Over the years many wedding color trends have come and gone, but there are 10 colors that have had staying power and I have crowned them …
“The 10 All-Time Most Popular Wedding Colors.”
And they are . . .
Black
Red
White/Off white
Teal
Turquoise
Grey/Silver
Pink
Purple
Green
Blue
These 10 wedding colors have held up over time and brides continue to love them. An advantage of using one of these classic colors is that you will likely be able to find accessories and reception décor more easily than if you choose a more trendy or obscure color. And it may give you a little peace of mind knowing that you are using a color that has stood the test of time. But of course the most important thing is that you and your groom love the color and want it to help create the wedding of your dreams.
Below you will find a color-story collage for each of the 10 colors. Primarily used just one color and one tone of the color, so the color itself would have impact and you would be able to get a true picture of how it looks in various aspects of a wedding and reception. In reality, though, you will likely use various shades of the color and possibly pair it with one or more other colors.
So, let’s get started!
A off white or White Wedding is as classic as it gets. The combination is stunning and because it is a simple palette, it is easy to work with and there are no issues in trying to match up colors, etc. It’s a great color for bridesmaids because it is easy to find black dresses that can be worn again either from a bridal salon. If you want to add a pop of color there are at least seven combination colors that work wonderfully with black and white.
A Red Wedding Color is vibrant and can work well in all seasons. Of course, it is especially appropriate for a winter wedding. Since red is the color of love, it is perfect for a wedding! But you will find that red can be a warm red or a cool-tone red. Even so, it is easier to create a pleasing palette with red than with most other colors because there isn’t a huge difference in the cool tone vs. warm tone and you probably can even get away with mixing them. If you want to pair a color with red, there are several colors that you may want to consider.
A White Wedding can be quite stunning! I think it works best with a more formal wedding than a casual one. With a white wedding most everything that would normally be in a color, is a shade of white. However, the groom and his attendants generally still wear black. When considering this palette, brides are often concerned that they might not stand out from the bridesmaids. To avoid this happening, it is best if the bride’s dress is very different from the bridesmaids and perhaps more ornate with embellishments and of course, a veil will help in this regard also.
Teal is a wedding color that can be a bit of a challenge. It is a hard color to “pin down” in that it has a couple colors that are “cousins” … turquoise and aqua. I chose a blue teal. Sometimes we see teal as having more green in it. It is not a vibrant color, like turquoise, nor soft like aqua. We see it often paired with coral or red. It can work in all seasons and also is popular for beach weddings. It is one of those colors, like red, that doesn’t have a lot of variation in the hue. If you lighten the hue of teal, it becomes turquoise.
Pink: If you choose Pink as your wedding color, for example, it could range from pale pink to vibrant fuchsia. For the collages, I used a darker version or mid-tone rather than a pastel. But all of these colors are really lovely in their softer variations, as well.
A Turquoise wedding color is often chosen for beach weddings, so to give you an idea of how that might look, I created this collage with a beach wedding theme. Turquoise is a luscious color and when used in its most vibrant variation, it holds up well in the sun, while some other colors may end up looking washed out. Turquoise is a flattering color to wear for most everyone, so your bridesmaids will likely enjoy wearing turquoise. As beautiful as it is as a stand-alone color, there are seven colors that complement it very well.
Grey/Silver is a popular wedding color for spring and summer. In its lightest hue. Greyl is a lovely color for a beach wedding and pairs especially well with Teal or Turquoise or it can be teamed up with Navy Blue for a Nautical theme.
Purple is one of the all-time favorite wedding colors and it is no wonder. The color is gorgeous! Its hue can range from dark royal purple to the palest soft lavender. A purple wedding palette is luscious when several shades of the color are used together. Or it can be paired with orange for a lovely fall palette or with silver for winter oohs and ahhs! It will work for all seasons. There seems to be no end to the colors that look great with purple.
Green is a color that ranges from warm, yellow undertones to cool, blue undertones. My collage focuses on warm-toned Apple Green, a fresh, bright green with yellow undertones. It is a color that works well for Spring, Summer and Beach Weddings or paired with Navy for a Preppy theme. It is similar to Lime Green and pairs with the same colors. The warm and cool greens are very different from each other, as you can see in the charts below and it’s generally best to stick to one or the other, unless you are a professional designer. Green can be used in all seasons; for example, Apple Green works well for spring and summer and a rich, Moss Green is perfect for autumn. The colors that fall in the “green” color category have a wide range of hues, from cool-toned Emerald to Chartreuse, as seen in these five shades of Green. When using the color Green, you can easily incorporate natural elements in to your décor such as apples, moss, specially grown indoor grass, and limes.
Blue is beloved by most people as it is a calming and serene color. The hues range from dark Navy to mid-tone Royal to pale Baby Blue. It can be used for weddings of any season with Ice Blue in the winter and Powder Blue in spring and summer. For the collage below I used a cool blue, which has more green in it rather than a warm blue, which has purple undertones. See color swatch below that shows the contrast between the two blues. As with Green, unless you are a professional designer, it is probably best to stick with either cool or warm tones and not try to mix them.
Since bridesmaids’ dresses show your wedding color more than most anything else at the wedding, except possibly reception table linens and flowers. Picture yourself with your girls … which color will you love seeing at the wedding and years later in your treasured photos.