Different Shades of Beauty

So you're the type of bride who is laid back and wants to make your bridesmaids happy by putting them in styles they like to wear and that are comfortable for them. At the same time, you're looking to create a wow-factor. Maybe you're a fan of mixing up the colors, but don't know the right ones to choose. Since you want your wedding to look designed with exceptional taste even though there will not be uniformity throughout the bridal party, I've designed this board to show you how to do it in a way in which you don't have to have a multi-colored wedding of pastels if you don't want to. To achieve a look where each bridesmaid can stand out in her own color, why not pick a color family and offer out different shades of the dress? Here you'll see I've played with the purple family. This included everything from berry colors to lavendar. You can even highlight the flower girl in the lightest shade. I also recommend if you are doing different styles of dresses to at least keep the same length for each girl. That can be where the uniformity comes in. Since each girl will have a completely different color, be sure to pair up the groomsmen with coordinating ties. Another neat touch would be to have the same purse for each girl, but instead of giving them the purse that matches, give them a different shade. For flowers, consider having the girls carry chartreuse green.

An amazing backdrop of pomanders hang from a wooden arbor in this garden/outdoorsy wedding. Each of these balls of flowers coincide with the colors the bridesmaids are wearing. What really puts a beautiful modern twist on this color pallette is throwing in the greens and light pinks. It offsets the purples and creates a scene very pleasing to the eye.

During cocktail hour you might consider using the lighter purple linens and then taking it in to dark purple linens for the reception. You can play with the purples throughout maybe even starting with the absolute lightest for the ceremony, so you are creating a sequence from light to dark just as the evening will go. Again, when decorating, add touches of green. For that matter, if it is in fact an outdoor garden wedding, adding browns will work well too.

You may also notice I played with a shape in this board. Since these pomanders are round, I also included round trees for escort cards, round lanterns, round labels, etc.

Working with this type of theme is fun because you have such a wide variety of colors to play with that you really can't go wrong if you stay within those 7-10 shades. The invitation is a light purple, the cupcakes are the green, berry, and pink. Everything just blends so well together!