A Colorful, Whimsical Wedding at Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, Wisconsin

From the earliest stages of planning their wedding, Elizabeth Carr (32 and an artist) and Jeffrey Whitmore (36 and a global engineering director) knew their wedding would focus on bright, vibrant colors, matching not only Liz’s artwork, but their colorful, lighthearted personalities. “Our home is colorful, we dress colorfully, my artwork is colorful,” Liz says. The theme worked perfectly at the family's lakeside home, where the ceremony took place, and at the all-white contemporary Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, Wisconsin, a venue with significance to the couple (Liz had taught there for several years). “We were able to put our rental dollars toward an institution that we love and showcase the arts on our wedding day," Liz says. "The building was the perfect blank canvas for our celebration."  

From the initial concept of having the bridesmaids wear a different-colored dress to having 15 different-colored tables at the reception, Liz took the color idea and ran with it. Paintbrushes were dipped in coordinating colors, leading guests to their assigned tables, and the rest of the theme evolved naturally. Liz created paint-chip save-the-date cards, color wheel invitations—complete with a request for “colorful attire”—and paint-swatch wedding programs, and the flower girls carried small paint buckets of flowers down the aisle. The unity ceremony was a blind contour drawing, when Liz, then Jeff, drew the outline of the other while intently looking at their beloved. Much like a piece of art, this colorful, outside-the-box celebration showcased the couple's fun-loving personalities, leaving a impression on their guests. —Chrissy Sorenson