Wedding Inspiration: Red White and Blue

Happy 4^th of July!  I would say Happy Independence Day, but it's really more of a "Happy you don't have to worry about your colonies anymore" Day.  So how am I celebrating our (my?) nation’s independence?  On the train from London to Dundee.  For a conference.  What a glamorous life I do lead.

In honor of the holiday, however, I thought I’d do some wedding brainstorming.  See, M likes the idea of a red, white, and blue wedding.  He’s British, I’m American, we’re celebrating the coming together of two nationalities, so what better way to honor this than with a color scheme that works for both of our countries?
I’m less enthusiastic.  It’s not that red, white, and blue weddings can’t be adorable – they can.  It’s just that I’m not sure if they’re really us.  We’re more than just an American and an Englishman, we’re individuals and a unique couple.  I want the wedding to be about us as a couple, rather than nationality (of which there will be plenty already).

But it seems unfair to dismiss his wedding ideas out of hand, just because they’re not mine.  So in the spirit of the day, I’ve been thinking about how we could make a red and blue wedding work.

Here are some of my favorite examples:

This wedding uses a full red with a more purple-y blue, keeping it looking fresh and summery.  I also adore this Telephone/Guestbook sign.

 

The use of a dark salmon or Nantucket red with the lighter sky and teals works wonders here.  You get the feel of red and blue but it's personal as well.  Adorable chair tags too.

 
This airmail stationary almost has me convinced that these should be our wedding colors.  So perfect for a destination wedding. 

So gorgeous.  It's almost pink and purple, but still maintains that red and blue look.  Loving the roses.

I think if I were to do red and blue, this is how I would manage it.  A lighter navy with darker and lighter salmon pinks make for a classic summer wedding palette.

These work well too, and have a cute pink and blue with red accents look.

One really popular way to do red and blue is a deep red with teal or Tiffany blue, like these examples.

I think the key is to vary the tones and combining salmon with a darker or purply-er tone, or red with teal or tiffany blue. This keeps it looking more like a wedding and less like a fourth of July picnic.

I'm Getting Married!

I’m getting married!  After what seems like years of waiting (ok what was actually years of waiting) I finally get to plan a wedding!  Oh also, the man I love more than anyone in the entire world wants to spend the rest of his life with me.  So that’s pretty awesome too.

The only down side: it turns out weddings are expensive.  Like, REALLY expensive.  And weddings in the UK (i.e. GBP) are the most expensive of all.  So how in the world am I going to plan a dream wedding on a shoestring? 

Well first, I guess we should talk shoestring.  The fact is that my parents are successful professionals and extremely generous people.  They’re going to help us out, so M and I got incredibly lucky there. 

But they’re also not the kind of people who are willing to blow $50,000 on a wedding, and frankly, neither am I.  I would much rather buy a flat and take a fantastic trip than spend thousands and thousands of dollars on flowers. 

That being said, I’m not totally willing to give up the wedding of my dreams.  I just have to figure out how to do it for £10,000.  This is going to be fun!