Don't understand why wife has the say for the color of your roof ? It is definitely necessary to get it white as possible. The sun will be partially deflected and white will not absorb the heat.
Down here, in the jungle, all the roofs are red or green. The people thought (they know) the Gringo is LOCO. BUT, my house is cooler than theirs. We get acid rain from the nearby volcano, that coats things with a fine black algae/fungus. I have to wash the roof with soapy water, during the dry season.
Just about finished replacing the tin roof, and, next year, after the oils are washed off the tin, from manufacturing processes, I will definitely apply a white roof coating.
When living in Florida, we had a brownish color shingled roof. Attic was hot enough, that we put green (freshly sawn) lumber up there to dry it. Hurricanes damaged the shingles, so, we replaced all the roofing with a dirty white color, that was the only thing close to white and, the attic was "tolerable" .