Our wedding colors are ... all of them?!

This Saturday I met with a florist in Denver who I'm pretty sure will be doing our wedding! I loved Sue from the moment I saw her website. Her portfolio was vibrant and gorgeous, and she helpfully listed several sample budgets to illustrate how couples had spent floral budgets from $200 to $2500. She also had rave reviews on WeddingWire.com. I went to the meeting with high hopes and I wasn't at all disappointed!

This is the bouquet I showed her for inspiration:

Image from TheKnot.com.

I did want to make some changes -- yellow instead of orange, take out the green orchids, add some touches of blue and white. Sue gave it the thumbs up and suggested bouquets of roses, gerbera daisies, freesia, delphinium, and some white stephanotis. (Did I know what freesia, delphinium or stephanotis looked like before our meeting? No. But thankfully there were pictures!) Sue also didn't laugh at my tiny budget for centerpieces and thought it would be no trouble to fill a 4" cylinder vase with a mix of inexpensive flowers and place it on top of a mirror.

This was what I had

in mind for the centerpieces,

only with more colors!

Image from KimballFloral.com.

The rest of the meeting was a total blur. I'd only thought about centerpieces and bouquets. Boutennieres, corsages, ceremony flowers? No clue. But Sue had some wonderful ideas (she's worked at our venue before) and we pulled together a preliminary list of what everything could look like, with the understanding that it can all change between now and the wedding.

So now that I've met with the florist, it appears that the concept of "wedding colors" has more or less gone out the window, at least as far as the flowers are concerned. In the end I wasn't a monochromatic sort of girl. I'm still toying with the idea of using a slightly more muted color scheme inside the mansion -- somehow hot pink daisies feel like a mismatch with the mansion's interior. But we've got lots of time to work that out, and for now, I'm just happy to have one more vendor booked and ready to go!

Color scheme?

Does our wedding need a "color scheme"? I'm still undecided on this question. On the one hand, the whole idea of "wedding colors" seems a bit silly -- the last thing I want is to start down the slippery slope of agonizing over the difference between "lilac" and "lavender." On the other hand, choosing three or so "wedding colors" would be enormously helpful in narrowing down our options for flowers and other decorations. Plus, I'm not that gifted in the design-type areas of life. Deciding on a color palate could very well save my poor bridesmaids from a clashing color situation.

There are a couple of things I know for sure. First, I want the bridesmaids' dresses to be navy. I've flirted with other ideas (lavender, sky blue, patterned), but I keep coming back to navy. It's classic, flattering to many skin tones, and maybe even re-wearable (I know, wishful thinking!). I also know that while brown may be a popular accent color I really don't want it in our decor. I am not a fan of brown and blue together -- the super-popular combo of Tiffany blue and chocolate brown never fails to give me a headache. (If these were/are your wedding colors, please don't be offended -- just remember that we are both entitled to our opinions, and also that I don't know what I'm talking about.)

But even with a good starting point, figuring out what color palate to use is surprisingly tricky. Color combinations that I like for my wedding party don't work when I picture them in a table setting, and vice versa. So far, here are my ideas on color schemes.

* Navy + other blues + ivory
Pros: Monochromatic is easy -- the tables would look chic and classic.
Cons: Monochromatic is also a little boring. I've seen lots of photos of bridesmaids in navy carrying blue and white bouquets, and I have to be honest, it doesn't do much for me. It's nice but a bit too bland.


* Navy + lilac + dark pink
Pros: I love purple flowers, and I think a bouquet with various purples and some pink in it, like this one, would really pop against the navy dresses.

Cons: Would a combination of deep, cool colors (navy and purple) look too dark and somber? Also, I'm not sure what I would do with the tables -- maybe ivory linens with navy napkins and a few purple accents? Or just be lazy and go with navy/ivory inside?

* Navy + bright pink + yellow
Pros: I love the thought of my navy-clad bridesmaids carrying something like this:


Bright, gorgeous, and fun!
Cons: Absolutely no idea what to do with the tables. I love the idea of pink in the bouquets, but in the centerpieces or table settings I'm not such a fan.

Any ideas?