Color matching?

hanson2B

How do you go about matching the colors for your wedding?  The thing I am most worried about is the bridesmaids dresses and the groomsmen vests/ties.  The bridesmaids dresses I want are Alfred Angelo from House of Brides, but we will probably get tuxes from Men's Warehouse.  I know that Men's Warehouse matches with David's Bridal, but I don't want dresses from David's Bridal.

And once you've got those things color-matched, how do you make sure it will match with flowers, invitations, linens, etc.?  Do people usually just find similar colors and hope nobody notices the slight differences?  Can you get swatches of the dress/vest fabric to use to match other things?

ogrady88

I agree with PP.  You'll go crazy trying to match everything, I guarantee that no one will notice if the GM vest is concord and the BM dress is royal purple.

kd.joseph

I was going crazy trying to match all my stuff so I didnt. I decided early on to use monochromatic shades of purple. And it work out great. Pictures in my bio.

Have fun with it.

ring_pop

That's why I put the GMs in neutral (champagne) ties rather than matching with the girls' purple dresses. The dresses had champagne sashes but the best man bought the ties without a swatch and it turned out fine.

No flower is going to match a pantone colour perfectly. That's the beauty of fresh flowers, the variation in their colours.

I just got stuff in more or less the colour families I was going for, and it all worked out. But I had a lot of colours in my colour scheme (lime green, champagne, grape purple, burgundy, fuschia) so actually very few things needed to match each other.

Beachy730

You can ask for a color swatch from the bridal shop, or if the girls dresses come in early enough you can bring one of them in to MW with you. 

I can understand matching the dresses and GM attire.  But anything else you don't have to worry about.  Like a PP said nobody will bring your invite to the wedding to compare the color.  You'll be lucky if they even remember that it was purple or whatever color, let alone the exact shade.  As for linens, I've only ever known people to have white, ivory, or black tablecloths.  I've seen colored napkins though, which again you could just pick a similar shade if thats what you want to do.  Nobody will hold the napkin up to them to see if its exact.  And flowers I think look prettier if you have different shades of the same color anyways.  You could bring your color swatch to your florist too so they can go from there.

Don't worry too much.  These are things that brides can overly stress themselves on, and its one thing that I can guarantee nobody will notice. 

jennylove810

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_attire-accessories_color-matching-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:15Discussion:0437007f-6534-40c9-9eeb-486a3b6eaf09Post:cd0e6a15-e9e8-47e6-92de-0f6eb1fb1765">Re: Color matching?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Color matching? : You can usually get a swatch of fabric from the BMs dress.  Your guests will not bring the invitations to the wedding and recoil in horror if the colors are not a 100% spot-on match.  Don't get hung up on things being super matchy-matchy.  You'll go nuts! My dress is ivory and the BMs are wearing burgundy dresses.  The guys are wearing black tuxes.  FIs vest is ivory and he has an ivory tie.  The guys are wearing champagne vests and ties. IMHO, <strong>I think the BM and GM wearing the exact same shade can come off as very prom-ish.</strong> 
Posted by ILoveMilkDuds[/QUOTE]

This, exactly.  In fact, I have the same colors as MilkDuds and I'm doing the same thing.  Clearly great minds think alike :)

I especially agree with the bolded part.

kpwedkk

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_attire-accessories_color-matching-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:15Discussion:0437007f-6534-40c9-9eeb-486a3b6eaf09Post:69f37298-db9e-4c73-8175-929af6994888">Re: Color matching?</a>:
[QUOTE]That's why I put the GMs in neutral (champagne) ties rather than matching with the girls' purple dresses. The dresses had champagne sashes but the best man bought the ties without a swatch and it turned out fine. No flower is going to match a pantone colour perfectly. That's the beauty of fresh flowers, the variation in their colours. I just got stuff in more or less the colour families I was going for, and it all worked out. But I had a lot of colours in my colour scheme (lime green, champagne, grape purple, burgundy, fuschia) so actually very few things needed to match each other.
Posted by ring_pop[/QUOTE]

I agree with Ring_Pop :)  Have a variation of colors, this is shades of purple:  Your color theme then becomes unique and individual... not one guest in your family and circle of friends is going to care about the colors, just that they worked well together, regardless if they weren't exactly the same :)  Trust me, they are going to be concerned about food and drinks, and definitely great company!


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aerinpegadrak

That's why I went with neutrals.  I didn't put any effort into matching shades precisely, but it just sort of happened, like my envelopes turning out to be the EXACT shade of the lace on my gown by sheer coincidence.

If you were to walk up behind a random guest while at the reception, cover his/her eyes, and ask what colors you used in the wedding, 10-1 says they can't do it.  And this is while they're AT the wedding.  Really, no one cares.  Go with whatever you think looks nice, and focus on throwing a great party, because all people will remember is whether or not they had fun.

Boricua Gipsy

Matchy-matchy in my opinion is BORING!! Try complementary colors (purple/yellow, blue/orange, etc.) in different saturations and tones. But avoid using a distinctively SEASONAL combination (red/green will scream Christmas, orange/black, Halloween, etc.). You can also try a monochromatic palette, meaning the same color in different shades (e.g. purple, lilac, lavender, magenta, etc.). A good starting point is taking a few color swatches from your local paint store. They have a ton of color combinations that can help you choose. Remember that balance is key, and it's always a safer and PRETTIER option to combine a brighter color, with its neutral counterpart. Good luck finding your colors! 

sjersey86

I'm using the same to companies but for me it was pretty easy as far as clothing was concerned because we're doing navy & navy is pretty much navy.  No way to get all the colors exactly matching & I doubt anyone will notice.  I was doing the same thing trying to get the paper to match the linens but there's so little navy paper that would show & depending on the lighting it would match exactly but I finally gave up and said "ok this will do".

MyWedding13

My bridesmaid dresses are hot pink and I think the groomsmen are going to wear platinum vests as a nice contrast color.

jennylove810

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_attire-accessories_color-matching-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:15Discussion:0437007f-6534-40c9-9eeb-486a3b6eaf09Post:0a1c2321-ec95-4e01-b164-3a6a693c30af">Re: Color matching?</a>:
[QUOTE]My bridesmaid dresses are hot pink and I think the groomsmen are going to wear platinum vests as a nice contrast color.
Posted by MyWedding13[/QUOTE]

I applaud you for not making the men wear hot pink vests.

cqbride

Color coordinating will always look more designed than color matching. Matching looks like you couldn't think of anything more creative to do.

rebeccapitcher

I feel like color coordinating is driving me bonkers, as well.   I must have picked out the most difficult colors.  We too are getting our tuxedos from Men's Warehouse, and I don't like any of the vest colors they offer.  
My BM dresses are chocolate brown and my flowers are a burnt orange color (fall wedding!). The groom picked out gold vests!!  I'm super paranoid that nothing will match.   At this rate I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best!