How to Work Your Wedding Color Palette Into the Design Landscape of Your Home
When couples have trouble narrowing down their wedding color palette or style, planners often suggest turning to their closet and using their sense of fashion as a guide: Are they drawn to classic or trendy silhouettes? Bright prints or soft pastels? Black and gray or brown and tan? And after finally landing on the perfect shades—and months of utilizing the palette to make wedding-related decisions—it might feel strange to completely abandon them once the day is over, especially if they were a particular design highlight.
To immortalize the color scheme, then, consider incorporating the hues you splashed across your invitations, flowers, tablescapes into your living space, where the same guidelines apply. After all, interior designers often prompt clients the same way—using personal style as an entry point—when beginning the home decorating process, say Barette Widell and Christina Boschetti, the owners of Philadelphia interior design firm Widell + Boschetti.
Having a cohesive color palette while designing your home helps you narrow down the many choices you'll make for everything from wall colors to throw pillows—and harnessing your wedding color scheme to create an inviting space is a unique way to make sure your first home together truly reflects your personality (and constantly reminds you of your union!).
Related: 45 Tried-and-True Wedding Color Palettes to Inspire Your Own
Use Your Neutrals as a Base
Iterations of neutrals, like black, gray, and white, appear in most wedding color palettes—and since they're some of the most versatile colors to use in your home design, they offer an accessible starting point for even amateur designers. "Black and white never go out of style. These colors can easily be accented by metallics, gold, silver, or even a pop of significant color to create a compelling color story," says Widell. "Gray's chameleon-like quality allows the color to appear either warm or cool and pair beautifully with both pastels and kicky colors like hot pink, Kelly green, or citrusy shades."
Spotlight Your Main Shade
Not all primary wedding colors make sense as wall coverings or the central player for an entire room—especially if you chose dark shades, like navy or burgundy; brights like bubblegum pink or grassy yellow-green; or holiday-inspired berry red or emerald.
Think of these as you would any other striking shade from the paint store and use them accordingly. "Spotlight your wedding color by filling a small space, like a bathroom, with just that hue or by simply painting an accent wall or ceiling with it," says Boschetti. "Balanced with white walls, the shade will be eye-catching, but not overpowering."
Use Your Secondary Shades as Accents
Of course, it isn't just about your wedding palette's main color: The secondary or supporting shades—which are often richer and bolder—you loved should end up in your final home design, too. "It's always important to showcase your personal style, so if that means splashing touches here and there of your palette around your neutral walls and furniture with unique accessories and art, it won't be as offensive to the rest of the home," says Widell.
Look for your palette's supporting shades—in all their tones—in the patterns you choose for rugs, linens, window treatments, and textiles to give your home the same feel as your wedding, without copying it exactly. "Once the room is complete with furniture," affirms Boschetti, "you can add pops of color with pillows, accessories, and art."
