Long gone are the days when white, cream, gold and silver were the only available colours to the happy couple for their wedding day. Over the last ten years, weve seen even the most traditional style weddings start to incorporate a little colour outside of the standard choices. These days, its unusual to go to a wedding where there isnt a little extra colour to the proceedings! However, for the couple who want everything to match, here are 5 ways to stop it all costing you a fortune! 1) Choose your colour scheme in the right orderstarting with the most expensive items first. 2) Resist the temptation to commit straightaway to a particular colour until youre sure you can carry it through without breaking the budget. 3) Talk to all your suppliers first before committing to a colour. By this, I mean the venue, the caterers, the people supplying your outfits, whoever is supplying your invitations and other wedding stationery, and your proposed florist. 4) Be a little flexible variations on a colour theme can be very beautiful and a lot less of a headache than if you try to get everything absolutely perfectly matched (its probably impossible anyway unless you choose white, and even that comes in a variety of shades, believe it or not!!) 5) Be a little creative if you cant get favour boxes, for example, in exactly the colour you want, get them in a complementary colour instead and tie them with an appropriate ribbon colour. Or make little tags and print them in the right colour. So getting it in the right order you should consider: A) Your outfits, and those of your bridesmaids/ushers/pageboys/flowergirls etc Depending on your outfit supplier, you may not even be able to match the boys to the girls if you choose an unusual colour for either. Check with your supplier about making waistcoats/cravats in the bridesmaids material, for example but dont book anything until you know you can match it to other things! B) Your reception colour scheme Something many brides dont consider when choosing their colour scheme is the existing venue colours: Dont make the same mistake! If your reception is in a hotel or other static venue, often the basic colour scheme of the room is quite bland, but clashes are best avoided. Have a good think about what is going to work, and take into consideration the colour of the chair upholstery, the available tablecloth/linen napkin colours, and whether the hotel intends to supply menus or other table decorations. Have a good chat with your point of contact about what they are prepared to do for you on the day some places will refuse to set out napkins other than their own, for example, and this is all best dealt with in advance! If youre having your reception in a marquee, talk to the supplier about a coloured lining if you dont want white. Also, many caterers offer either only white or only ivory tablecloths, and standard chairs in white plastic, or burgundy and gilt, which can clash horribly. This is definitely something I would flag as a big headache for many brides when trying to plan the table decorations make sure that youve asked to see the chairs the marquee company are proposing to supply, and have a chat with the caterers about your colour scheme before you even decide to book them. Like the hotels and venues mentioned in the point above, some caterers will refuse to set the table with anything that isnt their standard issue, so make sure you understand what they include in the price they quote you - this is all best dealt with in advance! There are companies that will hire out coloured table linen, but the colours can be limited and it gets quite pricey quite quickly (assume around 10 per tablecloth, and 2.50 per chair cover). Again make sure your colour scheme is going to work with whatever theyre offering before you commit to either!! C) The wedding stationery, and getting it to all match on the day! Those fabulous peacock coloured invitations may look like just the thing, but pause for a second and think about this Do you want your colour scheme to carry through from the invitations to the day itself? and if so, can the same company supply you with everything? Youll need some or all of the following that can be made from the same card/paper supplies: Beforehand, you will need: Now, obviously you dont have to have everything matching, but in an ideal world, there should be consistency and you dont want to be changing the colour scheme half way through because its proving too much of a nightmare! D) The florist: These days, you can more or less have any kind of flower at any time of year, but the price will vary widely with the month and the seasonality. If you want your blooms your corsages, bouquet, church/registry office flowers and your table decorations to go with your scheme, have a good chat about whats possible and how much youll need to spend BEFORE you commit to your final colour scheme And please remember, a little patience will go a very long way!! |
