Picking a Palette

I can't say that I've dreamed about or had my whole wedding planned since I was a little girl.  What I did always know, was that I wanted to be married in the winter and I wanted the colors to be navy and silver.  The rich, dark navy against fresh, white fallen snow seemed so dreamy!

I can't pinpoint one thing that drew me to the navy and silver.  Maybe it is because those were my high school colors?  Go Wolves!

Image via PrepSportswear.com

Three weeks prior to our engagement, Mr. Ball Cap's brother was married and they chose navy for their color.  I was a little worried it would seem like we were copying or it would be odd for both brothers to have the same wedding colors.  After a discussion with future sister-in-law, all worries were relieved.  Seems like a silly thing to stress over now, but I couldn't even imagine any other color palette for our big day.

So once the ring was on my finger and planning became reality, I needed some visual inspiration.  Inspiration boards were new to me but Weddingbee came to the rescue once again!  There was one Bee and one picture that just sang to my wintery bride heart!

Image via Weddingbee.com / Photo by Design MB Fotografie

Sigh.  This one picture made me stop in my tracks.  This is EXACTLY how I wanted our wedding to feel like.  So soft, warm, romantic and gorgeous.  Mrs. Champagne hit the nail on the head.  I could hand her wedding pictures over to our photographer and ask him to attempt to capture the same feeling for us.  

But one picture is never enough and I wanted to see some rich, navy, wintery goodness.  Alas, there is not much out there.  There are lots of winter weddings, but few navy winter weddings.  I did come across several inspiration boards that followed our color scheme including this one from The Perfect Palette.

Image via ThePerfectPalette.com

I decided to take a crack at making my own inspiration board.  Below was my first attempt so it probably needs some editing and updating, but I'm pretty pleased with a lot of the elements.

Row One.

Image via StyleMePretty.com / Photo by Sloan Photographers

Image via The Papery Nook Etsy Shop

Image via StyleMePretty.com / Photo by Scott Lawrence Photographs

Row 2

Image via StyleMePretty.com / Photo by Polito Weddings

Image via ThePerfectPalette.com / Photo by Studio Jk Photography

Image via JunkermanJonesEvents / Photo by Aus 10

Row 3

Image via TheKnot.com / Photo by Marni Rothschild

Image via IntimateWeddings.com / Photo by Chrissy Lambert

Image via and Photo by AFieldJournal.blogspot.com

I can't say that I turn to my inspiration board for every decision we make, but it does help convey the feel and look I'm going for to other members of our wedding party and vendors.  I think I could probably beef this up more, but time is ticking away and there are more pressing details.  It does help to take a look at it now and then to make sure we are staying in line with our original vision, and I have to say, we are pretty much right on so far!

How did you pick your wedding palette?  Are you relying on an inspiration board for decision making?