Reader Question: Help With A Green and Blue Campfire Wedding

I love it when readers write to me and ask for help planning out their tricky wedding issues. One reader, Molly and her dude Evan, contacted me with a bit of a design dilemma:

"Hey Cris, we are still really early in our planning but what I can tell you so far is that we are going to be having a pretty low key casual type wedding. We are looking at summer camps and other places like that. The colors are going to be bright green, sort of a chartreuse but not flourescent, and a bright royal blue. We are most likely going to be having our wedding in late spring/early summer of 2014 in New England.

I'm definitely thinking a camp theme and maybe incorporating some blue and green tie dye (Evan and I
both LOVE tie dye). I haven't made any final choices on anything yet, but my favorite flowers are daffodils and tulips, although I don't know if using them will work with my blue and green camp wedding. maybe blue tulips and yellow daffodills? I want a shorter wedding dress, like calf length, so shorter bridesmaid dresses, but that is the extent of what I've figured out so far."

No worries, Molly and Evan! I had a great time messing around the Internet and finding you LOTS of green and blue campfire wedding inspiration. The main key to achieving the casual, camp look that you're wanting is to add a couple more colors to your scheme (this will help you avoid the "peacock" look). Check it out my color scheme suggestions:

I like these palettes because they incorporate many of the colors found in nature (and traditional camping supplies) so they will blend into whatever venue you end up at. Also, having more colors in your wedding color scheme allows you flexibility when it comes to purchasing - if you don't HAVE to have those EXACT two colors, then you're better able to score deals on products.

And now, here's a few suggestions on how to incorporate some camping gear and ideas into your wedding celebration:

Images Courtesy of: Zwickerhill Photography, Fat Orange Cat Studio, Gabriel Ryan Photographers, Woman's Day Kitchen, Boro Creative Visions, Visio Photography, and Heidi Lynn Photography.

The best thing about a campfire wedding is that everything can be mismatched and secondhand. In fact, those types of weddings look BETTER that way. So dig through your parent's basement for old blankets and sheets that you can make into garlands, collect old tin cans and glass soda bottles to hold centerpieces, borrow lawn games from neighbors.

For yourself, look at a simple white dress in a pretty lace. For the ladies, how about one of these pretty dresses? And the boys? Simple flat-front khakis and plaid or plain dress shirts with the sleeves rolled up (skip the boutonnieres - too fussy).

To incorporate your love of tie-dye, I have a couple of suggestions:

• Offer guests these tie dye sunglasses at the start of the ceremony to protect their eyes.
• Tie dye small cloth bags and fill them with candy or small toys and give out at the reception as favors.
• Tie dye old sheets and DIY your own wedding ceremony fabric backdrop.
• Use a tie-dye print or painting as your guest book. Have guests sign directly on the painting or on a mat around a print. Then display in your home after the wedding.

Hope that helps, Molly! Let me know how it goes and share photos!

Comments

[Molly]

Thanks so much for the thoughts! I love the idea of the canoe cooler, i'd like to try to incorporate that. Using the tie dyed cloth bags for favors is neat too. It won't be for a while, but I'll send pictures when we actually tie the knot. Thanks do much!

[Sara {Burnett's Boards}]

Love the color squares - and LOVING the idea of a camping wedding-fun!