Someone get me out of this purple haze!

You know, the thing I found most unbelievable in the predictable chick flick 27 Dresses  were the bridesmaid dresses. Katherine Heigl had 27 very unique and different dresses. There is no way that is even close to reality! In our "dress up" chest growing up we had 3 peach dresses that were worn by my mom in her friend's weddings. My older sister could outfit an entire wedding party in long, chocolate, satin gowns. Luckily, I've escaped bad dresses so far (thank you Ashely and Katie!) but we all know how rare that is.

These days, everyone is allllll about the purple. They may call it eggplant or aubergine, but nearly every wedding I've seen lately has been covered in this color.  When I'm working with a bride, I always ask fairly early what colors she plans on using. Nine times out of ten she'll list off the basics (black, white, silver, gold..) and end with "and a really deep shade of purple." Now, if your favorite color in the whole world is amethyst and you can't imagine using any other color, ignore me! It truly is a pretty hue and I'm not knocking it at all, I just get tired of the redudancy.

You can still have the same cool effect with different colors and be much more unique. Theknot.com is a great resource for picking colors. They have samples of weddings in many colors, and also have impressive inspiration boards.

I'm currently loving turquoise and red together, especially for brides planning a very fun and lively wedding.

If you love navy blue, what about pairing it with a bright, punchy yellow?

Coral and a pale, sage green look fantastic together.

I really think before picking your colors you need to think of what ambience you want your wedding to have. So many brides are choosing colors and style based off what a magazine tells them is "in." For example, a bride I've been working with recently ordered a rich, dark purple for her bridesmaid attire. She saw several lovely pictures in a magazine and decided that color would do. The wedding is an outdoor affair at a terrace in April. She is now regretting her decision because deep purple does not scream "garden" or "spring." It's important to think of your entire wedding as a whole-- not just bits and pieces of trendy and fun ideas all thrown together. Since she had already purchased the dresses, I helped her tweak her accent colors to a light shade of green and lavendar, which happens to be her favorite color, to get her wedding back on track.

If you're having trouble envisioning colors together, step away from the computer. Not every beautiful color combination is already easily found on the internet. Go to a fabric store and put different swatches together, you may surprise yourself with what you love.

I urge you, brides of midwest America, to think outside of the box when it comes to your wedding! Enough with the eggplant!

Whew, now that I have that off my chest, I think I'll go watch Julia Roberts sass her Momma with one of my favorite movie lines, "My colors are blush and bashful!"