Choosing A Color Scheme For Your Bridesmaids: A Guide

Choosing the colour of your bridesmaids' dresses is one of the most important and challenging tasks on your wedding to-do list. It's a chance to express your personal style and set the tone for your wedding. The first step is to decide if you want all your bridesmaids to wear the same dress or opt for a trendy mix-and-match look. Next, you should consider the venue, season, your wedding colours, and the skin tones of your bridesmaids. You can also take a fun quiz or seek inspiration from Pinterest to help you decide on a colour palette.

Choose colours that complement the wedding venue

When it comes to choosing your bridesmaids' colours, it's important to consider the wedding venue. The venue will set the stage for your big day, so selecting colours that complement the space is key. Here are some tips to help you choose colours that will enhance the atmosphere and create stunning visuals for your wedding:

Consider the Venue's Style and Surroundings

The style and surroundings of your venue can inspire your colour choices. For example, if you're getting married in a rustic barn, earthy tones like dark sage, taupe, and terracotta would be ideal. If you're opting for a beach wedding, play with pastel colours and sunset hues like pale yellow, powder blue, and lavender. A garden wedding calls for floral prints and soft shades like mint, sage, and cerulean. For an upscale hotel wedding, classic black dresses or elegant neutrals will never go wrong.

Think About Lighting and Backdrops

The lighting and backdrops of your venue can also guide your colour choices. Lighter or deeper hues can be chosen depending on whether your venue has an abundance of natural light or a more intimate atmosphere. Consider how the colours of the bridesmaid dresses will interact with the surroundings, ensuring they complement each other. For instance, rich jewel tones might be better suited to a dimly lit venue, while softer pastels could be perfect for a bright and airy space.

Create a Cohesive Look

When selecting colours that complement the venue, it's essential to maintain a cohesive look. This can be achieved by choosing a colour palette with primary, secondary, and accent colours. The primary colour can be used for the bridesmaid dresses, while the secondary and accent colours can be incorporated into the groomsmen's accessories, bouquets, décor, and other details. This creates a unified look that ties the entire wedding party together.

Be Mindful of Skin Tones

While complementing the venue is important, it's also crucial to consider the skin tones of your bridesmaids. Avoid colours that may wash out certain skin tones or make them look too flushed. Opt for colours that flatter everyone, or if you're set on a particular colour, consider different tints or shades within that colour family to ensure each bridesmaid feels confident and radiant.

Draw Inspiration from Nature and Surroundings

If you're struggling to decide on colours, draw inspiration from the natural surroundings of your venue. The colours of the flowers, the greenery, or even the sky can provide a beautiful colour palette for your bridesmaid dresses. This approach ensures that your chosen colours will effortlessly blend with the venue, creating a harmonious and elegant visual aesthetic for your special day.

Opt for colours that match the season

Choosing colours that match the season is a great way to narrow down your bridesmaid dress palette and set the overall theme of your wedding. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Spring

Spring weddings often evoke images of lush florals and greenery. Embrace the season with shades of green, pink, blue, or neutral. Floral print bridesmaid dresses are also a particularly fitting option for spring. Shades of sage green are especially on-trend and compliment any outdoor wedding venue. From baby blues to soft pink hues, pastel bridesmaid dresses are another subtle and elegant choice for spring.

Summer

Summer is the perfect time to embrace vibrant colours and breezy, soft fabrics. Bright tropical hues such as yellow and orange work well in summer, as do oceanic-inspired colours like coral and light blue. Butter yellow is a sunny hue that is perfect for a summer wedding. White bridesmaid dresses are also a versatile choice for summer, matching any wedding theme from classic to bohemian.

Fall

If you're planning an autumn wedding, consider letting the foliage guide your colour choices. Warm shades of gold, copper, and brown are ideal for a rustic outdoor celebration. Fall is also the perfect time to lean into metallic shades like gold and copper, which look especially luxurious when hit with light. Rich shades of red and rosy hues, from deep crimson to soft coral, will add warmth to your wedding palette.

Winter

For a winter wedding, you can't go wrong with rich jewel tones like emerald and sapphire, as well as classics like navy and black. Champagne is another elegant choice for winter, offering a minimalist and luxe vibe. If you want your bridesmaids to shine, consider a dark, moody colour palette with shades of burgundy, gold, evergreen, navy, and eggplant.

Consider the skin tones of the bridesmaids

When choosing bridesmaid dress colours, it's important to consider the skin tones of your bridesmaids. While it may be tempting to choose your favourite hue, it's wise to be intentional about the shade you select. Skin tones, whether fair, medium, olive, or dark, can change the way a colour looks, so it's crucial to find a hue that suits everyone.

For those with light or fair skin and cool undertones, warm neutral colours tend to be the most flattering. Pastel colours, such as light pinks, blues, and yellows, are a safe choice. To create a bold look, jewel tones like ruby or emerald can also work well, especially in satin dress designs. However, it's best to avoid harsh solid colours like black and navy, which can wash out this skin tone.

If your bridesmaids have light skin with warm undertones, fresh summer colours like coral, peach, blush, lilac, sage, or pastel yellow are ideal. It's recommended to stay away from bold colours such as cobalt blue and rust orange, which may not flatter this skin tone as well.

Bridesmaids with medium or olive skin and cool undertones can typically wear dark colours easily. Lush, cool shades like olive, evergreen, jade, emerald, hunter, sapphire, and navy are perfect choices. Muted light colours, on the other hand, such as beige or linen, tend to wash out this complexion.

For those with medium skin and warm undertones, jewel tones are a great option. Colours like garnet, ruby red, golden champagne, sapphire blue, hibiscus, blackberry, and plum will make them radiant. Desert rose, creams, ivory, and neutrals are also stunning options that will complement their complexion.

When it comes to dark skin with cool undertones, captivating, rich colours like cinnamon, rose, mahogany, and Sofia blue will highlight their mesmerizing features. While neutral tones can be used, it's important to be careful with washed-out colours, which may not stand out against their skin tone.

Bridesmaids with dark skin and warm, golden undertones are lucky—they can pull off almost any colour! All the jewel shades will make them luminous, and dark shades won't wash them out. Navy, burgundy, and even black are all great choices. However, it's best to steer clear of very pale shades like light icy blue, silver, or sage/pistachio green, as they can look too harsh against their dark complexion.

Additionally, there are some colours that tend to be more universally flattering, such as richer, deeper tones like dark teal and maroon. These pigments don't have variations that can easily wash someone out, like some pinks or yellows. Black is also a universally flattering hue that will complement almost any theme and bridesmaid dress style.

Pick colours that tie in with the bridal bouquet

The bridal bouquet is an important consideration when choosing a colour for your bridesmaids' dresses. While you don't need to stress too much about the flowers your bridesmaids will carry, you should give their arrangements just as much thought as your own. Their bouquets should complement your arrangement, their dresses, and the overall vibe of the day.

• You can use your bridesmaids' bouquets as an opportunity to bring in a broader range of colours and create a bigger impact.
• If you want a sleek and modern look, keep it simple with white flowers, exposed green stems, and black dresses.
• If you want your bridal bouquet to stand out, make sure it differs slightly from your bridesmaids' bouquets.
• If you want to skip bouquets altogether but still want your bridesmaids to feel important, you can treat them with floral cuffs for a unique spin on bridesmaid flowers.
• Consider what will be wrapping the bouquets. Including sweet strands of hand-dyed silk ribbon can add depth to your bridesmaids' overall floral look.
• If your bridesmaids' dresses are different prints and styles, opt for a monochromatic palette with the bouquets to keep the overall look cohesive.
• Decide whether you want the blooms to be the focal point of your pictures or just a simple accent. If you want them to be an accent, opt for smaller bouquets that blend in with the wedding colours.
• Ensure that each bridesmaid's bouquet is in a similar style but slightly smaller in scale compared to the bride's bouquet. Having similar flowers in both bouquets but saving some specialty blooms for the bridal bouquet is a great way to have them complement each other without competing.
• Avoid overly scented flowers such as lilies, lilacs, or jasmine as your bridesmaids will be holding them all day, and any overly potent blooms can cause headaches or allergies.
• Don't be afraid of colour when it comes to your bridesmaid bouquets. Even if you're sticking to a more neutral palette elsewhere, including bold shades can create a lot of impact, especially against darker bridesmaids' dresses.

Select a colour that flatters the bride's gown

When choosing a colour for your bridesmaids' dresses, it's important to consider the colour of the bridal gown. You want to select a colour that flatters the bride's gown, rather than clashes with it.

If you're wearing a colourful wedding dress, you might want to opt for bridesmaid dresses in a more subtle hue, or vice versa. For example, if you're wearing a bold red, pink or purple gown, you might want to choose a softer shade for your bridesmaids, such as blush, lilac or powder blue.

If you're wearing a white wedding dress, you could select a colour that complements this, such as pastel shades of peach, cream, or champagne. Alternatively, you could opt for a bolder colour, such as emerald green, royal blue, or even yellow.

If you're wearing an ivory or grey wedding dress, you could select a range of colours to match. Ivory is a gorgeous hue that flatters most brides, and grey is a calm and sophisticated shade. You could choose to have your bridesmaids wear the same colour as your dress, or select a contrasting colour.

Ultimately, you want to choose a colour that works harmoniously with the bridal gown and the wider wedding theme and colour palette.

Frequently asked questions