Tips: Creating a Vintage Palette

One way to create a color palette for your vintage wedding is to start with a postcard, greeting card, poster, or print advertisement from the period.

I found the following image at Cardcow.com. I then copied the image URL (on a Mac, ctrl+click and select Copy Image URL).

Image courtesy of Cardcow

Then I copied the image URL into an online color generator. Both DeGraeve and Color Hunter provide vivid and dull palettes based on the selected image.

DeGraeve and Color Hunter provide a Hex value for each color. To get a Pantone value for each color, use the Color Picker in Adobe Photoshop. Be sure that Only Web Colors is not checked. Enter the Hex value and then click Color Libraries to get the appropriate Pantone color. 

Here's a vintage palette complementary to Pantone's 2011 color of the year: Honeysuckle. I started with a 1950s postcard from Arcanium Antiques.

Online Sources of Vintage Paper Goods

• Card Cow
• Etsy
• Flickr
• Vintage Postcards

Free Color Palette Generators

• DeGraeve (web image)
• Color Hunter (both web image and uploaded file)