Selecting your wedding colours can be a little more complicated than simply mixing and matching your favourite colours. Colours evoke certain moods or emotions – from serenity to fun and high-energy, or even sombre and dreary. Regardless of the setting you want, you should plan to create an effect that appears seamlessly coordinated as opposed to accidental or riotous.
To select the right colours, bear the following in mind:
Your venue or location
Where you are having your ceremony and reception is a major factor to take into consideration. If you are having both the ceremony and reception in a closed hall, your colours have to complement (or even mask, if necessary) the design, colour, size and fittings of the space. For instance, you have a small hall, you can use pastels to “open up” space and then accent with little bits of vibrant colour. If you are having an outdoorsy reception, you can choose colours that play off the natural tones of the background, whether it’s a garden or a beach.
Theme
Is there a theme you’ve always wanted for your big day? Perhaps a “Winter Fairytale” or “Parisian Spring” or even a movie-inspired theme. Your colours will depend largely on the kind of theme you have in mind. The key is to either have a theme with its set of colours and find the venue for it or choose colours that transform whatever venue you already have into the location of your dreams.
Mood
This is different from the theme. What kind of emotions do you intend to evoke? Do you want a playful, fun, high-energy party or an intimate, romantic, sweet setting? Would you rather have a dignified, almost stately, formal affair or a solemn, peaceful, introspection-inducing ceremony? Different colours create different moods; canary yellow for cheerful, royal/navy blue for dignified, dark jewel tones for intimate or green for peaceful. These are just a few examples of the wide variety you can pick from.
Favourite Colours
Is the bride or groom (or both) particularly interested in seeing his/her favourite colour(s) on display for the big day? If yes, depending on the colour(s) in question, it calls for a great deal of creativity for combining with other colours for a tasteful outcome.
Aso-ebi
First off, you want to be sure you’re interested in this popular Nigerian wedding feature. Co-ordinated colour combinations for friends and family add a rich, unique flavour to any wedding. You can choose to complement instead of matching your aso-ebi colours with your décor. For instance, you can use pastels with vibrant accents for the décor and the colour of the accents for the aso-ebi. Also, you can use colours to differentiate between the bride’s and groom’s families or you can have both sides wear the same colours to signify unity.
Invitation cards
It’s best to consider how all the elements of your wedding come together before you send out the invitations. This is because your invitation cards need to convey the tone of your upcoming nuptials. How formal or relaxed you want your wedding to be will be reflected in the language, details, design, materials and colours used in crafting your invitation cards. The card crafting process might lead you to fine-tune your colour selection as it is often a good indicator of how well certain colour combinations work.
Other wedding elements
These include everything from the photography, décor, cake, flowers, lighting and table settings to the bridal party. You want to consider how well some colours photograph and interact with lighting, the colour ratio of background to accent, what your focal point will be (apart from the bride & groom, that is) and whether the bridal party is to blend in or stand out.
The goal at the end of the day is to coordinate your colours in the best way possible. And set the tone for one of the most memorable days of your life.