Getting Married in the Woods - Color Considerations

I was 14 when I realized I wanted to get married in a forest.

Of COURSE it was decided by a movie, isn’t that how a lot of us decide these things? For me, it was the warm, fall-hued forest wedding depicted in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. It was the first time I’d come across a wedding in the woods, and the first time I briefly even considered what my day might look like.

The more recent Twilight forest wedding scene has brought the jaw-dropping woodsy wedding back up to the forefront.

(we could probably re-create this in our Forest View spot, but that's a lot of wisteria -- that said, I'm game to see it happen)

Like any other venue, our setting has great influence on the colors, style, and design of your wedding. However, being set square in the middle of the woods, the thing that isn’t terribly obvious is how much the forest changes. I don’t mean the drastic change from Summer to Fall, Fall to Winter and Winter to Spring. Summer green changes through the season. Winter isn’t steadily brown-gray-neutral, either.

In late winter, for a few weeks before things begin to show a little green, the forest takes on a reddish purple hue. It starts unassumingly at the tips of the trees, but before long it’s everywhere – it’s Spring waiting to burst. Pink, cobalt blue, peach and hits of wine/burgundy would go swimmingly this time of year, as would shades of pale blue.

The intense chartreuse of Spring (late March and early April) sometimes causes some hesitation. Of course it’s beautiful with white, but playful colors will pop: think violet, deep pinks, or go wild with a bright orange hue (Hermes orange would be spectacular). If bright isn’t your scene, jewel tones will play well with this also: merlot, black, deep purple, soft pinks, deep greens.

May I can only describe as emerald, and lush. Coral pops, butter yellow, lilac, dusty rose or mauve, powder blue and periwinkle.

From July through September, the forest changes slowly in depth from hunter green to a super deep green that doesn’t offer loads of contrast with black anymore. This is where “forest green” got its name, and by George, you could very nearly call it a neutral in September.

Practically anything goes in July and August – my designer self would love a white party, or a blast of 90s neons for the daring. All the shades of yellow and gold, oranges, pinks and corals, soft to deep, will play here. All the shades of purple, and greens from mint to celadon could have a heyday.

Fall colors begin to peek out here and there toward the end of October, and our forest turns mostly gold in November, giving way to warm tans and browns by the end. The fallen leaves are fresh and in deep, rust-rich piles through December. The good news is, though it sounds like a virtual rollercoaster of color considerations, it’s not. Burgundies, jewel tones like peacock and eggplant, sapphire and emerald are always happy this time of year. Less often seen are powder blue or seamist in December.

Of course, I do consider December the ultimate for neutrals weddings. All the champagne, the caramels, olives and browns from chocolate, mahogany, espresso and black just look amazing. It's as if the whole forest went ultra-boho!