Kickstart Your Wedding Design: Choose the Perfect Color Palette 🎨
Kickstart your wedding planning by choosing the perfect color palette! Your wedding colors set the tone, guide design decisions, and create a cohesive look. Discover tips on selecting hues that reflect your style, complement your venue, and bring your dream wedding vision to life!
Last week we talked a little bit about wedding themes (see here), but maybe you’re feeling like you have no idea where to start with your wedding design and the thought of deciding on a theme is just too much for you right now.
That’s okay, I totally get it. Wedding planning overwhelm is REAL!
As a former DIY bride myself, I know exactly how stressful wedding design can be (especially if you’ve never done it before). If you’re newly engaged and just starting your wedding design journey, I have 2 things to say:
CONGRATULATIONS! This is such an exciting moment in your love story and I encourage you and your partner to take time to celebrate your engagement. There’s no rule (and even if there was, I would encourage you to break it) saying you have to start designing and planning your wedding the second you get engaged. Take your time and enjoy this magical time.
If you are ready to start designing your wedding and landing on a theme is too overwhelming (see here for some wedding theme inspo) - I encourage you to start with wedding colors.
Choosing wedding colors is easier than you may think. There are a lot of clues in your surrounding environment that will help point to your ideal wedding color palette. Once you choose your wedding colors, it will help serve as a creative foundation for all aspects of your wedding design. From invitations to decor, attire to florals, your chosen palette becomes the invisible string that ties every element together.
I love me some momentum, especially when it comes to making decisions. You’ll soon find once you get that wedding planning momentum going, you’ll want to keep going.
Here's why selecting wedding colors is so important and how it can help jumpstart your wedding design process:
Wedding Colors Define the Mood and Style
Your wedding colors are more than just a combination of shades you love; they reflect the mood and style you want to convey. Are you dreaming of a romantic and elegant celebration? Soft pastels or muted tones like blush pink, sage green, and ivory can evoke that feeling. Prefer something bold and modern? Jewel tones like emerald, burgundy, or navy can make a powerful statement. By choosing your colors, you’re creating the first building block of the atmosphere you want to create for your big day.
A Guide for Design Decisions
With so many choices to make, having a color palette in place simplifies decision-making. Whether you're selecting linens, centerpieces, wedding party attire, or even the icing color for your cake, your chosen colors will guide you. Without a defined palette, it’s easy to feel lost in a sea of options. Your colors act as an anchor, streamlining the process and ensuring all elements of your wedding feel cohesive. One of my favorite mood boards I’ve made tonight was a fictional wedding between Avril Lavigne and Elle Woods (see below).
Inspiration for Theme and Decor
Choosing your colors can also inspire the overall theme or aesthetic of your wedding. For example, a palette of soft blues, greens, and neutrals might inspire a coastal theme, while shades of burnt orange, rust, and terracotta are perfect for a fall or bohemian vibe. Once you’ve nailed down your colors, it’s easier to build a cohesive look and determine an overall theme that reflects your vision as a couple.
A Personal Touch to Your Day
Your wedding colors are a reflection of your personal taste and relationship. Maybe you’ve chosen hues that remind you of your favorite season, the flowers from your first date, your favorite travel destination as a couple, or even your home decor. Adding this personal touch not only makes your wedding feel more meaningful (no cookie cutter weddings here!) but also makes the design process more enjoyable.
If you’re feeling stuck with color selection, take the FREE GHD Wedding Color Quiz to help jumpstart your wedding color palette decision.
Tips for Choosing the Perfect Colors
Start with Inspiration: Look for inspiration in your everyday life. What colors make you happy? Are there tones in your wardrobe, home, or favorite artwork that you’re naturally drawn to?
Consider Your Venue: Your wedding venue plays a huge role in determining what colors will work best. A rustic barn might pair beautifully with earth tones, while a modern ballroom might call for sleek neutrals or metallics.
Seasonal Palette: Let the time of year guide you. Pastels are great for spring, vibrant shades work well for summer, earthy tones shine in fall, and rich, deep colors suit winter weddings.
Test Combinations: Play around with color swatches and mood boards to see how different shades work together. Get the FREE GHD mood board guide with templates here. For more color inspo, check out this GHD Pinterest (purple wedding, jewel toned wedding, red and pink wedding).
How Wedding Colors Drive Your Design Journey
Once your colors are chosen, you’ll find that many other wedding design decisions will become easier. Your floral arrangements, table settings, invitations, and even lighting can all be designed with your palette in mind. It’s like creating a roadmap for your wedding—giving you a clear direction to follow as you progress in your journey of making your wedding vision a reality.
By starting with your wedding colors, you’re setting the stage for a cohesive and memorable event. It’s a fun and creative way to kickstart your wedding planning journey and ensures that your celebration truly reflects your style and story as a couple. So, grab those swatches, open up that mood board template, raid your closet and home for favorite items, get inspired, and let your wedding colors lead the way!
A year end review…
Gathered Here Designs’ year-end review is a heartfelt look back at an exciting year of growth and creativity! From helping newly engaged couples with tons of free wedding planning tools to hitting 63k+ monthly Pinterest views, Amanda Jean shares how 2024 was a year to remember. She reflects on milestones like moving into a charming 1937 cottage, designing close to 200 custom pins, and launching dozens of free wedding planning resources. Plus, there’s a sneak peek at what’s next: a brand-new virtual wedding planning course for all the DIY couples out there. It’s inspiring, relatable, and full of love for weddings and community! 💕🎉
The end of the year brings up all kinds of feelings of nostalgia for me. There’s something about the end that makes you think of the beginning. For me 2024 has been a restart for Gathered Here Designs.
I know I’m bias, but I love the glitter detail on the GHD logo!
Originally GHD launched in 2019, then that beloved 2020 came and kicked all our butts. From 2021-2023, GHD was basically “on pause”. During the engagement season of last year, I was inspired to renew Gathered Here Designs with the goal of providing oodles or helpful FREE content to newly engaged couples online. By the end of the year, my goal was to complete building out a virtual wedding planning course to help support those newly engaged DIY couples who need just a little extra support with the planning process.
While my course recording is temporarily on pause due to this sore throat that just won’t quit, I’m confident I’ll be able to finish recording before that clock strikes midnight on 12/31.
Looking back on the year, I feel excited about what I have been able to create with Gathered Here Designs - SO. MUCH. CONTENT. It’s one of my favorite parts of the business is creating things that are helpful to those planning their wedding. I consider myself a content queen of sorts..
As we look forward to the New Year and all that 2025 has to bring, I wanted to share all the data and favorites from 2024.
GHD 2024 Data
63k+ monthly views on Pinterest
175+ custom designed pins on Pinterest
28 blog posts (if you count this one) - see my first blog post here from 12/29/23
17 Wedding Wednesday emails
3 wedding quizzes
10 landing pages
1 holiday coloring book (still time to purchase before Christmas - makes a great stocking stuffer!)
1 virtual course (almost completed - waitlist here)
Here are a few of my favorite things from 2024…
My favorite quiz is the first one I made all about finding your wedding style, though the wedding season quiz is a close second.
Take the wedding style quiz today!
My favorite landing page is this one, which is all about mood boards.
Mood boards are a great way to visualize your wedding design.
My mom, sister, and I at my cousin’s wedding in April.
PS if you’re not on my email list, be sure to sign up here. I share all kinds of personal details and photos that I do not include on the blog.
DON’T MISS OUT - SIGN UP FOR WEDDING WEDNESDAY EMAILS!!!
Somewhere in the midst of all that I was working full time until October 2024, raising 2 children, moving from a rental into a 1937 cottage, and began renovating said cottage. Looking at the all this makes me realize why I’m probably so tired haha.
Now while we’re on the nostalgia train, we may as well go waaaaayyyyy back to when I first fell in love with weddings, I was 5. Now talk about nostalgia…
Fun fact: I’ve only been in 2 weddings - one at age 5 and one at 26!
My 5 year old self is the one who keeps the passion of creativity alive, while my 20 year old DIY bride self helps know what tips and tricks are most helpful to share with newly engaged couples, and my current 30-something self is the one who makes it all come together.
Since next week is Christmas, you won’t be hearing from me. While I believe in hardwork, I also believe in rest and boundaries. I’ll be spending next week with my little family in Boise, doing things like a Christmas movie at the Egyptian Theatre and soaking in the hot springs.
As I reflect on the year and all it brought to be (both things I sought and a few surprises like buying a house and walking away from my full time job), I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be here with you to chat about all things weddings. Thank you for making this a year to remember!
In case you’re wondering what’s next…
A sneak peak into 2025
Switching email platforms
Launching wedding design course (more on that here)
Possibly offering 1:1 design sessions (we shall see!)
Don’t forget to watch my favorite go to New Year’s Eve movie that I talked about here. There’s so much New York in this movie, I could just BURST!!!
Happy holidays to you and yours, however you may choose to celebrate - I’ll see you back here in the New Year!
Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase a product through my link I can earn a small commission. This helps allow me the ability to keep providing you free weekly content (yay!).