Color Inspiration: Pale Blue

The six-tier cake at Elizabeth and Barton's wedding was covered with buttercream and filled with fresh-blueberry and white-chocolate buttercream.

Letterpress menu cards, bound to napkins with gold cording, also serve as place cards, with each guest's name calligraphed across the top.

Martha envisioned Jessica's bouquet with two kinds of orchids and white and blue pearlescent beads. The stems were bound with double-faced blue satin ribbon, which was tied in a bow and embellished with rhinestone buttons.

For a wedding by the beach, a coral motif is always in fashion. New York baker Gail Watson piped coral branches in royal icing on fondant-covered tiers. Cotton fabric pinned around the cake board echoes coral's other famous hue. Sand-color fondant blankets the board.

This romantic box is swathed in organdy and finished with ribbon and a monogram sticker.

Love knots in blue silk-taffeta moire ribbon decorate elegant wedding stationery. The knot symbolizes commitment, and blue has long been associated with fidelity. Invitations by By Pantry Press. Calligraphy by Bernard Maisner.

The swags, which start and finish with a bow, ripple and flow like fabric.

The flower girls at this Saratoga Springs, New York, wedding, all Theresa's nieces, carry lisianthius posies wrapped in blue-and-white ribbon and wear white Swiss-dot cotton dresses with blue sashes and tulle underlays by Jen Jen.

Flecks of vanilla bean in buttercream icing give this cake the appearance of one of the most enchanting harbingers of spring: a delicate robin's egg. The cloudlike creamy zigzag flourishes were piped with a large petal tip. The white dragees, joined with royal icing and tied with thin gold cord, along with the blue ones ringing the base of the cake stand, echo the scalloped edge and the picot trim of the ribbon.

Guests can't resist tearing into these charming parcels of dragees.

Rolled sugar paste forms silk-corded closures; a brushing of luster dust imparts the characteristic sheen. They decorate the tiers of a square cake, its quilting design created by running a perforation wheel along the fondant.

Contrast strong patterns with solid plates that are rimmed with the same color. "Illusion" dinner and bread-and-butter plates by Haviland; "Lily of the Valley" salad plate by the Martha Stewart Collection with Wedgwood.

A selection of cheeses -- favorites of the bride and groom -- is laid out along with chutney, fig jam, crostini, grapes, crackers, peaches, and figs. Pale blue cards tell guests about the different types of cheeses.

A robin's egg, transferware china, and other objects offer color cues. A beribboned cornflower bag holds a favor.

Pale-blue boxes in different shades create a beautiful favor table arrangement.

In this bouquet, ice-blue leaves encircle a silk poppy.

A pale-blue tablecloth sets the stage for bright orange and yellow carnations.

The box gets a new silhouette from a sheer paper band that's folded at the top and secured with a ribbon -- the couple's names and wedding date were rubber-stamped on the band before it was wrapped around the box.

The groom wears a blue seersucker suit.

Paper birds keep watch over egg-shaped chocolates. Use scissors to carefully cut tulle into 8-inch squares. Set several dragees onto each. Gather the tulle around candy and secure pouch with twine. Place a die-cut bird on top; knot twine around the leg to anchor.

"Flourish" plates in ecru and robin's egg by the Martha Stewart Collection with Wedgwood.

Pale shades of blue contrast beautifully with brown branches in this centerpiece.

Set off a snowy gown or attendants' outfits with a demure whisper of pale blue.

Silk flowers spell out a couple's initials on a silk faille banner.

The blue taffeta sash and bow of Reem Acra's satin ball gown are embellished with Swarovski crystals, as is the bodice. Gloves by Carolina Amato.

Fondant that has been tinted ice blue blankets this cake, like snow in the shadows cast by a winter sun. Real pinecones flecked with royal icing and glistening with sanding sugar are accented with finely wrought chocolate pine needles; they add a natural-looking texture to the cake's modern lines.

The icinglike trim on jasperware, developed in England in 1775, translates well to a wedding cake -- piped here in royal icing. This cake and base were covered with fondant; gum-paste leaves adorn the base and top.

Pearlescent jewelry looks gorgeous on any bride.

Intricately designed, this chocolate-mint cake comes off as elegant and polished; after all, the fondant molding, cast from architectural reliefs, was inspired by the interiors of neoclassical architect Robert Adam. But cut into it, and decadence awaits. Each rich slice is laced with a minty buttercream filling.

Paper flowers make having pale-blue flowers a cinch. Just choose the perfect paper and get to work.

Butterflylike sweet peas flutter between bright-white Amazon lilies in this elegant and undeniably feminine bouquet. Delicate hand-wired cattleya orchids flaunt their milky ruffled edges among flirty sprays of fragrant white lilac. Tied in a loose, languorous bow, a wide striped vintage ribbon of steel and slate blues decorates the slender stems wrapped in grosgrain. Bouquet by Belle Fleur of New York City.

For this suite of stationery, we reinterpreted the hues and regal patterns of transferware and its identifying back stamps. Clockwise from top: Blue vintage postage matches the calligraphy. A monogram personalizes a crown-topped emblem on the invitation. The reply card bears a stamp-inspired laurel and a wave borrowed from a plate rim; the envelope repeats the wave. Calligraphy by Deborah Delaney. Invitations from Paper+Cup Design.

Clockwise from top: Wedding bands by Furrer-Jacot sparkle against a handmade velvet ring pillow. Any bride will shine when she wears lacy glold-and-pearl earrings by TenThousandThings or marquise-shaped drops in 18-karat gold with faceted calcite stones by Becky Kelso. Cuff links for the groom in blue topaz and lemon citrine by Seaman Schepps will perfectly complement either pair of earrings.

Why hire a calligrapher to tackle your seating cards when you can save money using simple handwritten ones and enjoy a fun afternoon with friends to boot? Enlist people whose penmanship you admire (the bigger the range of styles, the better) to join you to write the names of guests on blank cards.

The monogram from the invitations is repeated on the blue-fondant-covered cake; it was piped in royal icing and painted with gold-luster dust. Oval rococo frames of foil-covered paper are attached to the tiers with royal icing, as are the ribbon bows. Metallic laces trim the tiers.

A vintage silk fan in a floral pattern is a demure alternative to a bouquet; the ring is from Stephen Russell.

These favors are decorated with elongated letters. Print monogram onto rectangular papers; trim with scalloping scissors. Wrap cardboard cylinders with layers of tissue paper; top with monogrammed paper, and secure with double-sided tape. Tie one end with rickrack. Fill with candy, and tie off.

The classic tented place card set above the dinner plate is always proper and elegant. But by tucking it in a different spot or changing its form, you can easily customize this practical card to suit the particular style of your wedding.