Late summer wedding colors
Caroline Wolfe Papocchia Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 9:01AM With August just around the corner and fall not too far behind, there is a hint in the air of a simple winding down. The days are still blazing hot, but dusk brings the steady buzz of cicadas in the background and the most glorious sunsets of the year.
Couples planning a late summer wedding should take a cue from nature when thinking about the color palette for their nuptials. A summer sunset yields a vast family of complementary shades - rich oranges, golds, yellows, chocolate browns, and dark reds paired beautifully with shades of gray, blue, purple, and mauve.
A swatch of fabrics from a bridesmaid dress catalog demonstrates the power of this complementary palette; an appealing spread instead of a standard rainbow.
A variation on the palette is exemplified in this incredible dahlia, a flower that happens to be abundant throughout July, August, and into fall.
An advantage of this palette is that it can range in saturation and therefore mood. For a daytime, happy feel - evocative of the frenetic fun marking the last weeks before school - poppy oranges, vibrant fuschias, and bright blues strike the right note. A persimmon/turquoise color story is a modern classic.
(Tropical Hummingbird Ceremony Programs by Shine Invitations)
(Photo by Jodie Wilson on Flickr)
(Photo by Clever Cupcakes on Flickr)
A softer take on a sunny summer palette is monochromatic, focusing only on the warm end of the spectrum. Delicate yellows become richer when paired with intense orange.
For evening weddings in late summer, the colors should be either darkened or muted to create a moody or even nostalgic feeling that hearkens back to lazy summer evenings of yore. Mauve instead of saturated purple; gray or navy instead of robins egg blue; peach or brown instead of vibrant orange. This tablesetting takes the best of both worlds, combining hot orange mokara orchids with a demure lavendar cloth.
These Save the Date and invitation cards designed by Orange 81 perfectly exemplify the muted, moody palette of late summer. Whether the beach or the mountains, the lazy transition of summer into fall is evoked by the shades of gold, orange, and blue. Again, the clues and hues are taken from nature.
(Vintage Coastal Lighthouse Save the Date by Orange81)
(Vintage Summer Wedding invitation by Orange81)
We can hear the cicadas chirping! Can you?
Interested in picking colors for weddings and other events? The Sheffield Wedding & Event Planning course teaches everything you need to know to orchestrate a memorable event, from creating a guest list, to hiring vendors, to creating a beautiful wedding design.
Reader Comments (15)
thanks for all photos
Beautiful photos and illustrations.