Color 101

I love purple and yellow. Plum and butter. Eggplant and sunshine. Lucky for me, I was recently in a wedding with this color scheme (that's me behind the bride). So why is such an unlikely color combo so eye-catching? Welcome to the world of complementary colors! This is your new best friend, the color wheel!
The color wheel and I go way back... Long, long ago I took a semester of Interior Design. It was extremely informative and I was afforded the opportunity to learn about one of my all time favorite things... color!

I wont get really technical with all the different names of color combinations and which colors are primary, secondary and tertiary... but I WILL tell you a few quick ways to find a practically fool-proof color combo.

Option #1 Complementary: This is when you choose a color, say-- red. Now go to the exact opposite side of the wheel to find your complementary color-- green. I know what you're thinking... Christmas?! But the fun part is choosing which shade of these colors you want to use. Sage green and pink (pink is just a really light shade of red, remember!) Apple green with burgundy (a personal fave)... the options are endless!

Option #2 Analagous: This is taking three colors that are next to each other on the wheel. Check out the Violet-Red, Red, and Red-Orange together. Oooohlala! Typically, the middle color will be the dominant color, while the other two will be more accent colors.

Option #3 Split Complementary: Take your main color, then find the two surrounding colors to your actual complementary color. I can't explain is much better than this picture:

I hope I haven't bored you to tears. I so hope you are inspired to be a little daring with your color pallette and choose what makes you say "Ooooh!". Now than you know all about these color schemes, put your education into action by using our Invitation Builder at Relish.

I'm off to dream about all my favorite colors... might take a while :)