True Colors

I think every bride comes to the realization at some point that a color is not just a color. When I said I wanted purple and brown, I thought the surefire way to avoid any shade confusion was to also add a light purple to the mix, so that most things would coordinate and there would be no need to walk around with a Pantone color swatch.

Yeah, not so much. It turns out that there are a million shades of purple. Some are more blue and some are more red. Because, duh, purple is red and blue mixed together! Some are more grey, some are more pink. Some are...well, you get the idea. So when I said I wanted an eggplant bridesmaid dress and lavender bouquets, like Mrs. Martini, below, I thought we were done.



The problem was, once I received the swatch from the eggplant dress, it looked kind of reddish. I toddled around with the swatch in my purse for two weeks, whipping it out in every conceivable light, at every time of day. Sometimes it looked more purple than others, and I just didn't want to gamble that they would look burgundy on the day itself.

Unfortunately, the dresses the bridesmaids and I chose together (and I happen to love) don't come in any other shade of dark purple. They came in lavender, which no one (including me) liked. Plus it looked a little pinky. See where I'm going with this?

In the end, we'd like our colors to look like this:



Thankfully, my bridesmaids are lovely and patient, and are happy to wear whatever purple I choose. They have also looked at countless photos and listened intently to my ideas about dress brands, fabric changes and color combinations.

Right now we are thinking of changing the fabric of the dresses from satin to this color taffeta:

source

Hopefully, this will be the one and I can stop dreaming of burgundies, plums and wines. It is exhausting!

We had a similar situation with our Save the Dates, a gorgeous design by Jessica's Design Shop:

Didn't she do a great job? We absolutely love them, but when the paper proof came, the purple was just too blue for our tastes. Thankfully, Jessica is one patient lady (seeing a theme here?) and she has sent us several shades of purple samples from which to choose. And Mr. McBriderson and I looked at them in all sorts of light, at all times of day, trying to determine which is best.

At the end of the day, the wedding will be wonderful even if the shades are not right. But I will say that, in spite of the frustration, the experience of making these decisions along with my bridesmaids and my groom has reminded me of how much people really care about me and us.

Has color been a thorn in your side during your planning?