Ice and Snow

You can play up winter's icy beauty by choosing to use delicate baby blue, shades of gray and silver, lilac, periwinkle, navy blue, and white. Want a winter wonderland theme? This is the colour palette for you.

You can use navy blue or periwinkle as the trim on your dress, for example, and then have your bridesmaids wear that colour. Add silver and white into the decorations and consider giving the bridesmaids pearl or silver jewellery to wear in the wedding.

To come up with your ideal mix of colours for this type of colour scheme, visualize a day at sea during the winter or your ideal day in the snow. The colours that come to mind will work harmoniously together to create the setting for a perfect winter wedding

Neutrals for Winter Wedding Colours

Neutrals work well for formal winter weddings, too. You can use black and white or black and champagne for everything from the wedding party's attire to the reception hall. Black and white or black and champagne work beautifully for nighttime weddings because of the opulence they emit when paired together. Another option? Pale gold or taupe—with white or black

Sample Colour Schemes

Want some more specific colour schemes to use in your quest for the perfect winter wedding colours? Consult the colour wheel. In your wedding colour scheme, you can use complementary colours, split complementary colours, related colours, or even monochromatic colours for a theme you'll love. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Royal purple and rich green with gold or silver accents
• Blue, teal, and blue violet with white accents
• Navy blue, sky blue, ice blue, and silver
• Apple red and emerald green with silver or white accents

You can use anything from the palest, most delicate baby blue to the richest chocolate brown you can find. The best thing to keep in mind when choosing your winter wedding colours is to stay on the cool side of the colour spectrum.

Try and make sure cool tones flatter your bridesmaids as much as possible. You can still use the same colour palette you'd hoped for, but you might want to tweak it a bit, adding depth to a dress colour or switching up where you use each colour. For example, if you want to use silver, but not many of your bridesmaids can pull off the colour well, consider using it in the reception hall while opting for a different colour for the bridal party.

One word of caution: check with the venue to find out what kinds of decorations will be present at the time of your wedding. Since it will be the holiday season, there's a good chance there will be something there. While white lights can add a hint of magic to your ceremony and reception, poinsettias may clash with the red colour you hope to use in your wedding. Know what you're working with before you jump too far into the planning.