Color Your Wedding Wonderful -Part 2

Feature Article
by Tracey Baxter

To complete our series on color combinations we’ll jump around that color wheel a little more to find complimentary colors for your wedding design scheme. If you missed the first part of this article, be sure to check out the Aisle Do Blog post on Thursday October 28, 2010 to catch up!

Choosing Colors

You’ve chosen your favorite color for your wedding and are looking for a great accent color. Complimentary colors come in a few basic regions on the color wheel. This is where I have to stop and say – there is such a thing as working with too many colors.


Unless you are working to specifically create an ubermodern multicolored event or your cultural traditions typically include multiple colors, working with no more than 3 colors, is going to keep your wedding planning and design life simplest! Brides purposefully working with multiple colors will need to focus on balancing each colors intensity.


Balancing Colors
Back in elementary school, you probably played on a see-saw and tried to make it so both you and your partner were suspended evenly. Like this see-saw trick, on the color wheel directly opposite of your primary color choice, you will find its instant balance! Here is a visual:

 This is the simplest form of complimentary color. If you ever wondered why shades of purple and green can go well together, that is why.


Multiple Color Combinations
If you want to work with 3 different colors, you have a couple options. Split complimentary colors are found on the color wheel on either side of your primary choice’s complimentary color. Waaa? OK, the see-saw analogy was helpful so let’s get a visual of this too. Think of a peace sign. Now think of that peace sign over a color wheel.

So you have your primary color choice, its complimentary color and on each side are its split complimentary colors! That was so easy. Split complimentary colors are great fun to use. They are exciting and unexpected combinations that work well together.


Triads create very bold color schemes. A triad, as the name suggests is created by making a triangle on the color wheel. Finally, an obvious one! But just in case, there is a visual aid for this also.

Your Wedding Planning Homework

 

It's time to get inspired and finalize your color schemes. If you are well into your planning process, you can start using these same color combining techniques when choosing home decor items for your registry or to compliment what you already have.









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Wedding Solutions Specialist Tracey Baxter publishes the "Aisle Do" bi-weekly e-zine. Get your Free Report: "5 Fun and Fabulous Reception Ideas for a Reluctant DIY Bride” at www.aisledoweddings.com

Color Your Wedding Wonderful -Part 1

Feature Article
By Tracey Baxter

Your wedding color choices should embody your personality. After all, that is the spirit of the event! Even if you want a light and airy feel to your wedding, if you don’t like yellow, you won’t enjoy the décor. So first think of colors that you love for the dominant color for your flowers and decor. If you love rich colors you can still achieve a breezy feeling by choosing lighter tones of your favorite shades.



Once you have narrowed down the main color, you have to decide how you’re going to accent it. You could search the internet for “orange weddings” and see what design boards come up. But if you want to create something a little more unique than everyone else’s color palette on the web, start with a color wheel. Remember from grade school ROY-G-BIV? Now take that concept and put it in a circle and you’ve got a color wheel. So let’s explore some color combining techniques.



Monochromatic:


If you want a monochromatic style, you’ll be using your main color in darker and lighter shades. On a color wheel, the darker shades are toward the outer edge of the circle and the lighter shades move in toward the center. Not getting that visual? Think about the paint department in your local home improvement store and what easily comes to mind is the array of paint swatch cards on the wall. The cards are typically arranged in monochromatic schemes with a dark shade on one end, a light shade on the other end and 2-4 shades in between. Find your favored color on a paint card and voila instant monochromatic scheme right? This is a fairly straightforward idea but you should still take the time to choose your shades wisely. To be sure to create an authentic monochromatic event, continue to check your color palette swatch against the linens, flowers and other décor you select. It’s easier to veer off the monochromatic path than you think. The danger in monochromatic schemes is they can look monotonous so carefully think of the space where your design will be used.






Analogic:


Analog colors neighbor each other on the color wheel. Because of this, they will have an harmonious feeling when used together. In simplest terms: red, orange and yellow are great autumn tones but technically speaking; they will work together because they are neighbors on the color wheel. Analogic color schemes are quite common.


If you want to try creating monochromatic and analogic color schemes, check out our post on 10/12/10 for links to fun and free tools!

Technical Tuesday... Wedding Colors

What colors are you using for your wedding decor? How did you choose them?



There are lots of 'rules' to follow or to break depending on your bent for drama ;) ... and of course some colors will blend well and others...well, not so much! ("Oh yeah, you blend"...Mona Lisa Vito played by Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, circa 1992)





Naturally you want your wedding colors to be unique. But it's understandable that you can't add a degree in design to the wedding budget. So how can you be sure that your personalized color scheme isn't a personalized hot mess?


Here are a few great tools. No DIY bride should be without these! Visit Kuler and Color Scheme Designer for shades, monochromatic, and more!




Oh, and did I mention it's free to use these tools? That's right! Aren't free tools great!? No excuses! You can create a spectacular color palette for your wedding that is not a carbon copy of all that you find online!