Purple: Regal Bridesmaid Dresses

February with Dear Wedding Day: Purple

Purple is a color of elegance, regality, and vibrance. It's one of my favorite colors and a stunning color for bridesmaids dresses. 

Here are six of my favorite ways for bridesmaids to wear purple at your wedding.

True Purple

Deep Purple

Lavender

Lilac

Mauve

Shades of Purple

Next on DWD: Sexy

Friendly Inspiration: Nicole

This post is coming to you a day late, meaning that today will be a two-post day!

If you missed the inspiration behind this modern fairytale, see the inspiration here.

Nicole's Friendly Inspiration:

The Colour Scheme: This fairytale wedding will focus on pastel purples with hints of nudes and sage.

The Invitations: The purple will first be introduced with the invitations, featuring a geometric, modern envelope pattern.

The Venue: Both the ceremony and reception will take place in the main floor of the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria. This atrium location features towering glass windows, skylights, two overlooking balconies. The cocktail hour will take place outside the museum, in the beautiful gardens.

The Bride:

The Dress: Nicole will wear this flowy Watters gown, with a unique sweetheart neckline, geometric straps, and a-line skirt. 

The Accessories: Nicole will wear her hair down in waves that frame her face. To accessorize, she'll carry a sage, purple, and white bouquet and wear simple diamond and pearl earrings and a detailed diamond bracelet.

The Bridesmaids: Nicole's ladies will wear lavender dresses with a detailed bodice and will carry a smaller version of the bride's bouquet. 

The Groom & Groomsmen: The men will wear dark charcoal suits, complete with lavender ties and lavender and sage boutonnieres. 

The Ceremony: To accent the beautiful glass windows of the venue, the backdrop will consist of sheer drapery, decorated with hanging roses and crystals. To add to this fairytale backdrop, the aisle will be lined with flower petals and glowing candles, along with glittered hearts hanging from the aisle chairs.

The Cocktail Hour: The drinks will be served from a beautifully decorated outdoor bar and will be enjoyed on cocktail tables decorated with nude tablecloths, large cream bows, and different bottles filled with flowers. 

The Escort Cards: Hanging from greenery will be the guests' escort cards, held with gemstone clips. 

The Reception: There will be circular and rectangular tables at the reception, both of which will be covered with nude tablecloths and overlays: the circular tables will have nude overlays, while the rectangular tables will have cream overlays. The centrepieces will consist of lavender, sage, and white flowers, along with tall candle votives and roses sitting atop tall candlesticks. The table will be completed with mirrored table numbers and white china plates with light lilac napkins.

The Cake: A three-tiered white cake will be served to the guests, decorated with a gold chevron second tier, colourful florals, and a glittered "Best Day Ever" topper. 

The Guestbook and Favours: Nicole wished to give her guests photobooth photos as a way of thanking them for attending, as well as giving them a memory from the night. I decided that the bride and groom should also get to see those memories, so the photobooth photos will also be used in the couple's guestbook.

Next week, a woodsy winery wedding.

Friendly Inspiration: Grace

Welcome back to Friendly Inspirations! If you missed the ideas behind this wedding, be sure to take a look at the introduction here.

Grace's Friendly Inspiration:

The Colour Palette: Shades of soft purples and coral will be intermixed with white elements throughout the wedding.

The Invitations: This invitation suite features both the colour scheme and a hint of beach-inspiration with its sandy elements.

The Venue:

The Ceremony: The ceremony will take place on the Stinson State Beach, with its sunny atmosphere and views of the ocean.

The Reception: A short drive away is the Cypress Ridge Pavilion, a venue with a beautiful reception space full of high ceilings and hardwood details. The location also has exceptional photography opportunities, including backgrounds with cypress tress and a small lake. 

The Bride:

The Dress: This Ti Adora gown features a lace bodice with a flowy skirt and jewelled belt, perfect for a beach ceremony and an inside reception. 

The Look: The bride will hold a bouquet full of white, lavender, and coral flowers. To accessorize the dress, she will wear diamond earrings and a simple tennis bracelet. Her hair will be done in a half-up, half-down style with slight waves and a beaded veil.

The Bridesmaids: The bridesmaids will wear a coral ombre sweetheart gown, while holding a white and coral bouquet similar to the bride's.

The Groom & Groomsmen: To match the beach-ceremony, the men will wear dark pants and crisp white shirts. To stand out, the groom will wear a lavender tie to match the bride's bouquet, while the groomsmen will match the bridesmaids with coral ties. Each of the men will also wear a coral boutonniere.

The Ceremony: The ceremony will take place on the beach in front of two large decorated trees. At the base of the trees will be large lanterns with coral and lavender candles. The guests will sit on both white and coral benches, giving the ceremony some added colour. There will also be a unique "beach" sign for the couple. 

The Cocktail Hour: The cocktail hour will take place on the beach under a white tent. Set up under the tent will be cocktail tables with lavender tablecloths and white centrepieces. Drinks will be served, including custom lavender lemonade and grapefruit cocktails. 

The Escort Cards: Leading the guests to their seats will be a seating display with a lavender quatrefoil background. Holding the escort cards to the background will be lavender and coral pearl push pins.

The Reception: Inside the hall will be circular tables with white tablecloths and custom coral and lavender runners. The centrepieces will consist of clear vases filled with colourful flowers, accented with white candles in hurricane vases to add warmth. The place settings will consist of white plates and chargers, decorated with soft purple menus and a sprig of lavender.

The Cake: The cake will be frosted with white and lavender icing, decorated with coral flowers. It will sit atop a white china cake stand accented with coral ribbon.

The Guestbook: Guests will be encouraged to sign the guestbook with their "hopes for the couple...". Their responses will be hung from the same push pins as the escort cards, displayed in between lavender and coral flowers.

The Favours: To thank the guests for sharing in their special day, the couple will send them home with lavender sachets filled with fresh lavender that can be used for aroma or cooking. 

Next week, a warm summer night's wedding.

A Lemon & Lavender Soiree

A Colourful Palette: Lavender & Yellow

Chamomile and lavender soap favours.

Lavender "XO" chair decor.

A Lavender gazebo.

Yellow bouquet with hints of lavender.

Lanterns filled with lavender and yellow flowers.

Yellow and lavender invitations.

Yellow and lavender floral crown.

A beautiful yellow and lavender centrepiece.

Large yellow paper flowers lining the aisle.

A lavender Jillian gown.

Lavender pouches as favours.

A butter yellow tie.

Lemon and lavender bars.

Lavender bouquet place setting.

Yellow bridesmaids.

Lavender lemonade and straws.

Yellow place setting.

Lavender tablescape.

Yellow petals decorating the aisle.

Yellow and lavender hydrangea centrepieces.

Will you enjoy a lemon and lavender soiree?

Friendly Inspiration: Paige

This week's Friendly Inspiration features a boho redwoods wedding. If you missed the introduction, check it out here!

Paige's Friendly Inspiration:

The Colour Palette: Shades of cream, gold, peach, and lavender make up the beauty of this wedding.

The Invitations: Forest-inspired invitations on recycled paper will invite the guests to this redwoods soiree.

The Venue: Santa Lucia Preserve

The Ceremony Space: The ceremony location is set in the heart of the California Redwoods.

The Reception Space: The Ranch House offers a spacious location to host the reception.

Venue Details: The Ranch House not only offers a great indoor space, but a beautiful spot outside to enjoy the springtime weather. The venue also offers great natural details like moss-lined stepping stones and large trees.

The Bride:

The Dress: This Flora Bridal dress has the option of adding long-sleeves, plus has gorgeous lace detailing on the bodice - perfect for Paige.

The Look: Paige wanted an updo, but a loose one as her hair is wavy. Plus, Paige told me that she knows her "grandma is going to love to see some texture." The updo on the left will be coupled with a flower crown and veil. To match the colour scheme, along with the bridesmaids accessories (see below), Paige will also wear gold and peach pearl earrings.

The Groom: To match the wilderness of the redwoods, the groom (and his groomsmen) will wear dark brown suits. To allow the groom to stand out, he will wear a lavender shirt and a gold tie (with brown and cream details).

The Wedding Party:

The Bridesmaids:

The Dresses: Paige really liked the idea of the bridesmaids wearing different dresses in the same two colours: peach and lavender. To have the maid-of-honour stand out, she will wear a patterned dress in both colours.

The Accessories: To give the bridesmaids more of a bohemian vibe, they will wear flower crowns similar to that of the bride, along with peach and gold earrings.

The Groomsmen: Along with the brown suits, the groomsmen will wear a cream shirt with either a lavender or peach tie. Like the maid-of-honour, the best man will stand out with a gold and purple patterned tie. Each groomsmen (and the groom) will wear a lavender and cream boutonniere.

The Bouquets: The bride will carry a larger bouquet made of cream, lavender, and peach wildflowers. The bridesmaids will carry a smaller, similar version of the bride's bouquet.

The Decorations:

The Flowers: A combination of cream, peach, and lavender flowers will surround the wedding, with an emphasis of wildflowers.

The Ceremony: In order to keep the focus on the gorgeous redwood surroundings, the ceremony decor will be kept simple. Lining the aisles will be peach, gold, and cream flower petals, along with lavender buds. The backdrop to the vows will be handmade cream dreamcatchers hanging from the trees, along with hanging crystals and tealight candles. Welcoming the guests to the ceremony will be a floral wooden "wedding" sign.

The Escort Cards and Favours: To lead guests to their seats, the favours will also act as escort cards. With a clever sign telling guests to take home their succulents, each guest will easily find their seats and "let low grow." 

The Reception: The Ranch House offers a space for beautiful hanging decorations. For Paige's reception, smaller versions of the dreamcatchers from the ceremony will hang over the tables. The handmade dreamcatchers will feature details in peach, lavender, gold, and cream. With the dreamcatchers, tealight candles will also hang from the wooden ceiling. 

 The Tables: The tables at the reception will feature double cream runners, one sheer and the other solid. Each place setting will have peach napkins underneath peach and gold china plates, plus gold succulent place cards. The centrepieces will be an eclectic grouping of vases filled with flowers, along with small gold details like candle holders and decorative spheres.

The Cake: The lavender-detailed naked wedding cake will sit atop a cake stand inspired by the redwoods. The cake topper will bring in Paige's love of Harry Potter, with two wooden hearts reading: "After al this time? Always..."

The Sendoff: At the end of the night, the guests will bid farewell to the newlyweds with a flower petal sendoff.

Bridesmaids Dresses (from L to R): Piperlime, Lulus, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Lulus, Free People, Lulus, & BHLDN 
Reception Dreamcatchers (from L to R): Dream Den, Wincsike, Whitetail Road, & Stylish Stuff by Steph

Next week, a bright garden wedding!