How to choose your colors?

Dansfiance

Just wondering through what process brides go through to decide on wedding colors?  We are 6 months away from our wedding and I still haven't decided on colors.  Do you start by looking at the bridesmaids dresses?  My groom would like to wear a gray suit, should I just choose accent colors for gray?  Thanks so much.

chibiyui

Go with what you like. FI and I picked our favorite colors, green and blue. You can do whatever. Gray is a neutral, so you can pick almost anything to go with it. It doesn't have to be one of your colors either, you can pick two completely different colors and he can still wear a gray suit. 

Maggie0829

I was torn between yellow, green and white and purple green and white.  I went with purple, green and white because we got married at Ravens stadium that had a lot of purple everywhere.  Figured we wouldn't try and fight the color scheme that was already going on in the venue.

But honestly, you just pick what you like.  Or you pick one color and your FI picks one color and then you pick a complimentary third color to bring it all together.

There really isn't a process though.

Dansfiance

we also initially chose blue (his fave color) and green (my fave color). But I have no idea what shades. Can you show me your palette?

emmyg65

We also just chose what we liked. I wore a hot pink dress because that's my favorite color, and then we used a bunch of other bright colors.

msuprincess04

We each picked our favorite colors, blue and red, and added a neutral, white. The trick was finding a way to make it look more beach/nautical than 4th of July. 

saacjw

We went with a color we both liked- green, and a color that I thought would complement it well and look good on the bridesmaids- purple (also, my sister got really excited about purple dresses when I asked her opinion so I went with it) and accented it from there. I was originally going to add an orange/copper type color, but couldn't find anything in it, so said screw it and used gold for a major accent. 

What's your favorite color? Since your FI wants a grey suit, pretty much anything will go, so start with your favorite color and go from there. You can google weddings with that color too and get an idea if you like how it looks. 

Dignity100

I originally wanted a 'Fall' theme.  So I kind of went with the seasonal colors.  I actually went to a craft store and started picking up some fake flowers to put the colors together to see how well I liked them together. 

KGold80

We're getting married on Midsummer, so I thought it would be nice for our colors to resemble the summer sunset, so I chose purple and orange anchored with white and silver. Over time, the purple and orange has been toned down to lavender and peach. I really love the color combo.

(FYI: the reason the groom isn't included here in this post about the decision-making process is because he really didn't care at all about making the decisions. He pretty much just wants veto powers for anything he just absolutely does not like or does not want.)

vmj23

Purple has always been my "favorite" color so i wanted to incorporate purple, so I went with gray and purple.  The girls are wearing gray dresses and flowers are purple.   There wasn't much of a process I went through, I just like'd that combo and knew i wanted a more neutral dress color.

Maggie0829

Dansfiance said:

we also initially chose blue (his fave color) and green (my fave color). But I have no idea what shades. Can you show me your palette?

Navy and lime green go great together.

cupcait927

Before I had much else picked out, I knew what I wanted for centerpieces - green apples in a vase with white hydrangeas on top. I had seen wedding pictures with a navy blue, green and white theme and boom - color palette was decided. I'm doing navy blue overlays on the tables, FI will wear a navy tie with his gray suit and we're done.

beachyone15

I had a general idea of colors I wanted, but ThePerfectPalette.com helped me decide on what shades.

chibiyui

http://m.theknot.com/wedding-themes/beach-weddings/beach-wedding-color-palettes.aspx

The first one, royal, turqoise and lime

Mitch617

Pick colors you like but also colors that go well with your season and venue. My wedding is summer in a historic estate with lots of dark wood inside. I wanted colors that would pop in that setting so the bridesmaids will wear cobolt blue with yellow accents. Anything will look good with your grooms grey suit so don't base it on that.

Alikat9614

It ended up being a very quick pick for us. FI's favorite color is blue, mine is pink. So our colors are royal/sapphire blue, silver, and pink. The main points of color will be horizon blue BM dresses from DB and bright pink bouquets, with stargazer lilies being my favorite flower.

doeydo

we also initially chose blue (his fave color) and green (my fave color). But I have no idea what shades. Can you show me your palette?


Some suggestions:
Royal blue and lime green  https://www.google.ca/search?q=blue+and+green+wedding&rlz=1C1TSCD_enCA501CA501&espv=2&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Hd5FU5z0F-Wi2gWHtIHQDg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ#q=royal blue and green wedding&revid=1123215825&tbm=isch

Navy blue and Kelly green  https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C1TSCD_enCA501CA501&espv=2&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&q=navy+blue+and+green+wedding&revid=1123215825#q=navy+blue+and+kelly+green+wedding&tbm=isch

Navy blue and lime green  https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C1TSCD_enCA501CA501&espv=2&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&q=navy+blue+and+green+wedding&revid=1123215825#q=navy+blue+and+lime+green+wedding&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=zOaSvSGVTDUy-M%3A;Q-fDdWUeaaeNKM;http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F--9KVy2MAqZo%2FTkGtVd29Y2I%2FAAAAAAAAAKk%2FKlxwYgo_NOY%2Fs1600%2Fnavyandgreen.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fboards.weddingbee.com%2Ftopic%2Fwhat-color-scheme-was-your-wedding%2F;500;500

Light blue and green  https://www.google.ca/search?q=blue+and+green+wedding&rlz=1C1TSCD_enCA501CA501&espv=2&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Hd5FU5z0F-Wi2gWHtIHQDg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#q=light+blue+and+green+wedding&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

Peacock blue and green  https://www.google.ca/search?q=blue+and+green+wedding+peacock&rlz=1C1TSCD_enCA501CA501&espv=2&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=399FU83-F8Oo2AWlvYC4Dw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgdii=_

Tiffany blue and green  http://www.theperfectpalette.com/2012/05/party-pizazz-palette-of-tiffany-blue.html

Light aqua and light green  http://www.theperfectpalette.com/2010/04/spring-is-in-bloom-palette-fo-apple.html

Mix of shades of blue and green http://www.theperfectpalette.com/2011/04/custom-ties-aqua-teal-kelly-green-light.html

Light blues and chartreuse http://www.theperfectpalette.com/2009/05/aqua-marine-meets-green.html

vanessanini

Any color can match with gray. Follow what you like,

MandyMost

There is also no reason to pick two "wedding colors". Just go with a general theme and you'll be fine. Most weddings have a largely neutral palette highlighted by some color. I'm going with a lot of black, white and silver for my "neutral palette" (things like the linens), but there's a lot of gorgeous neutral palettes in shades of cream and ivory, for example. Think about where you're actually going to use the colors. Maybe it's really just the bridesmaid's dresses and the bouquets. The dresses could be any color, and you could have a mixture of colors in your bouquet. 

Also, I know I've said this before on these boards, but think about a fabulous living room, bar, salon, boutique, or restaurant that you love the look of. Chances are it's not something that could be qualified by rattling off 2 colors...it's a whole color scheme. 

kellebelle12

also picked out fav colors! our neutral color is gray! with green( mint) and purple

HaileyDancingbear

I'm just going with the colors that speak to me most.  I don't recommend Pinterest for much as far as planning (Stay away from the etiquette advice!!!!)  but for visual inspiration, it's a wonderful tool, even if you just look up colors you like and pin pictures that look pretty to you.  For instance I pulled my color scheme from images like this (As you can see I ADORE playing around with color and coming up with interesting combinations):

It's not even a wedding-related image, but just seeing colors mingling and seeing how others pair them /use them is extremely helpful in deciding what you like.  I am constantly drawn to the images like this, so I am pulling my color scheme from these images.  Try starting by searching "Blue and green color scheme" or "Blue and green home decor" and seeing which shades of each colors people use.  Some images will draw you in more than others, so pull your specific shades out of those.  

vh2014

We were going with "a night of wine and music" theme so I started with burgundy thinking it went with the grapes and I liked it. I also wanted black table cloths because I liked the elegance of them and that they just fade away.   FI wasn't a fan of the burgundy linens when they came in and with the black they looked really dark (I just ordered one) so somehow that ended up to be an apple red... which I absolutely LOVE. with black and white.  It's come together to look very elegant. So we just sort of let the colors happen.  Pick something you like and go from there.. 

Great advice I did get... make sure whatever you decide goes well with your BM skintones.  My MOH had to wear "big bird yellow" at another wedding and actually had her hair dresser change her hair color because between her skin tone and her hair color she looked horrible when the dress reflected on her skin...