According to TigerColor.com, “[b]y selecting the right color scheme, you can create an ambiance of elegance, warmth or tranquility, or you can convey an image of playful youthfulness.” When choosing a color, or several colors, for a wedding, it isn’t necessary to go with the “in” colors for the year. With some basic color theory, brides can learn how and why certain colors combinations look better than others.
The Color Wheel
To understand how different colors go together it is necessary to start with the color wheel. Print out a copy of a color wheel so it will be easier to see how different colors are positioned near one another. Image starting with the three primary colors – red, yellow, and blue set at the corners of a triangle. Secondary colors are formed by mixing two of the primary colors.
Red and yellow create orange; yellow and blue make green; and blue and red mix to become purple. The secondary colors sit between the two primary colors that form them. Tertiary colors are created by the primary and secondary colors that flank them on the color wheel – red-orange; yellow-orange; yellow-green; green-blue; blue-purple; red-purple.
Warm and Cool Colors
When looking at the color wheel, warm colors are consider red, orange, and yellow with the cool colors blue, green, and purple. However, when designers use color they don't limit themselves to the pure hues on the color wheel. Add just a little bit of blue to red and the result is a cool wine red; and a golden undertone added to red makes a warm tomato red color.
A cool red (with blue undertones) won’t look good next to orange unless the orange color also has a blue undertone. Often, colors that should go together but seem a bit off are affected by the undertones. To determine the undertone of a color, hold it next to a sheet of white paper under natural lighting.
Monochromatic Wedding Palettes – Tints, Shades, and Tones
A single color can be made to look different by adding black, white, or gray to a single hue. Add varying amounts of white to a color to create different tints; add different quantities of black to a color to create shades; and mix in different amounts of gray to a color to make a range of tones. Using tints, shades, or tones can create an elegant monochromatic palette.
Complementary Color Schemes for Weddings
Complementary colors refer to colors opposite one another on the color wheel. Because of this relationship, the colors will create vibrant combinations – red and green, orange-red with blue-green. Of course, marketing people devote a great deal of time to coming up with creative names for colors, so a bride needs to use her judgment when interpreting how a color relates in the store relates to a color on the color wheel.
When putting together a complementary scheme, check that one color isn’t warm (golden undertones) and the other cool (blue undertones) or that one isn’t a tint and the other a shade.
Analogous Color Schemes for Weddings
If the bride wants a main color with a support color and perhaps even a third accent color, analogous schemes allow for this range. Analogous colors sit beside one another on the color wheel. So, blue could be supported by blue-purple and blue-green. Again, watch undertones and tints, shades, and tones for compatibility.
Triadic Color Schemes for Weddings
Another option for creating a dynamic palette is to use a triadic color scheme where each color is equally spaced around the color wheel. Purple, orange, and green are not only secondary colors but also a triadic scheme – as is red-purple, yellow-orange, and blue-green. If four colors are desired, imagine the points of a square or rectangle connecting the colors.
Split-Complementary Color Schemes for Weddings
Like complements, tigercolor.com suggests that split-complements create a strong visual contrast with less tension than with complements. Select a color, such as orange. Its complement is blue; however, in a split-complement, blue-violet and blue-green would be paired with orange.
A bride has many color options when selecting a palette for her wedding. Color theory allows her to use analogous, complementary, monochromatic, and other schemes to create an appealing look to her wedding celebration from invitations to centerpieces.
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