QuestionHi Melanie-
I am having a really hard time deciding on a color scheme for my upcoming wedding in the fall (October). The problem seems to be that I like everything!
I am wearing a traditional white A-line gown that has lots of lace and crystals on it. The bridesmaids are wearing tea length chracoal grey dresses. Now, the problem is the color of the bouquets! Originally I was thinking traditional fall colors but I am not crazy about the way most oranges and yellows look with the grey dresses-I don't want it to look like Halloween! I love red flowers and also green flowers but I'm not sure how to combine the look! I love roses, hydrangeas, and calla lillies, as well as some orchids. I am pretty sure I want some color in my bouquet and I definitely want my bouquet to be different from the bridesmaids. Any advice would be great!
Thank you!
AnswerHi Dawn!
Your wedding sounds like it will be lovely! I like the charcoal grey color for the attendants.. nice choice!
Your fear of having the colors look too Hallowe'en-ish can easily be alleviated by incorporating the green that you like.. the colors are stunning together, and against your dress and the girls, will really 'pop' in your photos!
A very common way to deal with having a different and more elaborate bouquet for the bride is to simply have the girls carry only one or two elements from your bouquet.. and possibly in more muted tones or a single color. Your bouquet should be splashier than theirs as well.
If you like reds and also the fall colors, but are afraid of having it look too fallish, you can minimize how many of the fall colors you have involved.
For example.. for your bouquet, you could do roses, a couple orchids, some wax-flower, hypericum berries and greens. Then have your girls carry either something like gerbera daisies in the same color as your roses and berries with greens, or even just the berries and greens! Depending on the price you can get roses at, you may even consider roses for them with the wax flower and greens, perhaps in a slightly different color or a mix of colors (have one carry red, one with burnt orange, one with a deep yellow and one with green... all the colors in your bouquet.)
Here are some examples of what I mean:
Brides' bouquet:
This one has burnt orange calla lilies, red-orange protea (spikey looking flower), green bells of Ireland, and orange hypericum berries. You could easily incorporate other elements such as roses, etc into this, or replace the bells of ireland with a nice green cymbidium orchid.
http://www.mayweddingflowers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/wedding-flowers-fall...
For the girls, you could then do something like this:
All gerbera daisy bouquet.. very inexpensive and colorful:
http://www.flower-arrangement-advisor.com/images/fall_gerberra_bouquet.jpg
Or a small posy of roses to match your bouquet:
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/5256807/304551-main_Full.jpg
As another option, here is a bridal bouquet that is a little more modern and features more artistic styling.. you may or may not like the addition of the feathers, but that could easily be removed from the idea.. This one features the red roses, green cymbidiums, orange hypericum berries and other elements to pull in some fall colors.
http://www.weddingaces.com/wp-content/uploads/wedding-fall-bouquet.jpg
In this case, you could easily take one element from your bouquet and have each girl carry a different element.. for example.. one could carry a posy of the yellow globe flowers from that bouquet, another the red roses, a third some green orchids etc, etc..
This is another lovely bouquet, with fewer elements, such as roses, hypericum, eucalyptus, and callas...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1221/3168744981_0c64307f47.jpg
And this one, heavier with the cymbidiums (more green) and roses and callas. There's a few bells of Ireland in there too.. but you can see how you can adjust the 'color' of the bouquet by making one element stronger than the other.
For the men, have them match whatever you end up doing for the girls.
If you want something lighter in fall tones, by incorporating whites or off whites, you can design a gorgeous fall-colored bouquet that still is elegant in its own right. This example is lovely and shows you what the lighter tones can do: Here they have the roses in white as well as some of the callas, with some others in deep burgundy and the complimentary green cymbids. Lovely.
http://www.betsywhite.com/flightsoffancy/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/nancy_post4_...
In this case, I would put your girls in either the white roses/calla combination or just one of either roses or callas. Use ribbon in a color around the flowers for accent.
Color can also set the tone for the wedding. By this I mean that by picking darker colors in a bouquet, it tends to make the 'look' much more formal. The bright greens of the cymbids and other elements lends a 'contemporary' feel to the flowers, and whites can make it more feminine and elegant. Each are elegant in their own ways, it just depends on what 'mood' you want to try to convey on your day.
Remember too, that you can use any of the elements OR just the colors to tie into your decorations for the reception as well.
I hope this has helped you and hasn't overwhelmed you in any way. If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know!
Good luck with your planning, and congratulations on your up-and-coming wedding!!
Warmest Regards,
Melanie
