The What and Why of Wedding Dress Colorways

Listen up, brides, because we’re about to spill all the details on the dos and don’ts of colorways! Want to be in the know on wedding dress colors and which looks best on you? Learn about the different colorways we offer here at Maggie Sottero, the skin tones they flatter, and what to keep in mind when choosing right here right now! Did we mention we’re about to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process of our renowned fashion designers? Scroll on to read all the details of how they determine the stunningly unique shades of our wedding dress colors! Love this kind of content? Follow our Instagram for more education on all things bridal!

What are wedding dress colors?

Here at Maggie, we call the different wedding dress colors that we offer “colorways” because each colorway is made up of dresses in lots of different hues of that color.

Wedding dress colorways are essentially the color of the base of your dress. We know what you’re thinking, aren’t wedding dresses all white? Actually, no! Besides colorful wedding dresses, even “white” wedding gowns can come in different hues and still look bridal.

So what’s the point of having different colorways? Simply put, there are a lot of reasons a bride might want a different shade of wedding dress. For one, a bride might want a more warm or cool tone to her dress. For another, she may want certain details like the lace to stand out, and we can do that by offering her a dress that makes the white lace pop against a slightly darker shade of white instead of trying to stand out against the same exact color. 

Ultimately, it just allows brides to pick a dress that is the most flattering for them and fits their bridal vision just the way they want it to.

There’s a lot that goes into creating and selecting colorways, but don’t worry. We’ll help you out. Read on for more info on which one is right for you!

What are Maggie Sottero’s Colorways?

Of course, the first thing to think about as a bride is what your options even are in the first place.

A few important notes first, though. Not every gown is made in all our colorways. Our most popular colorways are ivory, all ivory, and blush by a landslide because most brides tend to find those the most flattering on their skin tones and generally feel the most “bridal” in them. Our gown available in the largest range of wedding dress colors is Hattie by Rebecca Ingram.

Additionally, not every dress in a certain colorway is going to look exactly like the rest. A lot of factors can change the overall tone of your dress, like the color of thread used on your lace embellishments, any layers of glitter tulle your dress might have, as well as the sheerness, structure, and silhouette of your gown. But all gowns labeled as a certain colorway will still have a fairly similar hue that lies within that colorway’s shade range.

Here at Maggie, we have several different wedding dress colors for a bride to choose from. Here are our most popular colorways listed from most warm-toned to most cool-toned:

Warmer Undertones

• Mocha – Our darkest colorway, great for brides with a darker complexion or who really want the details of their dress to pop and don’t mind a darker base to achieve that look.
• Nude – A lighter tan color that falls more on the warm end of the colorway spectrum. It creates a neutral color that allows lace to pop the same way that Mocha does, but without darkening the base color of the dress as much.
• Blush – Blush is our most universally flattering colorway. Dresses in this color tend to have a slightly pink undertone that allows white lace to stand out without making the base look muddied at all. It maintains the girliness and romance of the dress, but doesn’t wash brides out the way true whites sometimes do. And don’t get us wrong, your dress itself isn’t going to look bright pink in photos. This is a very understated effect.

Cooler Undertones

• Antique Ivory – Antique Ivory dresses are white, just a slightly darker hue of white than All Ivory would be. If a bride wants a gown that is still the very typical, traditional
  bridal white,” but are worried about getting washed out by a super bright white dress, this colorway is a great option.
• All Ivory – The All Ivory colorway is for brides who want a super white dress. Every layer of this dress is in the brightest white. If you love the classic bridal look and want to go all in, All Ivory is the colorway for you. This colorway can wash some brides out though because of how starkly white it is, so keep that in mind when choosing if you’re someone whose complexion tends to get overpowered easily.
  • Psst! Did you know that across our 2024 collections, a total of 68 gowns in our All Ivory colorway utilize lower-impact fabrics? Check out our lower-impact dresses now!
• Misty Mauve – Misty Mauve is our most cool-toned wedding dress color. It also has a pinkish hue to it, but is darker and cooler than our blush colorway. This is one of our less popular colors due to it having the potential to wash brides out because of how cool-toned it is, but some love it and find it flattering, so don’t be dissuaded if it appeals to you!

What to know when choosing bridal dress colors

• Darker colorways can make your lace or embroidery stand out and can prevent a bride from becoming washed out in an all-white dress.
• You can choose a wedding dress colorway that compliments your coloring depending on whether you’re warm or cool-toned.
• Brides often choose to go with a Blush or Antique Ivory colorway because All Ivory can cause a dress to have an icy, almost blue effect in pictures.
• Keep in mind that the amount of glitter or embellishments you have on your dress can affect its color. For example, a dress with silver beading is going to look more gray-toned than one with ivory lace.
• Don’t overthink it. When you’re at your bridal appointment, you can ask your stylist if you can see a more warm-toned, cool-toned, or blush dress to get a sense of what you like on yourself. They can help you figure out your undertone and what will be the most flattering for you as well. It all just comes down to preference, so try some dresses in different colorways out and just wait for the tears. You’ll know when you find the right dress.

How are wedding dress colors determined?

Unfortunately, there are pretty much countless different ways our designers decide what colorway a dress is. There is such a wide range of what a dress in the “blush” colorway can look like and so many different combinations of layering that can make the same color that it can get super convoluted super fast. 

However, to simplify it all down to what us non-fashion designers need to know, they look at the final color of the dress all put together and categorize it into a colorway.

In other words, your wedding dress color is totally unique! We don’t have one base color right underneath your lace that we make all our dresses in called “blush.” If you purchase a Maggie Sottero wedding dress, a team of designers actually draped three or more layers of different linings, satins, tulles, and laces over each other to create a stunningly unique shade within the colorway range that belongs pretty much solely to that dress. Pretty special, right?

Want to do a little science experiment of your own? If you’re dress shopping, you’ll notice if you lift the hem of the dress that there are a lot of layers of fabric that go into creating it. Unless you’re trying on exclusively all ivory gowns, you can actually stop and take a look at each of the layers and you’ll find that there will be layers of nude, pink-toned, or slightly darker white fabrics that you wouldn’t necessarily think would be part of a “white” dress. All those different layers of fabric on top of each other produce the final wedding dress color. That’s the colorway!

Can I see what my dress looks like in different colorways?

Absolutely! Scroll through the dress images and find a shot of your dress in different colorways. They will be on mannequins, like the photo above! This will allow you to get a better idea of what your gown will look like in each of them.

Here’s an example of our Colorways image for our dress Norvinia Lane by Sottero and Midgley:

The bridal boutique you go to may only carry a sample of your dream dress in one colorway. Talk to your stylist about ordering the dress in another one to make it truly your own.

Now that you’ve gotten the details on all things wedding dress colors, you’re ready to start scrolling! Look through colorway options for all of your favorite Maggie Sottero gowns! Have one in mind already? Round up your girlfriends and schedule a bridal appointment now with one of our fabulous retailers! And don’t forget to ask your stylist about your colorway options! Happy shopping, brides!

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Maggie’s Wedding Dress Shopping Tips

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