfect summer parasols to shade your guests…
Dress by J Crew, Peach Flowers by Wiggy Flowers, Boutineire by Crimson and Clover, Parasol Image by Jessamyn Harris
I saw this beet colored dress on J Crew recently and absolutely love it. Paired with lighter pinks and peaches creates a more Summery look, while it would also be beautiful with raspberries, oranges and cream for a Fall palette. I think that this palette would be lovely for a wine country wedding.
Hi Valerie,
It will be so gorgeous! And your gown sounds amazing. I love blush! I have gone back and forth with color palettes. I think I have changed it five times! Finally, last night, my sweet sister helped me to finalize me decision! A winery is such a fantastic location and I think you should stick to colors that reflect that.
My wedding is being held at a very Tuscan-looking Country Club in July, so both our locations are very Italian, so I am opting to stick to colors that capture the lush smalls and feel of Italy; creams, pale pinks, blush, yellows and greens.
My bridesmaids are all in yellow. Since it is such a trendy color for the spring, I was worried to use it, but yellow is not trendy for weddings! And it's such a wonderful, fresh color that would look great in any California setting! But it is important to balance it with subtle, muted colors so it doesn't look like a Sweet Sixteen Party!
Good Luck Planning! I'm sure whatever you do, it will be fantastic!
I think a Merlot color would be just fine! If your worried about the heat, why not consider giving them some of those adorable parasols, or even some cute fans, instead of flowers to carry? A 3rd color of a silvery sage green (like the color of russian olive trees, do you know what I mean?) could help keep things light and summery.
I think that merlot-colored dresses would be beautiful, especially if you picked flowers that brightened up the dresses like pinks and reds.
Another idea would be to have champagne colored bridesmaid dresses.
Good luck!
Why not stick with you winery theme, but use more of a white wine motif? Green, white and hints of yellow? I love these paired with either charcoal gray or chocolate brown, both of which are also a very trendy colors this season, and will give you the dark color you need. Rule of thumb, pick one dark color, and accent it with 1 or 2 medium to lighter shades. Don't go overboard on the dark colors.
My pick would be green (think green spider mum) and brown, with a pale yellow softly tied in.
Happy planning!
Perhaps you could stay within the winery theme by having green (like a spring green) bridesmaids dresses. Then, use dark purple as a color for other items - table linens, etc. Your colors could be spring green, dark purple, and blush/ivory.
Or, a palette of light yellow (bridesmaid dresses) and burgundy/merlot or dark purple would be gorgeous too.
Personally, I wouldn't do wine colors - I like fruit colors for an outdoor summer wedding (e.g. lemon yellow, lime green, strawberry pink, tangerine, etc.). But rather than start with the season or the venue, I would start by thinking about which colors you really enjoy the most in general. Do you have a dress or a top in a color you love? Have you decorated your home in certain colors you love? Have you stayed at a hotel recently or been in a restaurant or store that moved you? You can draw inspiration from anywhere - magazine ads are great, and not just wedding magazines - home design mags are excellent for this. Once you have an idea of what you want, there are a lot of wedding sites that allow you to filter photos by color, which is very helpful. Also, you could try looking at bridesmaid dress sites to see what colors are available, and of those, which you like (I highly recommend www.jennyyoo.com). And of course, the inspiration boards on this site are fantastic! I found that making my own inspiration boards really helped crystallize my ideas - and it also helped me communicate them to my fiance and our vendors.
It pays to be flexible at the beginning. I knew that we wanted green for our color, and I started out thinking sage green and chocolate brown. But when we began looking at sage and brown stationary, it seemed too subdued - it didn't express how exhilarated we felt! And then we found a gorgeous bright kiwi green stationary suite with black and white brocade accents, and that was it - we nailed our palatte and our motif in one fell swoop!
I definitely feel your pain of selecting wedding colors. I find myself in a similar position. Without knowing your personality, relationship or location, here are some suggestions: plum (along the lines of a winery inspired color) and celedon green, yellow and celedon, espresso, blush and gold.
I dont think a summer wedding is too hot for a merlot color, but if you're having reservations, what about using more of a plum (as mentioned above).
The best advice I can give is to pick something that illustrates your style and go with it. In the end, it's only a tiny peice of the whole day.
I like the ideas for green and "white wine" for July. I would also suggest a short dress for your BM. With such a great venue - you won't need to go crazy with the decor, but I do think that a good idea would be to let the venue help you pick your color palette. For example, if there's lot's of gold on the walls, don't go with a silver theme, etc.
good luck!
I don't think its the colors so much as the fabric that the dresses are made out of, that will depict how hot they'll feel in the July sun. I personally think a deep plum would look gorgeous next to your blush dress. You could do cream, purple, and blush with either gold or silver accents.
I LOVE the idea one of the girls gave about having your BMs use parasols, adorable!
I also agree with another comment that your colors should reflect you and your fiancee. Go into your closets and see what colors dominate, then pull ideas from that. Also, have you thought about the mood? ultra sophisticated or casual chic? What about the groom? What do you see him wearing?
Valerie, />
There is also a color palette I did for a seaside wedding, but you could definitely take the colors and incorporate them into your own wedding. />
Also, there was a wedding that took place at Firestone Winery that has some great colors that I think you might like. You can view the wedding here: />
I hope that helps and good luck with all of your planning! If you want a color palette designed I would be happy to do one for you. Thanks!
There have been some great ideas so far and wanted to share some of my own too!
I did a couple color palettes on my blog, Zenadia Design, that I think might go well with the look you are going for. On the peach and navy you could change the peach to a blush color. Here is the link for that one:
http://zenadiadesign.blogspot.com/2008/04/color-palette-navy-and-peach.html " rel="nofollow">http://zenadiadesign.blogspot.com/2008/04/color-palette-navy-and-peach.html
http://zenadiadesign.blogspot.com/2008/01/color-palette-seaside-wedding-with-pink.html " rel="nofollow">http://zenadiadesign.blogspot.com/2008/01/color-palette-seaside-wedding-with-pink.html
http://www.santabarbarawedding.com/weddings/lindsaydavid/ " rel="nofollow">http://www.santabarbarawedding.com/weddings/lindsaydavid/
Sounds like a beautiful place to have a wedding... however, I definitely wouldn't go with such dark colors for summer. Why don't you try a nice champagne color? That will still stick somewhat with your vineyard theme, but it won't look odd considering the season. Have a great time planning... fun, isn't it?!
Thank you all for your ideas! It gave me some great places to start. Heidi- thanks for the links -- VERY helpful!
Sounds lovely! How about some lighter shades of green for the dresses with small touches of plum or burgandy? I think a celadon color with deep red flowers would both play nicely off of the color of your gown, while keeping the themed colors not so obvious!
I definitely second the "white wine/Champagne" color ideas... and both would look great with the blush hints in your dress. Not to sound like a wine snob (which I couldn't even try to be), but think about a crisp sauvignon blanc and the tastes and smells when you drink it: Warm peaches, green apples, citrus sometimes.... I love the blush and peach and apricot and champagne colors with hints or surprises of green.... Also I think there were some real wedding pictures of a wedding at a winery where the bride collected gorgeous chandeliers and it looked sooo good! (Urban Outfitter's has some for like $30).
Abby - thank you so much for the inspiration board. Given me a great place to start.
Dear Abbey,
I am planning my wedding for March '09 and our theme is a country cowboy and cowgirl kinda theme and I don't know what to do for flowers what do you suggest? The venue where we are having our wedding is in Varnel Georgia at a historical site. It is surrounded by nature, there is a stream and everything. So if you could please help me I would greatly appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Collete
Dear Abbey,
I'm sorry to keep bothering you, but I also don't know what colors to go with for that country theme. I don't want it to be too country but I don't want it to be too city either. Please help me I'm so lost on what to do. I can see know why people don't plan weddings by themselves now days it's so stressful. If you could email me back I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time.
Collete