By Ashley Elaine Kimmel ~ www.ashleyelaine.ca
What are your colours? This is a common question you will to be asked when planning your wedding. Maybe your DJ won’t be interested in what your bridesmaids are wearing but when it comes to décor, linens, cake and flowers it’s a question you’ll want to be able to answer in your initial conversations with those vendors. While you can always get a quote for their services without a palette in mind, it does tend to make initial conversations with your vendors flow a bit easier. If you are just getting started or maybe aren’t sure of what you initially chose, here are a few things to consider, along with some “do’s and don’ts” from a florist’s perspective.
Season. Georgian Bay experiences all four seasons and it’s no surprise that each comes with its own colour inspiration. Autumn, with beautiful warm oranges, reds and yellows. Winter, where classic whites and evergreens reign supreme. Spring really shows off those pastel tones with lilacs, narcissus, hyacinth and tulips. While Summer is filled with lush greens and abundantly colourful gardens, so really anything goes.
Venue. Your venue will guide your colour decisions as well. Not all event spaces are blank slates. Restaurants or golf clubs will all have their own unique decor, love it or hate it. Instead of fighting against the elements you don’t like, a certain wall colour or flooring, look for ways to embrace it by choosing colours that complement. If the walls are a terracotta orange, think about incorporating more warm tones to help it blend in. Or, if the decor feels busy and dark, a classic, neutral palette might be best to bring light, calm and freshness to the space. If you are having an outdoor wedding, look at the surrounding area for inspiration.
Colour trends. For 2019, Pantone colour experts have announced Living Coral as their colour of the year. Coral is a colour that can be romantic and soft when combined with lighter, neutral tones like a sandy beige and light peach. Think ivory linens and soft gold accents. Maybe even a touch of pale butter yellow, summer garden party anyone? Or, if you love a bit of drama, choose a black linen and punch it up a notch by opting for a bolder hue and mixing it with juicy dark berry and pink tones.
DON’T choose one colour and try to match everything to it. A more complex palette that encompasses a wide variety of tones really helps to create a more sophisticated look. Don’t forget about textures like metallics, velvet and wood grain too.
DO keep in mind that, when it comes to your flowers, some colours either don’t exist in nature or are rarer and more unpredictable. Blue, teal, and black are good examples of this. Try incorporating these types of colours in your invitations, linens or other decor and go with flowers that complement. For example, if you love blue, there are some flowers that you can use but options are limited. Try using a blue vase or table linen instead and have arrangements of soft buttery yellows and ivory.
DO ask your florist for advice. We work with colour in the form of flowers for a living and are always happy to give you some suggestions based on our experience and design expertise.
And lastly, DO what makes you happy. If someone said to you “Purple is the new colour for weddings” and you said “Gross, I live for yellow”, then go with yellow. It’s your wedding and you can colour, or not, if you want to!