Overwhelmed by Color Part I

I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz; she steps out of her house into a technicolor world. She must have been overwhelmed by the dazzling variety of hues.

John and I have been trying to pick the theme colors for our wedding.

Several things are going into this decision. First, I don't want a typical wedding color palette. I'm a person who grew up with art in my life; I want a vibrant, quirky collection of colors to represent us.

This means no sage green, ivory and chocolate brown. No pink and gold. No red and white. No black and white (way too formal for us, and not colorful enough!). No mustard and gray (the latest trend).

I want an interesting pop of color that people haven't seen everywhere. Martha Stewart has some nice ideas (aqua and poppy, lavender and red), but I still haven't seen anything that fits me. I'm not big on bright red or pastel lavender.

My issue is not only narrowing down colors, but deciding what to put together. I want an interesting mix of saturation in my hues, something that pops with something more subtle. I'm thinking five colors, but that's mostly due to my love of 100 Layer Cake inspiration boards, which always group five colors together.

I love the unexpected pops of color.

The first board I ever downloaded.
But the dark orange feels too autumn to me.

I love this one, but didn't love the red
and it just didn't work without red.

So, in a crazy attempt to narrow down colors, I cut and pasted swatches from various 100 Layer Cake boards and arranged them for hours. Literally, hours.

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion...and the final decision!