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These color combinations will make your nuptials feel even more homey.
There’s something undeniably appealing about a rustic wedding aesthetic. Through the use of earthy textures, organic florals, mood lighting, and personal touches, these thematic celebrations evoke a homey, welcoming, and cozy vibe that allows the couple’s love story to take center stage. Although anyone will benefit from selecting a rustic, Western, or country-chic aesthetic, outdoorsy couples who are interested in a more laid-back gathering will probably gravitate towards this theme. Rustic weddings are also extremely versatile, not confined to a certain time of the year or location, but vow exchanges in a barn or at a farm in the fall or winter are natural fits for rustic functions, according to planner Ashley Mason of Saunter Weddings.
If you’ve decided to tie the knot in a rustic celebration, you’ll need to paint your big day in hues that complement the design concept and help create the intended ambiance. To choose the right color palette for your affair, Mason recommends taking cues from your locale. Depending on the venue, you might opt for neutrals with wood and metallic accents or deep shades of red and orange with velvet textures. “Work in partnership with what is around your space,” she advises. “Doing a ceremony with a greenery arch in a forest of green trees can quickly cancel each other out, so bring in colors that add life to the landscape but still feel natural.”
Still unsure which hues are right for your fête? We’ve tapped the experts to unpack the most popular tones for a rustic soirée. Read on for the best color palettes for a rustic wedding, plus how to work them into your celebration.
A striking color scheme that easily translates to a rustic affair is Wedgewood blue and burgundy. “Wedgewood blue and burgundy play off of each other well, especially when you add in a soft neutral, like sandstone, for balance,” Mason explains. “It feels refined but still approachable.” This rich combination lends itself to autumnal soirées in the countryside with a scenic backdrop of rolling hills, dotted with colorful foliage.
To imbue your venue with reddish-brown and light blue tints, consider lining your aisle and decorating your altar with seasonal blooms and leaves that are naturally available in these tones. Have your guests sit on wooden cross-back chairs for a pared-back touch that offsets the vibrant hues. At your reception, dine at tables covered in burgundy plaid tablecloths, topped with matching floral arrangements and scattered in a room draped with blue curtains. “Don't be afraid to go bold with patterns, prints, or color blocks,” Mason notes.
If you’re on the hunt for a softer and more subdued color palette for your rustic wedding, misty blue and sage green with touches of oak still elicits the inviting ambiance—but in a more toned-down way, according to Mason. This trifecta is a timeless and elegant combination that’s perfect for any season or venue, especially spring or summer nuptials at a vineyard. We suggest using flowers, linens, and candles to infuse your ceremony and reception with the blue and green shades. To add wood accents throughout, flank your aisle with rattan lanterns, display your floral arrangements in oak vases, and set the table with woven chargers. You can also mix in a hint of white and silver to round off your palette.
While rustic affairs are typically more minimalist and earthy, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice glamour. If your style or your venue is more glitzy and upscale, try adorning your big day in rose gold, blush, and white tones. “This color palette is romantic-rustic with a level of softness,” planner Tara Federico of Scheme Events says. To enact this array of hues, start by designing invitations on white cardstock flecked with rose gold foil and tucked in a blush envelope. On the day of your wedding, recite your vows in front of a wooden arch decorated with blooms in blush and ivory tones before dining at tables covered in white linens and lined with blush taper candles and rose gold-rimmed glassware. At the end of the night, cut into a buttercream cake with rose gold leaf and a cascade of blush blossoms.
Photo by Ashley Cox Photography
To evoke a more colorful and playful look at your rustic event, Mason loves mixing dusty rose, dark olive, and yellow ochre together. These shades are bold and bright, making them a beautiful complement to rustic weddings in a garden in warmer climates and seasons. Dusty rose and ochre yellow are available in a wide variety of flowers, so incorporate them into your aisle arrangements, ceremony arch, reception centerpieces, and overhead installations. Then, mix in ivy, eucalyptus, ferns, and other forms of greenery to integrate the olive shade. To bring all of the colors together, Mason suggests engulfing your tables in a plaid tablecloth or installing a wallpaper behind your sweetheart table for a visually intriguing component that maintains a sense of cohesion. If you’re looking for other accents, wood tones, like walnut or mahogany, are ideal, according to Mason.
Rustic weddings are known for wood and metallic accents, so a palette featuring silver and weathered oak seems like a no-brainer. Layered with terracotta and sapphire blue, your big day will be saturated with richness and warmth. The best way to include the distressed wooden material at your wedding is through furniture, like your welcome table, the chairs at your ceremony, a coffee table in your lounge area, and the tables at your reception. To bring a smidge of silver to your event, use it as the font on your invitations and day-of signage and add silverware to each place setting. For the main hues, ask your bridesmaids to don sapphire blue gowns and scatter in-season blooms down the center of velvet sapphire or terracotta linens.
Black and white is one of the most classic color palettes for any type of wedding, but when you add wood and gold to the mix, it becomes a strong candidate for a rustic-chic affair. “This color palette is contemporary-rustic with a level of sophistication,” Federico explains. To bring this color scheme to your function, the planner suggests selecting a modern typeface in black ink, embellished with gold foil, for your invitations and signage. On the big day, carry a moody bouquet of black and white anemones while your guests perch on wooden cross-back chairs with white cushions. After you’ve become newlyweds, celebrate with your loved ones at chic tables engulfed in black or white linens, set with gold flatware and gold-rimmed glassware.
Photo by Hannah Baldwin Photography
If your rustic wedding is taking place in the fall, an autumnal palette of red, orange, yellow, brown, and gold will channel the colors of the season and match the surrounding foliage. “I feel like this looks creates more of a homier feel,” planner Erin Pangerl of Erin Lynn Events says. To bring these hues to your soirée, fill your wedding with colorful leaves, whether it’s along the perimeter of your aisle, across your ceremony arch, or scattered down the center of your reception tables. Add a hint of gold through candle holders, flatware, and chargers. For a more playful take on this mix of shades, layer patterned rugs for your aisle runner, cover your reception tables in neon orange silk linens, and station eye-catching signage in bold block letters throughout your venue.
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