Pantone Color of the Year 2019

By Scott Johnson

Each year, a clandestine meeting is held between members of the Pantone Color Institute and representatives from other country’s color standard groups. They debate for two days and ultimately come to a decision on what is going to be the next “Color of the Year.” This has been going on for the past twenty years.

I promise you I am not making this up. There really are groups of people who decide on which color is going to be everywhere for the next year. 2018’s color happened to be Ultra Violet.

As bizarre and overly-secretive as it seems, the amount of influence Pantone’s Color of the Year has is outrageous. Not even out for a month, their color for 2019, officially known as “PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral” has already made waves across multiple industries–including weddings.

Described by Pantone as “vibrant, yet mellow” Living Coral “embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.” And by all means, the color does look quite lovely and inviting. Their reasoning behind choosing the color ties into the overabundance of social media and digital technology in our lives, and Living Coral “welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.”

Pantone Color Institute’s vice president, Laurie Pressman, goes further into detail about the importance of Living Coral, “It is a color we see in nature. Lying at the center of our naturally vivid and chromatic ecosystem, it is evocative of how coral reefs provide shelter to a diverse kaleidoscope of nature’s color and serves as a source of sustenance and shelter to sea life.”

We can’t help but agree, it really does bring a great sense of spirit and vivaciousness. Their unveiling also came along with an installation at the conference that showed how a normal living room can feature some shades of the color. Take a look at the photos yourself to get a real sense of the color!

And wouldn’t you know it, there’s already been articles published on how to incorporate this lovely color into your weddings. Coming from Glamour, the article digs into little ways to mix Living Coral into almost every aspect of your big day.

The easiest way is for your bridesmaids to rock the color in their dresses. Warm up a winter wedding or go along with the season for a Spring or Summer ceremony. Even better, have the gents sport some coral ties to really liven up the classic formal look.

They also think that tossing just a few coral flowers into your bouquet will do wonders for the color pallet. Along with other greens, reds and whites, it is a feast for your eyes!

As we officially enter 2019, we are really excited to see just how often Living Coral appears in the weddings we visit–or just in general. Do you like the color? Think you’re going to incorporate it into your big day? Let us know in the comments below!