Resident bride-to-be Nicole was generally uninspired by the color combos featured in her bridal mags so she decided to go with a chic and simple black and white palette.
The first thing I did when I started the planning process was to decide on a color scheme and a theme.I immediately knew that I wanted an evening wedding full of romance and candle light.  I’m also a fan of all things modern and classic. My venue fit my personality and my vision perfectly. Next to a beach, my wedding will be full of ocean views, sunsets and romance…a few of my favorite things. 

When deciding on a color scheme, I had a bit of a trickier time. I don’t particularly have a favorite color. Pink has a girlie feminine factor that appeals to me. Purple represents royalty. Blues and greens are calming and yellow just pops. I like them all, and my closet reflects that. Each color is represented equally in their respective sections (yes, my closet is color coded).  When deciding colors for this event none of them just screamed at me. I also have a super masculine groom who would have vetoed anything too girlie. So I decided to stay true to myself and do something simple and chic…black and white. 

When people ask my wedding colors and I say “black and white” I usually get a very dull “oh”. That color combination doesn’t exactly spark a huge response.  I’ve even had someone tell me those weren’t colors and that I needed some kind of color for a pop. I disagreed. I set out to have a classic, timeless wedding without the trendy color combinations I’d been seeing in every magazine. A small wrench was thrown into that plan when I went dress shopping and fell in love with a blush and ivory dress. The Ivory part was okay, I could easily transition from white to ivory and keep with my original vision. But the blush?

Picking bridesmaid dresses now presented a problem as well. During an initial conversation, my girls instantly requested not to be put into black dresses and ivory isn’t a color you imagine bridesmaids wearing. Blush was out of the question because I was wearing blush and didn’t want them looking like me.I toyed with the idea of champagne or metallic, but in the end, I did what some would call unthinkable and put my girls in Ivory dresses. More and more I grew happier with the thought of being the pop of color in my wedding.   

After that, everything else was simple.Invitations: ivory and black. Flowers: Ivory roses. Linens: Ivory with black details. In the end I did decide to add gold for a much needed bling factor. That turned out to be just the element I needed to complete my romantic, elegant, summer evening wedding.  Now I’m just sitting back and waiting for all the elements to come together. 30 days and counting.