Help! I'm Wearing A Coloured Wedding Dress, What Should My Bridesmaids Wear?

 

Photo: Emma Case Photography, Love My Dress    

HELP! I'M WEARING A COLOURED WEDDING DRESS, WHAT SHOULD MY BRIDESMAIDS WEAR?

I LOVE the trend towards wearing non-traditional white for your wedding. But it can create a headache when it comes to selecting bridesmaids dresses. How can you 'stand out from the crowd'?

In this blog, I put on my designer hat, dust off the old colour wheel and give some advice which I hope will help you navigate the murky waters of colour theory.

How much do I want to stand out?

Before we get going, ask yourself: "How much do I want to stand out?" This may seem a daft question, you're the bride, you want to stand out... right? Yes and no. There are two ways of thinking about this. 

First, you're already bucking tradition by not wearing white. So, how much more 'wild' do you want to go? This may affect whether you choose to tone your bridesmaids down into something traditional like a dusky pink, or amp them up so that the entire wedding party is a riot of colour.

Second, you can think about how much you want to stand out from your bridesmaids. This will determine how contrasting you want them to be. This can be in terms of both the colour (hue) and shade of the bridemaids' dresses. 

What do I mean by "shade"? If you take a colour and add black, you will get a more muted version of the colour - this is called a shade. If you are wearing a bright colour and your bridesmaids wear a muted colour, you will stand out more as there is more of a contrast.

The same applies to tints (a colour with white added) and tones (a colour with grey added). Like shades, tints and tones act to reduce the intensity of a colour (its saturation), so they will stand out less against a bright, saturated colour.

To see how the tint/tone/shade of your dresses affects the feeling of contrast and boldness, compare the red and blue dresses of the opening image with the soft pink and aqua blue of the dresses in the image to the left.

There are other ways to create contrast which I'll talk about later. 

At this stage, the main message is to think about how much you want to contrast from your wedding party. 

Not all brides want to have a heavy contrast. For example, beautiful ethereal effects are created by having everyone in soft, gentle colours. Likewise, you can create a relaxed Boho vibe by having everyone in pale earthy colours. At the other extreme, you can create moody Goth vibes by having the wedding party all in very dark shades.

Have a browse through wedding party images and see what ones speak to you.

Photo: Caught The Light, London Bride Wedding Blog

1. COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS

Complimentary colours sit on the opposite side of the colour wheel from each other. The strong contrast between the two creates a vibrant, energetic effect. It's no coincidence that Christmas colours are red and green!

If you want your wedding to have a bold, energetic effect, then opt to wear a bright (saturated) colour and have your bridesmaids in a complimentary colour that is equally as saturated.

If you like the effect of complimentary colours, but don't want such a full-on effect, you could choose a tint/tone or shade of the complimentary colours to create a softer look..  

Bold complimentary

Softer complimentary

2. SPLIT-COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS

If you would like your bridesmaids to be in mismatched colours to create a more contemporary look, you could consider a split-complimentary colour scheme. 

In this colour scheme, you would choose the two colours either side of the colour that is complimentary to your dress. 

In fact, if you're not fussed about being a colour purist, you could have them in all three of the colours that are opposite to yours. For example, using the colour wheel image (left) if you wore yellow, your bridesmaids could be in blue, purple and mauve/pink.

A bonus of using a split complimentary colour scheme is that your bridesmaids will have a wider choice of colours to select from.

Photo: Anelale Najera, Unsplash.

3. ANALOGOUS COLOURS

Analogous colours sit beside each other on the colour wheel. If your bridesmaids wear dresses that are analogous to yours, the overall effect will be very harmonious.                                                                                                 If you're worried about disappearing too much into the background, I recommend that you are the only one wearing your colour whilst the bridesmaids wear colours either side of yours on the colour wheel.   For example, if you wear emerald green, your bridesmaids could be in lime green and aqua. 

Another way to add a bit of contrast is to think about having a light/dark contrast by using our old friends tint, tone and shade. And of course, you can create contrast by having a different style of dress with different accessories and bouquet.

Photo: (left) Nouba.com.au; (right) Quinceanera.com 

One of my favourite twists on the 3-way analogous colour palette is to select 2 colours that are one colour apart from each other on the colour wheel. Hot pink and orange are a really zinging combination. They work well together because they are still analogous, but there is more energy and impact. Lime and Aqua are another pairing that I love.

Photo: Green Wedding Shoes

4. NEUTRAL COLOURS

Neutral colours are, basically, your blacks, greys, whites, creams and browns.  For decorating purposes, it also includes metallics, e.g. gold and silver.

Putting your bridesmaids in a neutral colour may seem 'safe', but there are a few thing to navigate:

First, think about how the colour choice will affect the overall 'feel' of your wedding. Bridesmaids in white or black present a strong challenge to tradition and make quite a statement. If that appeals to you, great. If not, think of grey, beige or cream. One big plus for having your bridesmaids in black is that their dress is infinitely more wearable after the wedding than, say, flamingo pink.

Photos: (left) Corbin Gurkin, Martha Stewart Weddings; (right) Wedding Forward 

Second, beige and grey colours can be tricky to work with. they can look drab, especially  if they have a warm undertone and your dress is a clear, bright saturated colour with a cool undertone. Put a cool white fabric against a warm white fabric and you can see how they don't mix well. The same goes for when you put on all black clothes, but they don't seem to go well together. 

Finally, those beige and grey colours can make people look washed out. Its one thing for you to stand out from your bridesmaids, its another to make them look like they've just crawled out of their sick bed! 

Photo: Weddings Online

5. MONOCHROMATIC COLOURS

Monochromatic colours are, basically, the same colour with different amounts of black, grey and white added to create a colour-wash effect.

This colour scheme, like the analogous one, can create a really harmonious effect. 

With a monochromatic wedding, the way to ensure you stand out is to have a light/dark contrast.

For example, if you are wearing a bright royal blue,  the bridesmaids could be in a pale blue or dark navy. 

Get yourself a monochromatic colour wheel that includes the colour of your wedding dress (Google it), then see what lies on the opposite side of the wheel from your dress colour.

Photo: Caught The Light, London Bride Wedding Blog

As for analogous colour schemes, another way to create contrast when you are all wearing the same colour, is to ensure the bride's dress is a different style and is accessoried differently. The gorgeous bridal party pictured above shows this perfectly.

         

6. SOME FINAL TIPS

I hope this brief romp through colour theory has helped you think about how you might choose the best bridesmaid dress colours for your special day. The idea is to be able to go dress shopping armed with a clear colour palette in mind.

Having said that, we don't live in a perfect world. You may not be able to find dresses that match your palette perfectly. Or, the colour you have chosen may end up looking dreadful on your bridesmaids.  Here are a few extra tips that may help:

• If the colour doesn't look 100% right on your bridesmaid, but you absolutely LOVE it then possibly come back for another fitting with make-up fully done. It's amazing what a difference make-up can make. I remember once getting a disastrous hair colouring. What made it bearable was to switch-up my make-up with a warmer foundation and stronger lipstick.
• Try looking for a skirt/trouser and top combination. This hugely increases your choices. For example, you could have a colourful skirt and a neutral top that suits everyone in your bridal party. AND it gives you the option of adding a cute belt or waist ribbon to add more colour. 
• Add some flower magic. If you just can't find the perfect colour, you can opt for a neutral dress and add colour through the bouquets and bouquet ribbons.
• Accessories to the rescue: Like bouquets, accessories can jazz up a neutral fabric. This could be necklaces, belts, shrugs, shoes, even cute jackets and cardis.

Photo: Bespoke Bride

Good luck with the dress hunt!

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