When it comes to weddings, particularly your wedding, the right wedding dress can mean the difference between a memorable and absolutely beautiful walk down the aisle and a fashion faux pas remembered by all your guests and immortalized by your numerous wedding pictures.

Before you can think about the cut and the style of your perfect wedding dress, you have to take into consideration one of the most important aspects of wedding dress design—the wedding dress color.

History of the White Dress

For decades, brides have opted for the glowing and pristine white wedding dress. It’s a rather recent practice that dates back to the mid-19th century when Queen Victoria wore white on her big day. A number of wealthy women followed suit, demonstrating their affluence by picking the impractical white dress, which was extremely hard to clean and wear again. During this period, most common women picked green, blue, black and even red dresses because they were the practical choice.

Your Wedding Dress Color Options

The latest wedding trend brings color back to the wedding dress palette. Many modern brides are choosing to forgo the “white wedding” tradition and opting for colorful alternatives.

If you’re looking to add color to your garb, then you can start with simple hints of color. This means adding some accents and detailing, like a blue bow or sash and small colorful flowers and embroidery on your wedding dress.

You can also choose a completely colored wedding dress that lets you stand out in a crowd of white-clad brides. A colored wedding dress allows you to show off your personal style and your unique personality. It definitely helps you set the trend instead of keeping you a slave to it.

Tips for Choosing Your Dress Color

The following are some tips and guidelines to help you pick out the perfect wedding dress color to suit your style:

Tip 1: Pick Colors According to Season

You can pick your wedding dress color according to the season. For a spring wedding, go for pastels. Colder and paler hues of lilac, pink, purple and blue can help add more color to your lovely spring wedding.

While warmer colors like deeper hues of pastels like blue, pink, purple and green can bring alluring contrasts to summer scenery.

For that romantic fall wedding, go for shades of gold, orange, red or yellow. Bring more heat and intensity to your wedding by walking down the aisle in a sizzling red number.

While a winter wedding allows you to make an extremely bold statement. Once again, you can go for deep blue and red. Another popular winter wedding dress color is elegant and classic black. Be the star of your wedding by going for a silver, or even better, a gold number that will certainly leave an impression on all your guests.

Tip 2: If you’re Unsure, Choose the Safe Medium

If you’re worried about what your mother-in-law will think, or what your own mother will say when she finds out that you’re forgoing the traditional white gown, then you can opt for a faintly colored gown instead. This type of gown allows you to retain a modicum of tradition when it comes to wedding dress color. Very pale pastels and slight variations of white gives you a great fashion statement without going overboard.

White with Black details

Love this Pretty White Dress

The Fantastic color of Red

Tip 3: Set Trends with a Multi-Colored Dress

When Gwen Stefani married Gavin Rossdale on September 14, 2002, the fashion world expected something crazy but absolutely fashionable from the rockstars, but what they didn’t expect was the exquisite pink and white designer wedding dress that Stefani wore for her special trip down the aisle.

The cut was classic, the style was posh and it could have been a traditional wedding gown, except for the rich pink dye on her skirt that covered the entire area from knee to hem. This fashionable look inspired thousands of brides to experiment with wedding dress colors.

You too can be a trend setter by mixing and matching either complementing or contrasting wedding dress colors.

Tip 4: Prepare Yourself for Adverse Reactions

Lastly, keep yourself prepared for adverse reactions from conservative members of your wedding party. There are always going to be nay sayers when it comes to broken traditions, regardless if that tradition is truly age old or merely a practice popularized in the 19th century.

Keep in mind that it’s your wedding. Even if someone voices how inappropriate your non-white attire is, simply keep mum and shake it off. Remind yourself that you’re calling the shots, and that your objective wasn’t to shock people but to show off your personal style.

So, what Color Style will be in your wedding day?