I have to thank blogging for keeping me on track with my wedding planning. While I consider the planning process fun and something I look forward to, I still have had weeks where life gets crazy and I don't do much thinking about the wedding. All of a sudden I realize the week has flown by and I have done nothing. I think it's good to have those weeks - we shouldn't let planning completely consume us, but at the same time, we have to stay on track and a weekly check-in, even if it's just taking a few moments to think where you are and what is next to do, seems to be just the right amount. The colors/theme/feel was one thing I felt a little stuck on and without knowing that piece, I was having trouble envisioning everything. For me it was more than just picking two or three colors I liked together, I want everything to complement the venue, not compete with it. Even when I envisioned colors I like together, I didn't see how that translated into the wedding party, the table settings, etc. So, this past week, I didn't book any vendors or try on any wedding dresses, but I did do a lot of thinking...and internet searching. A couple nights ago my fiance and I sat down, each with a laptop, and talked about COLORS! We did a lot of searching and saying what we liked and didn't. Here's how we started - I listed the colors already at our venue. It's an outside setting, so most are the typical natural colors. They were: greens, blues, browns, white, tan, and grey/silver. To see pictures of our venue click here.

After about 30 minutes of searching, I was a little overwhelmed...so many amazing colors, so many ways to coordinate it all. This wasn't the first time I had thought about the wedding colors, but when I actually sat down to try to make some decisions, it was hard. Chris's main focus was what the guys would be wearing, but thankfully he was patient enough to listen to me think out loud about everything else and give his opinion. Dozens of searches later, we knew there were things we liked and others we could rule out, but we still weren't sure how it all came together. I liked the idea of having more of a 'color scheme' or 'palette' rather than having everything be two-three colors. When we stepped away from the computers and let everything sink in a little is when we finally figured it out. What we ended up liking the most and agreeing on is similar to the images below - neutrals, greys, pops of a bright poppy/orange and light blue accents.  Here's how I envision it playing out...

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Bridal party: guys in grey, ladies in light.

Source: Groomsmen, Bridesmaids

I love the bright flowers and the pale blue glass.

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Here was our thought process behind the colors. It started with the wedding party attire. We knew we didn't want black suits because of the time of year (hot, mid-July) and the fact that we wanted more of a casual feel. We were thinking tans or greys and Chris preferred the grey. Easy! For the bridesmaid dresses, I was originally thinking a navy, but then I was having trouble imagining everything. Once I saw the wedding images above, I liked the lighter, more neutral look with the pops of bright colors. This was a harder decision for me. As far as silver vs. gold, we will go with silvers because our venue already has silver accents - the roof of the barn, the dance floor is a cement grey, etc. The flower and accent color inspiration comes from my infatuation with poppies. My mom's love of the Wizard of Oz rubbed off on me at an early age and I will never forget the fields of poppies. Over the past few years Chris and I have been going on runs through the Golden Gate Park and I would spot the state flower in the gardens of the Conservatory. I've heard the actual poppy flower doesn't hold up very well once it's cut, so I may have to go with other flowers, but the color is what I will be going for. The pale blue glass...I don't know where that came from. I just love the look of it with the bright colors!

Now that I picked the color scheme, I can envision everything coming together. What a good feeling!

How did you pick your wedding colors? Did it come easily for you? 

A little shout out to my dear friends, Serena and Kevin, who used the neutral colors as a base for bright color accents. It worked so well with their Mexico location.  Check out their feature on Style Me Pretty here.