Tickled salmon dusty rose blush...

Okay. I'm about to go crazy-bride on err'body up in here for just a second. Feel free to close your browser, because I know this is a little ridiculous.
I have a problem. Specifically, a pink problem. One that I never anticipated.
If you asked me just last year if I'd ever have anticipated having a wedding with pink in it, I would have laughed heartily. I would have told you that I'm not a pink kind of girl. And then, had you talked to my Mom, she would have told you how big a fibber I was.* I went through a pink stage as a little girl that would have frightened Barbie. I even had pink striped wallpaper and a briiiiiight pink bookshelf (which has since been repainted white).

This could have been me.

I've been a recovering pinkaholic since my early years, but apparently I can't quite kick it. As a grownup, I've never liked pink stuff made for women -- it's always too bright. But it's the off-shades of pink that I go crazy for: shell pink, rose, coral, salmon, any of the pinks that have neutrals mixed in. You'd never guess it because I can never find clothes that aren't fuschia or neon pink or bubblegum.
I like shades like this:



Blatantly bummed from 100 Layer Cake



When I first hit upon the idea of using dusty rose as a color in our wedding decor, I was thinking something like the rose color pictured above -- a darker, more fall-ish shade. But it's surprising how shades of pink can clash. Yesterday, I put my different pink things together while trying to figure out which shade of pashminas to order, and I ran up against a conflict in colors.**

Does...

or



... go better with

?

Mom and I are both more partial to the lighter salmon pink, but the brighter "dusty rose" is closer to the flowers in color. Mom says that the salmon looks better because it's different enough that "it doesn't look like I'm trying to match them," while with the dusty rose "it looks like I'm trying to match them and failing at it." Ha... true.

But then you start to add in other elements, like these tablecloths I'd been thinking of ordering.

       or

I'd been thinking the darker linen tablecloth would go well with the dusty rose in the pashminas, and the silk one is pretty, but it might be a little too fancy (especially since I'd been thinking of making runners out of some burlap. Burlap and satiny material? Would that look crazy?).

Basically at this point, I feel like I'm awash in a sea of pink (it's a sea that tastes like cotton candy, so I'm not toooo miserable). I can't tell what looks good with what anymore... I've been pink-washed! (Get it? Like, brainwashed? Or maybe I should say "I've got pink-eye." Okay, it's really bad when I'm making up dumb pink phrases that I have to explain. See my problem here? I need help, mostly of the psychiatric nature.)

My sane side says I'm thinking way too hard and that a range of pinks will look pretty dang awesome in the end rather than trying to match-match-match. So I'm going to listen to it rather than to my inner design freak who gets off on Pantone swatches. It'll all work out in the end, methinks.

Aww yeah, that's hot stuff... oh baby, oh baby!

* She'd also tell you how I've been obsessed with purple since then, too, and I can find plenty of stuff to wear in the purple shades I like. I'll never be able to escape my inner 6-year-old. She fully expects me to have unicorns at this wedding, too, since I'm going childhood-retro with the color.

** Johnny's official position is that pink is pink and the colors in the bar above are actually white, pink, pink, orange, and brown and that people who believe in more than 10 colors are just suffering under a big delusion.