New Wedding Trends You Need To Look Out For

When you’re planning your big day, you want to organise a wedding that’s different from anything that your wedding guests will have seen before. Whether that’s with a fun theme, in a cool and different wedding venue, or maybe through an avant-garde wedding dress that packs a punch, there are tons of ways to keep it fresh.

It can be difficult, however, to keep up with the latest wedding trends. With the amount of time it takes to save for, plan and execute a wedding, often by the time that your nuptials come around, the trends have already changed.

Although there are some classic wedding trends or ones that seem to cycle around every few years, there are always the brides that are on the hunt for the next big thing. In recent years we’ve had floral arches, photo booths, photo shoots with coloured smoke bombs, and the list goes on. But what do the next few years have in store for the wonderful world of weddings? Let’s find out!

Coloured tapers

First up we’re going straight in with a decor classic – the taper candle. Found in candlestick holders and candelabras throughout history, they’re a classy and elegant touch to any wedding ceremony or reception scheme. The problem with tapers previously has been that they’ve been a bit boring and old school.

Not any more. With the resurgence of vintage themes that have a fun and modern twist, we’ve seen a boom in coloured tapers at weddings. Whether this is as a cool centrepiece, as moody lighting along the edge of your wedding reception venue, or even on top of your wedding cake as an alternative cake topper, they’re a great way to mix traditional and modern wedding aesthetics.  

Old world aesthetic

Talking of traditional aesthetics, we’re definitely seeing a move towards more old world and vintage looks when it comes to weddings. From vintage gowns to antique linens, to fully themed weddings, it seems like modern brides are yearning for that old romantic vibe when it comes to their big day.

It might be the Downton Abbey effect, but wedding receptions in stately homes or beautifully manicured gardens are definitely having a moment. It often happens that after a period of minimalism and informal parties and weddings, we see a 180 flip the other way.

The elegance of the old world aesthetic brings a gravitas to a wedding and with such opulent and historic wedding venues, there’s usually less external or additional decor that has to be thought about.

Statement linens

Moving to the opposite end of the spectrum, if you’re looking to bring some vibrant colour and vitality to your wedding reception, let me introduce you to the growing wedding trend of statement linens. Normally, when you’re looking at your wedding table setting style, you’d be opting for a single colour linen, often in a neutral tone, maybe with a little bit of texture if your theme requires it.

Statement linens say the opposite. Bringing big colours and big patterns to your table setting style gives your reception an instant uplift without having to buy or rent loads of little pieces of decor. Whether it’s a patterned runner against a reclaimed wooden banquet style table, or William Morris inspired cloth napkins that bring some whimsy to your wedding scheme, there are a lot of avenues to go down with this particular wedding trend.

Wedding branding

Now, this might sound like you’re starting a wedding business, but thinking about branding your wedding is a great way to ensure cohesion throughout the whole affair. Often when you sit down with your wedding invitation people, they’ll ask you about your theme, your inspirations, and your style so they can find a font type, colour scheme and vibe to suit you as a couple.

You can take this as a jumping off point to inform your wedding website, your colour scheme, your place cards, and the overriding formality of your wedding. It’s less about marketing and more about making sure from the save the dates all the way through to the thank you cards, your wedding appears as one holistic event.

Big bangles and bracelets

Our final new and exciting wedding trend that’s bursting onto the scene is one for the accessory lovers among you. First, we had stackable wedding and engagement rings, and now we have stackable and statement bracelets and bangles.

Popular among boho and more informal weddings, these bigger cuffs and bracelets give a cool bit of edge and textural difference against the softer lace or tulle wedding dresses. Often brides opt for dainty bracelets or go without wrist wear on their big day, but having a bracelet or series of bracelets can be a fun way to bring your personality into your bridal look.

Final tips

Okay, let’s round out this article with a few final tips for keeping your wedding bang on trend:

• Look ahead to bridal runways, celebrity weddings and influencers to ensure you have the maximum time before your wedding trend runs out. These are the tastemakers that dictate the big wedding trends so if you’re interested in being ahead of the curve, get following them on social media.
• Don’t fully depend on being on trend. At the end of the day, sometimes trends don’t fit our personality or our preferences. Don’t feel like you need to reinvent the wedding wheel for the sake of it. Talk to your soon-to-be spouse and figure out what your combined vision is. If a trend works well with it, that’s great, if not, no worries.
• Stick to one or two new trends. Although some of the new trends on this list work well together, some are the complete opposite of each other. Don’t try to shoehorn four or five new trends into one wedding if they don’t fit together. Instead, pick one or two and do them well. That’s where you’re going to have the biggest impact.

8 New Wedding Trends

It’s no secret that I love wedding inspiration shoots and I see a lot of them. They’re what I love to share here and they’re what I look at most on other wedding blogs. One of the reasons that styled shoots are so great is that it gives wedding professionals time to play. They get to really cut loose and get creative!

Because of this unhindered creativity, the things that you see in inspiration shoots on wedding blogs are usually ahead of the trend curve. There is always a couple of months lag time between what wedding pros are creating and photographing, blogs and magazines publishing those shoots, and then real brides incorporating their favorite ideas into their weddings in their own unique ways.

Among the many emerging trends, there are 8 fabulous ones that you’ll definitely adore:

1. Statement Bracelets

Statements necklaces came after classic drops and strands of pearls, but now statement bracelets are the hot new thing in bridal fashion and frankly – I love this trend! Whether it’s layered bangles or glittery gems, arm candy is going to be all the rage in real weddings.

2. Candle Cake Toppers

Traditional cake toppers, flowers, monograms – move over and make room on your sugary sweet pedestal for candles. Tall and tapered or short and plentiful, candles have made the jump from birthday cakes to wedding cakes. Blowing them out and making a wish together is a sweet way to start your married life.

3. An Old Word Look

An old world European influence is taking over.  It’s a step beyond the shabby chic look – this is vintage glamour at its finest. Gilded cups, pearl drenched cakes, ancient castles, weathered villas… I adore this trend! Because of this destination brides are also looking beyond tropical locations to places like Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, and onwards for romantic, historic, wedding days.

4. Red Hair

Now… this isn’t really a trend that you can incorporate into your wedding day unless you are lucky enough to have red hair but I’ve never seen so many red–headed models used in inspiration shoots as I have these last couple of months. This trend goes hand in hand with #3 as wedding pros set off to places like Ireland and Scotland to capture some of that old world charm. I’m pretty sure that the popularity of Disney Pixar’s Brave has something to do with this too!

5. Colored Candles

White candle sticks are getting a wash of color and I love it! Event planners and designs are even custom dying and pouring the wax to compliment the color palette that they are using.

6. Wedding Branding

Brides are no longer settling for basic websites but they are going for the whole shebang and branding their entire wedding. And why not? Branding your wedding from beginning to end is a sophisticated way to carry through a theme and/or color palette. The logo that you and your designer come up with can be incorporated into everything from embroidered towels to personal stationary after your wedding day.

7. Statement Linens

Wedding professionals are showing brides new ways to mix and match patterns and statement linens are definitely becoming the new chevron. And as much as I love chevron, when you see it used as much as I do, I can’t help but be totally on board with this one.

8. Multiple Exposure Photography

For those of you who haven’t heard of this before, multiple exposure photography is when your photographer opens the camera shutter more than once and exposes the film multiple times. It creates an artistic superimposed image effect, and yes – this is becoming very popular! Digital photographers can also create this look using photo editing software. Obviously your entire wedding shouldn’t be shot like this, but getting a few images from your bridals, engagement session, or couples portraits will make for a visually interesting and unique keepsake.

Which of these 8 new wedding trends is your favorite?

Credits: photo credits: silver bangles via Elizabeth Anne Designs, photographed by Shoot in Love Photographie // cuff bracelet from Em The Gem // wood bangles from Once Wed, photographed by Rylee Hitchner // couple with cake from Wedding Chicks, photographed by Elizabeth Messina // naked cake via Kiss The Groom // blue cake from Style Me Pretty, photographed by Moss + Isaac // tall candles from Style Me Pretty, photographed by White Loft Studio // old world cake from Elizabeth Anne Designs, photographed by Elizabeth Messina // reception table – Magnolia Rouge, photographed by Peaches & Mint  // wedding gown via Once Wed, photographed by Ozzie Garcia // bride in forest from Once Wed, photographed by Brumley and Wells // red-head bride from Ruffled, photographed by Simply Sarah Photography // twigs and honey headpiece from Wedding Chicks, photographed by Elizabeth Messina // pink candles from Style Me Pretty, photographed by Kat Willson Photography // blue candles from Burnett’s Boards, photographed by Carmen and Ingo Photography // branding board via Burnett’s Boards, designed by Peter Loves Jane // statement linens from Style Me Pretty, photographed by Belathee Photography // multiple exposure photography from Magnolia Rouge, photographed by Feather and Stone.