Selecting your wedding colours is part of the process of planning a wedding. Although it seems like a small factor it is actually quite important as many other aspects of the wedding depend upon colour choices. From your table settings to your flowers and bridesmaid dresses, colour is important. However many brides don’t realize the implications of certain colour choices or what combinations do and don’t work. This will help guide you in selecting the perfect colour palette for your big day.

Think seasonal
Winter weddings tend to have a winter landscape of colours; blues, whites, silver, and so on. Or green and red because of Christmas. These are colours that are easy to find during this time of year. It’s a lot more difficult to find things in pink, orange or teal. So think about the season of your wedding. The more “in season” your colours are the easier it will be to locate items. These will also be much more inexpensive. Out of season items may require you to special order them and pay more for even the simplest of things. Try to stick to in season colors or just out of season colors that may be found on clearance to ease your preparations.

Pair your selections
After you’ve narrowed your selections down to a few hold them up to one another and see how they look with each other. Hold them up against clothing, flowers, linens and other wedding items to get a feel for how it would all appear and whether or not it works for you. Take several days to consider your options so you can let it sink in and be sure you’re making the right choice for your dream wedding.

Style and tone
Consider the style and tone of the wedding. If you’re having a black tie affair you’ll probably want to forgo the pastels and think bolder, darker tones. If the wedding is a Mardi Gras party then gold, purple, and green are your friends not peach and cream. Work with your overall concept to ensure it all makes sense.

Time of day
Very few morning weddings show off bright red and very few night weddings go for pastel greens. Think about how the colour is associated with the time of day by many people. You want it all to flow together, not stand out and seem odd.

Flowers are one of the most expensive parts of a wedding besides the reception food and photography. Depending on the flowers you choose, how large the bouquets and arrangements are as well as some other factors you could spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on something that while beautiful, while die within a few days. One way to cut down your expenses is to do your own flowers. Putting together bouquets, arrangements and boutonnieres is relatively simple. It doesn’t take a lot of skill, time and best of all, money. Here’s how to make a lovely boutonniere that will look great on all your groomsmen, groom and honorary family members.

1. Select your main flower
Choose a flower (or two) that is strong and will hold up over the course of over a day. Roses are the most popular choice but Lilies and Stephanotis work well also.

2. Get some filler
Baby’s breath and leaves with stems work great for filler. You want to create a fullness to your boutonniere so you always have a filler in the background of the main flower to make it stick out and stand apart from the attire.

3. Arrange flowers
Arrange your main flower(s) and filler. You want the filler to stick up at least ½” higher than the main flower. While holding the arrangement in place cut all the stems the same length, about one inch of stem from the base of the flower.

4. Secure in place
Tape the stems with green floral tape. Hold the tape in one place and wrap it all the way around the stems completely covering them.

5. Accessorize
Add a piece of ribbon and tie it in a bow around the wrapped stems. Secure it directly under the base of the flowers. If you wish to add more embellishments such as other ribbons or rhinestones you can do so as well.

6. Pin on
Simply store the boutonniere wrapped in a damp cloth in the fridge until you’re ready to use it then pin on to the outfit with a straight pin.