So I had a ring on my finger and a fabulous man. Now what is a girl to do?!   Choose COLORS of course! (well actually we chose our venue first, but more on that later)

So after we chose the zoo, it was time to think about “my vision”. I’ve always loved purple and green, so it was a natural choice for my wedding colors,with the beach proposal I thought at first that I may want to decorate with a beach motif- and that just didn’t work (and neither did my centerpiece idea for that motif either).

Back to the drawing board! The room we have for our reception is verging on rustic. It was high celings with the wooden beams exposed, and a cozy stone fire place, almost a cabin feel to it, and the zoo already has such lush flora and fauna, I wanted to kinda go with that, and not work against it, so I thought having a natural feel would give everything a seamless, cohesive look and feel. I also have a deep love of anything sparkly, magical and whimsical, and love stores like this (the enchanted crystal in San Francisco’s Marina district)

However, I am also fairly traditional in my tastes as well though, and didn’t want to make it too “themey, kichy, or childish” so I decided to eliminate the actual use of fairies in the decor, but to hopefully keep everything else that midsummer’s night dream makes me think of, magic, nature, and romance, and I had this poster. These things combined lead me to make this inspiration board.

It actually wasn’t all THAT hard for me to choose this direction as I pretty much went with things that I like without researching trends or anything, and I had my poster as a general gist of the “feel” I was going for, but I know and have read blogs of many brides who can’t decide on a palette for the life of them. My advice is to:

Think about your venue first. Does it have any elements/colors you want to highlight?
Think about the desired formality for your event
Consider the season; there’s a reason there’s seasonal colors that’s what blooms, and that is what’s going to be cheapest for you to purchase around that time of year !
Look around your house at your art work, your bed spread, your towels, placemats, (anything)! See if you can build something around that.

Tip from the Wedding Planner:
You can also drag your honey to the nearest home improvement store (seriously, he will go kicking and screaming), and look at paint samples. Look at different shades and how they compare and contrast with each other. Another good place is a fabric store. Make sure you leave with something tangible and “in real life”, as it is very easy for colors to appear differently on computer screens.

How did you choose a direction for your colors and decor?