Your Beautiful Fall Wedding

Your fall wedding presents the opportunity to use the rich colors of the season for your wedding invitations, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, linens and decorations.

Orange is a hot color for weddings this year, and it is most appropriate for autumn nuptials. Orange can be paired with any of the other traditional fall colors with beautiful results. Orange and brown is a great combination. Use chocolate brown which is another currently popular wedding color. Orange and gold will give you an almost monochromatic feel. Orange and burgundy offers a higher contrast of colors. Orange with bronze brings a little shimmer to your wedding color scheme. Orange can also be used with all the other fall colors in small doses to complement your harvest-time wedding.

These traditional fall color schemes offer you the opportunity to use natural elements to decorate your ceremony and reception sites. Pumpkins, dried wildflowers, shocks of wheat or corn, and a combination of colorful gourds will give a harvest feeling to your venue at a small price.

In autumn, inexpensive pots of mums are available not only at greenhouses and floral shops but also at grocery and discount stores. Even when purchased at a floral shop, mums are reasonably priced and make lovely boutonnieres and corsages. Small pots of mums can be placed inside hollowed-out pumpkins to create one-of-a-kind centerpieces.

The sunflower is another beautiful fall plant with big impact. A large sunflower with a ribbon wrapped stem could even serve as a bouquet all on its own. The bride may be able to find sunflowers at a farmer's market or grow them herself at a very reasonable price

An adventurous bride may want to use orange with purple, spring green, lime green, aqua, turquoise, sky blue, silver, pewter, lilac, watermelon or fuchsia for an unexpected accent, according to Michelle Mospens, invitation designer.

Another unique combination with orange can be found by going straight across the color wheel to royal blue. Use the accent color in small doses so the two colors don't compete.

Sarah Prye, a wedding invitation designer, suggests several unique two-color combinations for fall weddings:

Chocolate and red; eggplant and olive; rust and olive; red and orange; dark olive and mocha; and chocolate and eggplant.

In addition, Sarah Prye suggests these unusual three-color combinations for a fall affair:

Chocolate, red and orange; eggplant, olive and dark olive; chocolate mocha and ivory; red, rust and golden yellow; eggplant, deep blue and merlot (jewel tones); and mocha, chocolate and eggplant.

While a traditional or romantic wedding theme calls for more expected color choices, the autumn bride may still bring a fall feeling to the color palette. For instance, instead of black, white and red, use black, white and burgundy. Rather than the usual black, gold, and ivory, substitute chocolate brown for the black for a refreshing brown, gold and ivory scheme.

Let the colors of season inspire you to create a gorgeous autumn wedding!

Sources: Sarah Prye at www.prye.com/view/wedding/colors.com.html

Michelle Mospens at www.mypersonalartist.com/weddingcolors2.html