Having a colour scheme for your wedding may seem like you’re going all J-Lo’s Wedding Planner, but it’s actually a great way to create a coherent, pleasing aesthetic for your wedding, as well as a strong, memorable visual identity.

My background is in theatre design where we had to think a lot about colour and shades within sets and costumes and it’s no different with a wedding, which is just another form of theatrical spectacle (just with more booze and a lot more fun 😂😎⚡️).

I’ve used a wedding I did for a client on a budget (2019) for some examples here. They had booked the venue, had everything worked out in terms of ceremony, timings, food and cake but a few months before their day, were at a loss at how to bring some personality and a visual identity to the space - apart from knowing the colours they wanted.

I encouraged them to start with a Pinterest board which we then worked on together to organise and distill into a moodboard. Here are some ideas about how you can get YOUR colours into your scheme if you’re doing some DIY styling…

The guest journey

As with any theatrical experience, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your audience, aka your wedding guests. What will they see first, which entrance will they use? Where is the first place you can start their experience? For this wedding, guests snaked through some outdoor space to the venue so I made some outdoor-friendly wedding decorations in their red, pink, and orange colour scheme. These also doubled up as props for wedding photos later on.

Using colour in your table plan

The bride had seen a table plan on Pinterest she loved so I used that as a starting point for hers and tried to add my own twist to it! As with most wedding venues we couldn’t attach to any walls so had to get creative with freestanding plan ideas! This one was created by using a clothes rail and spraying it copper. The beauty of using a clothes rail is that they normally come with castor wheels so this one could be moved around - guests could see where they were sitting whilst milling around with Champagne outside, then it was moved to the entrance of the dining space to act as a reminder on the way in.

Buying reels of sequin tails (sequins pre-sewed onto strips) is a great way to add sequins and sparkle quickly, without breaking the bank. I chose a turquoise green colour to contrast with the red, pink and orange and blend with the greens of the fake foliage.

TIP: if you’re making a table plan like this, on hanging threads - GLUE THEM DOWN to the rail at the top and bottom to stop an absolute tangled mess if any wind blows!

Colourful table decorations

As with many weddings, the main portion of the celebration was centred around dining. The venue supplied the tables with white tablecloths and napkins which were a perfect blank canvas for our colour injection. I used coloured card cut into different sized circles to create a confetti type effect to dress the tables (using my Cricut Maker). Partly because it was cheap and high impact, but also because I only had 1 hour to dress the room after the ceremony turn-around!

To work out how many circles I needed, I did one ‘test’ table in the studio, laying out the coloured circles to scale; which means spreading it out as it would be on the table. Then I simply multiplied the circles by the number of tables (and added a bit extra for contingency). TIP: Bag up the right amount of confetti for each table so you don’t get there on the day and splurge it all on the first three tables with nothing left for the rest!

Easy wedding table numbers

Using blank Decopatch numbers is a great way to inject your colours into your table numbers. Each was painted with different emulsion tester pots. The benefit of using tester pots is that you can get a pretty accurate match to the particular shades of your wedding palette and they’re very affordable! I added matching colour glitter because…why not?! Sparkle is always better than non-sparkle in my opinion!

Colour continuity - the little details

Some bits I didn’t manage to get photos of include the ceremony Service and Song sheet which were put out onto the chairs before guests arrived, and you’ve guessed it - they were printed on pink, orange and red paper! Instead of spending money getting these professionally designed and printed, I printed on coloured A4 paper and folded in half. Choosing what to spend your cash on is often half the battle with a DIY Wedding, but in my opinion, apart from parents, no one is going to keep the service sheet!

Contrasts vs clashes

You will have some styling details that would be too much to have in your colour palette. For example, the couple wanted photo-taking instructions on the table - instead of choosing a pink, orange or red frame, I went for a clear Black glass photo frame. For the Name places the couple wanted to use mini Cacti that doubled as a gift to take home, so I created simple names printed with black on white card, and thought the Green cacti was a nice contrast to the hot colours throughout the rest of the scheme.

To help you, why not look at a colour wheel - generally, colours on opposite ends of the wheel, or three colours equi-distant from each other make good colour contrasts.

Colour psychology - further reading

I truly believe colour has an affect on our mood. From seeing a brightly coloured flower against a grey sky, to walking into a room painted yellow…there’s lots to read about colour psychology online which could be worth a look if you’re trying to achieve a certain mood for your big day!

Still need wedding design help?

I offer Power Hour sessions to help you nail your wedding styling vision and plan. We’ll take all your specifics into account (venue, budget, season, likes and dislikes) and really get to the bottom of how you’re going to create a visual identity for your day. Click here for more information on help styling your wedding.