When a friend, getting married in beautiful New Zealand in March 2014, asked for a bit of help putting together a colour palette incorporating navy, gold and red, without going for a nautical theme, I thought “challenge accepted!”.
It was quite the challenge though. Those three colours certainly lend themselves toward notions of seaward adventures, but there are ways to tone those ocean thoughts down.

For the first palette, a bold red was used minimally through the flowers, invitations and cake. But the three colours on their own were still too nautical, so I threw in a fourth colour, mint, to bring it back to earth. By pairing the three with a cool, earthy tone, the colour palette has gone from visions of sailboats to fun and a little retro.

For the second one I toned down the red to more of a coral, then added a blush to brighten it all up. The two variations of red support the navy and gold and really help them pop.

I kind of envy people who get to put colour palettes together for a living. How fun would that be?