As a dry-hire venue, Team Bodleian loves seeing how couples decorate and style the venue for their dream day. The rich chocolate tones of the Convocation House and the champagne-coloured stone of the Divinity School give couples a perfect neutral canvas – to add what colour they may like for their Big Day. Part of being a dry-hire venue means that we give couples the freedom to work with whatever florists, planners, or stationers they may like to create their dream wedding. For those who might appreciate somewhere to start in this, please do look at our recommended suppliers.
Many couples have a clear vision of what colours they would like for their wedding day, and it’s also very clear that trends in colours do come and go as well. But colours all have different levels and layers of symbolism, which could add special and interesting touches to your big day. So, in this journal article, we have decided to showcase a whole rainbow of colours for you all to look at and help you decide on your own colour scheme for your big day. Do read on to find out all about the hidden meanings of colours alongside images from plenty of weddings which have taken place at the Bodleian!
Red
Red is synonymous with love, so it feels like the obvious colour to use for a wedding. But it is rather uncommon to see a large use of red typically at weddings. We think this is a big shame, as this bold and beautiful colour can certainly create attention! Most often we see pops of red across weddings, providing a contrast to softer pastel shades.
In many cultures, red is the colour of energy and life hence why it is seen as lucky and often used in non-western weddings. On the Bodleian Weddings Team, we love to see pops of red in our weddings and we hope to see this bright and striking colour show up at our future weddings soon!
Orange
Orange is a colour of warmth and has plenty of connections to nature. If you’re wondering, which came first; the colour or the fruit – it is the fruit! Sweet orange trees were brought back from Asia in the 1600s, and before that the colour was known as “yellow-red” (a bit lacking in imagination perhaps…) in Europe. “Orange” comes from the Sanskrit word for the fruit, which is “nāranga”.
Another orange connection to nature is via saffron, the expensive seasoning, and historically used for fabric dyeing. Saffron harvesting is very time consuming, which explains it’s cost, just a single gram can be worth £15! Of course, another orange natural treasure is amber, the fossilised tree resin which has been used in jewellery since ancient times. With all these connections it’s no wonder why orange is used in so many weddings at the Bodleian, not to mention its warm tones suit the Divinity School so well!
Yellow
Yellow, bright and bold, is a colour which sings of happiness – there’s a reason why so many schoolchildren draw our sun with a yellow smiling face! It’s been a favourite colour with artists, most famously Vincent van Gogh, the iconic post-impressionist painter. Whilst yellow features dominantly across much of his work, it is most well-known in his paintings of sunflowers. It’s no surprise then that van Gogh once remarked “How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the Sun”.
Outside of its prominence in the art world, yellow as well has positive connotations in Asia too. In China, it was historically the Imperial Colour, which was very strictly guarded and at one point only the Emperor himself was permitted to wear yellow clothing! With such artistic and regnal symbolism, there’s no wonder why you shouldn’t use a sunny yellow for your big day.
Green
When we think of green, we immediately think of trees, leaves and all kinds of plant life. This connection to nature has continually meant that green is symbolic of nature, fertility, emergence into spring and the beginnings of life. A wedding is the next chapter for you with your beloved, so it makes plenty of sense for green to be a colour featured so predominately at weddings.
In more recent decades, green has also become symbolic of environmental causes. Team Bodleian loves working with couples who are taking conscious steps to reduce their environmental impact. It’s also a bit easier than you think, take a look at a past journal entry for inspiration. A colour representing growth and new life, it seems as though green might be the perfect colour for a wedding!
Blue
We all know the saying “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue”. This tradition might in fact come from the fact that many historical brides wore blue on their wedding day, which you can read more about here. Although we just said above that green might be the perfect colour for a wedding, blue has a rich history and connection to weddings too!
One of the reasons why blue could have been popular was its connection to the Virgin Mary. In plenty of religious art, you can always spot Mary wearing blue robes to single her out. Due to this connection with a pious mother, many women saw to invoke this on their own wedding day, when a large brood of children was highly expected.
This deep rich colour is also symbolic of the sea and sky, as well as being known for its calming nature. On a day which can be seen as highly stressful, surely picking blue for your wedding is a way to keep yourself relaxed, no matter what may come!
Purple
Purple has a strong symbolism to luxury, think of how much purple is used on packaging for chocolate as an example! These luxurious origins have a very ancient history to them, and a rather unfortunate end for sea snails… In what is now known as Lebanon, the people discovered that upon crushing sea snails(!), it created a fabulously strong purple dye that didn’t fade. It took more that 9,000 snails to make just a gram of dye, which made this dye phenomenally expensive (and the local rulers very rich).
Because of the extreme cost, purple clothing became associated with the powerful. Roman elites used to wear purple cloaks and have bands of purple on their togas. But eventually the Roman Emperors banned anyone else but themselves from wearing purple, and it came closely linked to royalty. To this day, many monarchies (including the UK) use plenty of purple in formal ceremonies. Interestingly, this association with royals doesn’t end in Europe. In Japan, a very deep purple called “murasaki” was off-limits to anyone who was not part of the ruling elite.
If you want to bring an element of luxury to your big day, you certainly would not be going wrong with picking purple!
All of us at the Bodleian Weddings Team hope you have enjoyed our little look book of all the different colours of the rainbow we’ve seen at our weddings. If you’re looking for further décor inspiration, do look at some Easter inspiration, and our Christmas weddings. Have a very lovely day and we hope to hear from you soon!
References:
Tabares, Michelle. Color Theory 101 : Essential Guide to Color Relationships, Symbolism, and Mixing for Artists. 1st ed. La Vergne: Rocky Nook, 2026. Print.
Gifford, Clive, and Marc-Etienne Peintre. The Colours of History : How Colours Shaped the World. 1st ed. Minneapolis: Quarto Publishing Group UK, 2018. Print.
Pimentel, Annette Bay. Before Colors : Where Colors Come From. 1st ed. New York, NY: Abrams, Inc., 2024. Print.
St. Clair, Kassia. The Secret Lives of Colour. London: John Murray, 2016.
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