Weddings can illuminate a wide spectrum of personalities, with dark colors representing class and elegance; bright colors indicating lightheartedness and fun; and pale colors exuding a creative retro vibe. Color affects everything from lighting, atmosphere, meaning and value, to how guests view the bride and the groom as an entity.
Working in Unison
A wedding ceremony is a momentous day not only for the bride, but also for the groom. Usually it’s the women who take charge in the planning process, but aim to make it a joint effort to prevent future resentment and to add more significance to the special day. Wedding planning can easily become a chore, so it helps to make the process as creative and joyful as possible.
Begin with Color
Choosing a color scheme is the fun part. It’s also the basic foundation in the planning process. It can be as simple as combining a couple’s favorite colors as a symbol of unity. Or it can be as difficult as trying to accommodate your favorite color in an opposing culture that regards it as unpleasant. For instance, purple may be a regal color in America, but in Thailand purple denotes mourning.
The Color Wheel Solution
This is where the color wheel comes in handy, invented long ago by Isaac Newton. It produces beautiful complimentary colors, but it also presents the wide gamut of overlooked colors. Different color hues allow you as a couple to find middle ground if one loves a certain color, but the other hates it.
Mismatching colors can be problematic if you want to use it as a theme for harmony, but the key is in hues and shades. A color that is taboo in a certain culture can be worked around by taking the shade and hue a few notches higher or lower. Find a color wheel with all tones like the one shown on PageThinker.com’s article, “How to Find the Perfect Colors to Design Beautifully & Communicate Effectively.”
Examples
If the bride loves red and the groom loves orange, take one color and select its lightest shade. Orange would result in a light, creamy tan orange, complementing the red. There may be some compromising, but it’s the simplest solution to allow meaning and design to coalesce.
If there is no preference for color and spontaneity seems appealing at this juncture, point to a color on the wheel; whatever color directly opposite to that makes a complimentary combination, like sage and rosy pink. If this method produces no satisfying results, try another alternative. Select a color on the wheel, mark it with a dot, and make two more dots on opposite ends to form a triangle.
The colors connecting each dot are called a triadic color scheme, both complimentary and flattering. If that also doesn’t strike your fancy, there’s still the monochromatic color scheme that uses variations in lightness and saturation of a single color. This creates a clean, elegant and soothing effect to the eyes.
A Useful Tool
Designers and artists often use color wheel software to determine color schemes that follow color theory, such as the Color Wheel Pro. It comes with a free trial that is available for download. The software allows you to view them on real examples and is also available on CNET.
Once you’ve chosen your color scheme, you’ve got a strong foundation to guide you in selecting invitation cards, flowers, wedding favors, bridesmaids’ dresses, groomsmen’s tuxes, and perhaps even a different color wedding gown besides white. And voilá, you’re on the road for a successful wedding!
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