Sorry I saw this thread so late. I just got my braces off about two months ago, and I am very pleased with my new smile.
There are plenty of colors to choose from nowadays, cteddiesgirl. It isn't the color of the metal wire, but the color of the little like.. band type things in between your braces. Often I had purple (surprise). Also sometimes I had a blue color, and once I even have blue and red on my top teeth, and blue on my bottom teeth. My advice is go simple. Usually when you have more than one color it is, almost wacky. Don't choose a really really light color, because they usually make your teeth look funny, and the lighter colors tend to fade after a while.
I'd have to say, when you first get brace on, they do hurt. Expect them to hurt for about three days. At first you won't want to eat anything, and you will have trouble eating a lot of foods. Stick to soft food, like noodles, soup, and stuff like that. Stay away from the hard foods the first few days.
I-buproffen, and off brands of pain medicne like that are your friends. Take them if the pain really bothers you. Use your wax if you have anything poking, and never be afraid to telll the braces people if something seems funny.
You will have pain again when you have your braces tightened, and have devices inside you mouth. It won't last as long as the first pain though. Eventually you will get used to it.
Don't worry! Good luck with your braces, and your new smile.
Hey, I should write a whole braces guide! Haha, that would be funny.