How to Choose Your Wedding Colors

Your wedding color scheme is one of the first major decisions you need to make for your wedding. Keep in mind that your wedding color scheme is going to show up everywhere throughout your wedding. The flowers, bridesmaid dresses, table linens, decorations, invitations, even the favors will all be influenced by the wedding color scheme you choose. Your wedding color scheme will help establish the mood for your wedding. You can even build a entire wedding theme around the wedding color scheme.

With so much riding on this decision, it is really important to put careful thought into your wedding color scheme very early in the wedding planning process, and select a color scheme for your wedding that really reflects who you are, or what mood you are trying to convey.

This guide will help you find the perfect color scheme for your wedding.

Your wedding color scheme should be in keeping with your overall personal style. If you're like most people, though, trying to define your personal style may not be straight forward. Unless you work in fashion or design, chances are that when you shop for clothes or decorate your home you simply buy what appeals to you, without giving much thought to the overall aesthetic that guides your choices. Subconsciously, however, most of us do have fairly consistent style, and once you learn what that is, picking the perfect wedding color scheme for your wedding will be much easier.

Take a look at these four types of style, and see which one sounds the most like you:

Classic: Women with classic style tend to like things which are timeless, as opposed to trendy or very vintage. You would define your style as classic if you tend to gravitate towards clothing with clean lines - the types of pieces which are available year after year. So if your closet is filled with polo shirts, twin sets, and A-line skirts, you can safely call yourself a classic bride. You are the bride for whom pearl bridal jewelry sets were created. The best wedding color scheme for you will be the most traditional - pale, subdued or muted colors like white, pale pink and ivory, or pale blue and white. Preppy girls would also fall into this category, and their perfect wedding color scheme would be pink or mint green (with plenty of patterns like stripes, polka dots, or plaids) or blue, white, and yellow (with a nautical flair).

Dramatic: You carry only one shade of lipstick in your purse: pure red. You like strong perfumes with warm and spicy notes. You own at least one article of clothing with an animal print (and possibly a whole zoo!). If this sounds like you, consider your wedding style to be dramatic. Rich dark colors like eggplant and blood red are ideal for a dramatic bride. Your wedding color scheme needs to make a splash and have a high "wow" factor. The high contrast pairing of deep red and pure white (think red roses and a white bridal gown) will be right up your alley. Another excellent wedding color scheme for a dramatically inclined bride is deep purple combined with regal gold.

Eclectic: This can cover a range of styles. There are brides who love all things vintage, those with earthy or natural tendencies, and women who appreciate a good dash of whimsy. If you find yourself spending more time in vintage shops than the mall, you will like dusty color palettes like cameo and ivory or mauve and dove gray. If you are planning an eco-wedding or consider yourself most at home in the great outdoors, opt for a wedding color scheme inspired by nature. Moss-green and mushroom-brown, slate blue with taupe, or sage green and ivory will all appeal to your inner naturalist. The whimsical bride is one who gravitates towards things like letterpress invitations with a retro bird motif or shops like Anthropologie. If chunky hand-knits are more your style than buttoned-up pearl bridal jewelry sets, then you will like wedding color palettes such as red and pink, apricot and robin's egg blue, or mustard and aqua.

Festive: How do you know if your wedding style is festive? You probably find yourself saying, "I just want everyone to have a great time" when anyone asks you what type of wedding you want. The chances are that you like relaxing with friends or going out to clubs more than almost anything. The best wedding color scheme for a festive wedding is one which is bright and cheerful, never stuffy or pretentious. Color scheme like fuchsia and orange, hot pink and chartreuse, or sunshine yellow with orange will create the upbeat party atmosphere that you want for your wedding. Eat, drink, and be merry!

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Fun Wedding Table Names

At most weddings, guests consult a seating chart or escort cards to guide them to their seats when they arrive at the reception.

While you certainly can name your tables by number (1 - 15, for example) as is quite standard, it does nothing to add style or personality to your wedding.

Why not take the opportunity to do something a little more creative, fun, personalized or expressive?

Here are some terrific ideas for creative wedding table names.

Creative wedding table names will either tell a story about the bride and groom or fit in with the theme of the wedding (or at least the style of the affair, if there is no particular wedding theme).

Even if you do not consider yourself to be a particularly creative person or you are having a very traditional wedding, the table names is one area where you can get creative and have a little fun doing something a little more interesting. If chosen well, creative wedding table names will help to establish the mood and atmosphere you are trying to create for your wedding.

If your wedding has a theme, choosing creative names for tables will come easily.

For instance, if you are planning an "Old Hollywood Glamor" theme wedding, complete with a red carpet, each of your wedding tables might be named after a famous movie star, such as Marilyn Monroe or Jean Harlow. Or they could be names after the names of movies such as "Casablanca" and "Gone With the Wind".

Or if you are having a tropical theme wedding, choose related names like luau, Pina Colada, and palms, pineapple, etc.

Once you get rolling, you'll find you can come up with more creative wedding table name ideas than you even have tables.

Table names which relate to the bride and groom give your wedding personalization. If you have no particular theme, why not name all the tables after your favorite books, movies, songs, or places. These sorts of creative table names create a terrific conversation starter for your wedding guests at the reception.

You can build your wedding around a theme without naming the theme, and see how long it takes your guests to piece it together. Before you know it, your Aunt Mildred and old college roommate will be happily chatting about whether Grace Kelly was better in Hitchcock's "Rear Window", "To Catch a Thief", or "Dial M for Murder".

Some couples like to tie their wedding table names into their honeymoon destination. For a honeymoon to Paris, choose from Parisian landmarks or names such as the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, The Ritz, The Eiffel Tower, or The City of Lights. Or use words related to French food or dining like patisserie and croissant.

Or come up with creative wedding table names that celebrate your roots; a pair of newlyweds from New York could name their reception tables Statue of Liberty, Broadway, and 42nd Street. To make it even more entertaining, print a picture of each location under its name on your seating chart, and place the same picture in the center of the table by the same name.

One last idea for creative wedding table names is to name your wedding reception tables in honor of family members. This idea is even better when images are posted at each table of the honorees. If you can find old wedding photos, showing your favorite relatives on their wedding day will add even more meaning and personalization to the wedding, and provide guests with another great conversation starter. What's really special about this way of coming up with names for your wedding tables is that you will be honoring and including your loved ones in your wedding in yet another way, even those who cannot be there in person.

I would happy to customize your table number cards from my shop, just email me at noteableexpressions@gmail.com

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Candy Inspired Weddings

With the emergence of the candy bar and cupcakes as modern wedding trends, the only logical next step is an entire candy theme wedding.

A candy inspired wedding can work for any season, and this is one theme that will appeal to the sweet tooth in all of your wedding guests.

Since candy comes in many shapes, colors, flavors and sizes, you may want to fine tune your candy themes wedding just a little further. For instance, select a theme such as peppermint for winter weddings or bright candy colors for summer events.

The Candy Buffet – of course no candy inspired theme wedding could be without a candy buffet or sweets bar. Fill large glass containers of varying shapes and sizes with a selection of candy and sweets in complimentary colors to create an eye-catching candy display. Provide paper bags imprinted with your names for wedding guests to fill up and take home.

Candy Theme Centerpieces – fill a large vase with inexpensive candy such as conversation hearts or colored marshmallows and inset a smaller vase inside with candy colored flowers. You could also purchase mini topiaries and wrap the stems in white satin to look like a lollipop stick; attach candy to the branches and cover the soil with jelly beans, or other candy. For a DIY idea, Styrofoam balls, silk flowers, candy, wooden craft dowels, ribbon and terra cotta pots can be made into handmade centerpieces.

Wedding Table Numbers – purchase pre-printed numbers for your wedding tables. You can then stamp candy inspired designs onto the stock. Attach to dowels, and insert into a tall glass filled with candy.

Candy Theme Table Decorations – use candy bracelets or necklaces to wrap around linens for napkin rings. Or select mini candy or cupcake place card holders for a sweet touch.

Candy Theme Wedding Cake – Have your wedding cake cupcake tower decorated with your favorite candy, or accented with candy. Imagine a white cake dusted with coconut as snow and topped with striped peppermint candies for a winter touch. Or picture your wedding cake or cupcakes jeweled with jellybeans! A yummy way to bring forth your candy theme.

Candy Theme Drinks – create a signature candy inspired drink such as cotton candy martini’s. Or jelly bean margaritas.

Wedding Reception Music - play songs such as “I Want Candy”, “Lollipop” or “Candy Man” to create a candy driven dance floor at your candy theme wedding!

Candy Theme Wedding Favors – candy, candy and more candy! Whether you select something modern for your wedding favors such as personalized mint tins, something personalized such as chocolate bars, or something traditional such as candy coated Jordan almonds, all that matters is that you put the finishing touch on your candy theme wedding with a sweet edible favor.

As fun as this theme would be, you don't have to be over-the-top with your decor - keep a lot of your decor neutral and use your candy for your color pop!

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The Beauty of a Smaller Wedding

Millions of weddings take place across the globe every year. According to the Association for Bridal Consultants, the average American wedding includes 175 guests, and the average size of the wedding party is 12 people. Many couples may view these averages and feel pressured to throw a big wedding. But smaller events can be just as much fun and easier on the pocketbook as well. Small weddings are making a big comeback. With all the over-the-top celebrity weddings and stories of people spending enough on their wedding to buy a small country, small weddings don't get a lot of press. But they are becoming very much back in-style.

The renewed popularity of small weddings may arguably be due in large part to the current state of the economy. The current trend no doubt emerged out of necessity to a large part, as more and more couples have had to reduce their wedding spending. But what couples have discovered along the way is that you can pull off a class-act wedding on a small budget by keeping the guest count low and the wedding small - without sacrificing style.

But apart from that, small weddings have always offered a certain charm and intimacy that offer a lot of allure for some couples. Small weddings tend to be more intimate. Couples can spend more individual time with guests instead of having to spread their time thinly around a large reception hall. Special moments, such as speeches or words of wisdom, may bear more significance when the group is intimate.

The small wedding is ideal for couples who prefer a more intimate and personal atmosphere for their wedding - as opposed to an affair for 450 of their "closest" friends.

Don't confuse the idea of a small wedding with the level of formality. A small wedding does not have to mean an informal wedding. Nor does it have to mean a simple wedding, or a cheap wedding (though obviously, because the guest list is dramatically reduced, there can be significant savings).

The concept of a "small wedding" simply refers to the size of the guest list. So instead of inviting your second-cousin's best friend from Chattanooga, the guest list and wedding party are limited to your small inner circle - just the closest of relatives and dearest of friends.

How small is small? Only you can answer that. It could be 15 guests, 25, 50, 75. Even 100 guests may qualify as a small wedding if weddings for 300 or 400 are what is most common in your social circle.

Beyond sharing the most important day of your life with a small, intimate group of friends, a small wedding allows you the freedom to focus on the areas of your wedding that are most important to you, may have otherwise been out of your reach.

For instance, a smaller wedding makes a destination wedding far more practical than it would be with a large guest list. A destination wedding is exactly as it sounds ... the wedding is held out of town, in a setting that appeals to the bride and groom. It could be Cancun or the Colorado Mountains. A castle in Scotland or a cruise ship at sea. Las Vegas or Disney World. Across the country or around the world. There really are no limits. When the wedding party and guest list are small, a destination wedding becomes much easier to achieve.

Whether simple or extravagant, a small wedding has the potential to be very elegant. A small wedding can be quaint or luxurious. You decide.

Like to keep things simple? The reception for a small wedding can be held in the intimate, comfortable setting of a family member's home. It can be held at the favorite restaurant of the bride and groom. It can be held outdoors in a park setting, or in the backyard of your best friend. Or on the beach.

Art galleries, small country inns, upscale restaurants or a local winery are other possibilities if you'd prefer to glam up your small wedding

Small weddings also give you more flexibility in your food choices. If cuisine factors in importantly for the wedding of your dreams, then with a small wedding, a high-end caterer or a reception at a posh restaurant are more likely to fit within your budget. But you may equally enjoy a potluck or a buffet, or even an afternoon of hors d'ourves.

A smaller wedding offers you so many options. What are your favorite ideas and inspirations for a smaller wedding?

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