Every December, Pantone unveils color trends for the coming year, and this year it chose turquoise as the color of 2010, with other colors such as tomato puree, violet, fusion coral, pink champagne, dried herb and eucalyptus ranking high on their list. And this got me thinking … who really follows these trends?
I ask this question because we recently conducted a survey of brides at My Wedding Workbook (a Web site that I own that provides online wedding software for brides) on things such as their preferred styles and colors, and brides’ preferences really don’t align much with the experts chosen colors. First of all, there was no real runaway winner. Navy was the winner with 13.2% of brides reporting that this was their main color, with black next 9.7%, dark red/burgundy 8.3%, brown/chocolate 7.9%, green/hunter 7.9%, purple/plum 6.9% and light blue/aqua 6.6%. But what it seemed like was that brides really went with either their favorite color and/or a more conservative, familiar color. Which tells me one thing … people choose the colors that they’re comfortable with.
This really isn’t anything new, but it does hint at a dirty little secret in the wedding industry. You see, the wedding industry is huge, with annual U.S. revenue estimates varying from as low as $40B to as high as $100B yearly. For an industry to sell this much stuff, it needs to constantly reinvent itself and to create new variations, varieties and permutations of products and services. Fashion can be a fickle thing, as what was cool and alluring last year is tired and stale this year, and wedding fashions and decor are no different. But the wedding industry in particular seems very adept at creating such variations of products in so many different colors and styles that not only are the choices baffling, but they are also always getting more and more elaborate and expensive.
I’m not blaming anyone here, because in our competitive marketplace, companies are always innovating, refining, specializing and customizing. But what this does do is cause untold amount of confusion and “decision paralysis” among engaged couples who are faced with a mountain of choices and an onslaught of expert advice.
So what do people usually end up doing? Sticking with what they know and like. So, as one who just got married, my advice to you is to take all that expert advice on colors, styles and everything else with a very large grain of salt and, as a rule of thumb, create the wedding that expresses who you are (and not some pundit or expert). If you can’t stand turquoise (which, although there certainly a place for it, was never at the top of my personal list), don’t feel obliged to use it. It’s your clam bake … pick the colors you want.
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