2026 WEDDING TRENDS | I'm CALLING It

Hi and welcome to Union Podcast. My name is Jamie Wolfer and I'm a wedding planner who absolutely loves to share how I got started and scale my business to above six figures in this amazing and occasionally extremely competitive industry. In this podcast, I share the tech, tactics, mindset and mistakes that got me to where I am today. No gatekeeping, no cloak and dagger, just full disclosure and a little humor along the way. So whether you're a planner or a solopreneur, my goal is for you to be a better business person than I ever could have been and support you on this journey. I let's dive into this week's episode. In order to be effective in the wedding industry, sometimes it's extremely important to know what are the pain points of your audience. Today we're going to take a listen to one of my most popular YouTube videos in the audio form. Because every once in a while it's a good idea to step away from the video and let it hit that brain centered a little different with just the audio. Know what I'm saying? So let's take a listen. It's the most wonderful video of the year and also the one that like, literally means nothing, but it's really, really fun to make. Hi. If you're new here, my name is Jamie Wolfer and today's video I'm predicting trends for the 2026 wedding season. Also, if you're new here, trends are cool and they're very fun and I love talking about them, but they're not necessary to follow or stick to or stray away from. It's just this video is just for funsies, okay? Because your girl loves a decorative moment and I love weddings. And so when they come together and we talk about wedding trends, I get very excited. So without further ado, let's just jump right on into it over the last handful of years. Gosh, when did I start doing this? 20, 22? 23? I don't know. I have started to make trend predictions based on things that I'm seeing on the interwebs for what I think is going to happen with wedding design. And this is not. I'm not the only person doing this. There's tons of really great creators out there that have some wonderful wedding predictions. In fact, I'm going to link some of my favorites in the description box down below if you want to go check them out. And so a lot of us are kind of keeping our finger on the pulse of where weddings are going to go. Why? Because you guys seem to love these trend videos and you know what? So do I. And whereas content creators like Meredith with plus one planning will talk about the trickle in effect from overall fashion, I tend to look at wedding planning or wedding design from the trickle in effect of overall home decor. What are we seeing in the home decor space? In fact, one of my favorite content creators to look at for trend predictions when it comes to home decor that then trickles into the wedding space is Lone Fox Home. Drew is fantastic if you are into anything interior design wise. I love him so much. Do I want to copy all of his design decisions? No, not necessarily. Do I love where his brain is at and his texture play and what he does with all of his redesigns? Yeah, absolutely. So given what we've seen in the industry over the last year or two, we're going to kind of keep seeing iterations of that over the next year or so as well. And we're also going to see this trickle in effect from both interior design and fashion as they slowly mold and shape what the wedding design space looks like. And here are some design ideas that I'm seeing that will then translate into wedding trends in just a moment. One of them is kind of we're shifting away from brass. We're seeing a really cool resurgence of polished nickel. In fact, it's my current hyper fixation for any sort of kitchen or bathroom fixtures. Like, I really, really, really want to get polished nickel in my kitchen and in my bathroom. I think it would just be so good. Nickel is a warmer silver tone, which sounds counterintuitive, but in the same way that champagne is a cool gold tone, nickel is a warmer silver tone. So we're going to see a resurgence of that. I think we saw silver coming back in a couple years ago and now we see it warming up, which I think lends to a little bit more of an elevated feel, elevated look. We're also going to see because of this warm silver kind of getting reincorporated, I think we're going to see a lot more vintage silver elements, those really gorgeous patinaed pieces that you might stumble across at your local Goodwill or your local thrift store. We're going to see more of those getting involved because as we see this metallic come in, we'll see it kind of cross over into different spaces of either super polished and classic looking or a little bit more whimsical, a little bit more detailed. We'll see that kind of warmer silver tone creeping into more of our events. And we called this last year and it's not going anywhere. We're going to see a lot more fabric play. We still see heavy drapery. In fact, we see it becoming super prevalent in ways that I still don't, I still don't love. There's something about the overall draping situation that maybe it's simply because I know how much time and effort goes into it and therefore how much couples are gonna have to spend to try to pull that off. Or maybe it's just because, like, I find it really claustrophobic feeling. It's not my favorite design. However, a lot of people are really vibing with it. What I think we'll see a twist on is now incorporating more lace Pinterest predictions has brought up and is really leaning into a lot more lace ideas, which we'll see of played out in like a cottage core, grandma core kind of way. But we'll also see it played out in a very nostalgic kind of way as well. Linnea, who is another fantastic content creator, is calling a high prevalence of linen signage. And I think that this has been around for a minute and I think she's right. I think we're going to see a lot more of this with the draping effect. So instead of it being like that rough, really stiff canvas drop cloth material, I did a DIY on this a couple of years ago. I'll link it up here if you're interested. That's a really easy Cricut design, which we also called last year. Like, a lot of people are going to be leaning into their wedding branding and we love this, we love this for them. But now we're going to see this on a lot more softer material. So we see it a little bit more drapey, a little bit more elegant, kind of with some, a little bit of ripple effect to the overall fabric. Because we're seeing this draping everywhere and a lot of couples are going to start going, I can't afford that, but I still like the feeling that that gives and the texture that that brings. So I want to incorporate that in my own way. So that could be a runner coming off the bar top with your bar menu on it, or it could be your seating chart done on a piece of fabric instead of on a big, large mirror or a large inst or something like that. We're seeing the idea of the drapery get shifted into a much more diy, a much more tangible space and tangible version for the everyday couple. But I do think we're going to start to see a lot of that same effect and a lot of that Same texture with the crocheted and lace elements kind of bunched up on the centerpieces and draping over in a really droopy, lazy, elegant, textural kind of way. A lot of people are also opting in for handkerchiefs or like handkerchief style invitations with like a little embroidered lace edge detail. That's extra, that's doing a lot. And you know what, I'm not super mad about it. I just know that it's going to cost a lot of money. So maybe, maybe, maybe we're going to see this as like a keepsake item, right? Like a save the date that you can keep for yourself and maybe not something you're going to send out to a hundred different people. Let's be honest, wedding planning is a lot. Whether you are getting started or you're investigating getting started or you're actually now planning weddings, you know as well as I do that it can be a very intense job with a lot of plates spinning and a lot of things to keep track of. That's why I love partnering with any sort of technology that makes me a better wedding planner. I know, I know. I'm admitting out loud to the interwebs that I may not be the best wedding planner on the planet. But you know what makes me look really good? You know what really and truly helps me knock people's socks off? Timelinegenius.com you guys, when I tell you that this simple tech will take all of your answers and you just type them in there and generate out the most gorgeous, most detailed, most professional looking timelines, this going to knock your socks off. And but you don't have to take my word for it. We actually have an offer for you through Timeline Genius where you get two weeks for free if you go to theunionpodcast.com forward/timeline. Check it out. Today, not only do you get these professional looking timelines, by the way, but you can individualize the one that you send the photographer to the caterer to the wedding party and send out text reminders for when all those groomsmen are late so they don't have an excuse anymore. You can literally send them a text and have it set up beforehand. Go ahead, go to union podcast.com/forward/timeline and thank me later. I'm only mildly embarrassed to admit that in the beginning I printed out every single piece of paper, every single contract. I took handwritten notes and created a binder for every single one of my wedding planning clients. Now in theory, that sounds really cool and I thought I would look really Cool. Showing up to these meetings with these binders that are full of all of these contracts with handwritten notes. But let me tell you, the chaos that ensued when I tried to stay organized on my own and got over five events at a time. It was a nightmare. Enter Honeybook. I am telling you guys, Honeybook was literally exactly how my brain was processing wedding planning, but just in digital form. It's so easy to go in there and make any sort of customizations that you want, from adjusting your contracts to adjusting your packages, maintaining conversations back and forth that not only pop up in the app app on the website, but also in your inbox as well. It's a great way to stay organized. So get out of the paper and get onto the Digital. Head to wolferenco.com/forward/HB and use code Union at checkout to get the best deal. A trend that we called last year that I think is definitely going to take on a little bit of a different spin this year is all of the still life photo esque fruits and charcuterie style serving. Instead of seeing grapes falling off of a cake stand, though, we might be seeing more of family style service. It really is evoking this idea of closeness, togetherness, nostalgia, and adding that extra texture to the tabletop. If you are going to opt into family style food, I love this for you. Just bear in mind that you're going to need to reorganize what your centerpieces look like and they will feel bare before the food comes out and they won't look good for long. So from a practical standpoint, if you want to make sure you're capturing images of your food, of your centerpieces with the food present, make sure your photographer has already eaten. Okay? Because a lot of times vendors will kind of get like shoved off to the side and they won't have time to eat. If you want that moment, if you like that texture and you want to capture that feeling of togetherness, then I highly recommend that your photographer eats ahead of time so that they can be there to capture that for you. We call this last year. We're seeing a slightly different iteration on it this year. The drop waist is here. It's hot, it's happening now we're adding in the corset, baby. Just a little bit of like almost. It could be a two piece outfit, it could be a one piece outfit, but we're seeing a little bit of definition at the bottom of that drop waist, almost over the top of the skirt. Satin is a really popular fabric for this we're also seeing those, like, I call them tentacles. They're from the early aughts. I don't know why they're coming back. Did I wear them at the time? Yeah. Did I understand them at the time? No, I didn't. And I don't think they should be here. And I don't think they're gonna stick around for a long time. Cause they. They look like octopus legs. Legs. They're probably not called legs. Someone's gonna correct me in the comments. I know. It's fine. I welcome it. I welcome instructional feedback. Thank you so much. So I don't know if that one's gonna hang on for too long, but I do think that really structured bodice, that corset feel, that 90s flair is here to stay. When it comes to the overall dress look, we're just seeing a little bit of a shift as opposed to the bodice being tucked underneath a big skirt. We might see a few more options, specifically, I think in the bridesmaid dress department, where the corseting is kind of coming on top a little bit. Am I getting a little too specific and a little bit get too into the minutiae of things here? Maybe, maybe. But it's really fun, isn't it? Also, slight side note that no one else is talking about, but I do wonder if after this corseted moment, we're gonna head into sheath dress territory. I'm just wondering, you know what I mean? Because it just feels like a natural progression of we went for the tight bodice, now it's the tight bodice over the skirt. And then we're just gonna go for something that just falls, like a column dress or a sheath dress that has that same droopy, elegant fabric draping feeling that many couples want because they're seeing all this drapery and spout, but now having it in dress form as well. I just wonder if we're going to see that, like, trickle down effect into the specificity of what we're wearing as wedding dresses. Now, KitchenAid had a color trend prediction last year of a butter yellow, which I think it was Linnea that called it, and like, saw that it was coming into the wedding space. But they haven't released their color yet for this year. They're going to release it next month. I'm wondering if it's going to be like a soft, like robin's egg blue. I'm just wondering because we've already saw that blue was going to like make a resurgence in the wedding space. And I think we're still going to see a lot of that. But I wonder if we're going to see this like vintage nostalgic, soft, almost baby blue color that's really going to evoke this gentleness but add a nice color variety to your overall color scape as well. And then lastly, like a hyper specific trend that a lot of people are jumping on board with scalloped and or oval shaped invitations. I'm not mad about it. There's also a high prevalence of swans. I'm not sure, I'm not sure what that's about. Listen, swans are cool. Swans are also really frightening in person. So they're majestic beasts from afar. Just don't charge one, especially during mating season, because you could get in trouble. Okay. But what we're seeing is almost like, you know, the mirror from Beauty and the Beast, the oval shape with the scalloping on the edge of it, which again is kind of that same crossover with that like vintage patina silver that we're seeing coming in these like elegant, detailed lines. It looks like something you borrowed from your grandmother's house. But like your really chic grandmother who has great taste and has held on to the perfect antiques for the last, I don't know, four or five decades. And she just has the eye, she just knows. I just feel like we're seeing a lot of this happening in a lot of wedding design spaces. And honestly, I wonder if it's because we've been in this like very simple minimal space for a lot of wedding design. You know, the hurricanes, the simple greenery, the pillar candles that people are now really wanting to shake things up and add juicy textural pattern play into their wedding design. So how do we see this playing out? An actual wedding design one? I think we're gonna see an elevated grandma, AKA Cottagecore, that's kind of reminiscent. Is it Kendall Jenner, whose house was just done. But that was so, so tasteful. The mountain home that was just done. It was so good. It was featured in Architectural Digest. The wallpaper, the, the sofas definitely look like something that chic grandmother's house. But we're seeing like really tapestry esque, heavy floral, heavy print on the walls, on the fabrics, and in a lot of people's up and coming, very chic, very on trend homes. So I'm wondering if we're going to see that with the lace combined with this idea of grandma core when it comes to overall wedding design. This can include, but is not limited to a lot more wallpaper backdrops. I know I talked about Doing wallpaper, backdrop video this year. That didn't happen. Okay, it didn't happen. But maybe, maybe 2026 is our year, friends. Who knows? The world is our oyster. And I think people are going to stick more with the patterns right now, a little bit more with the florals, a little bit more with like the repeating fleur de lis kind of vibe. Fleur de lis, not the right term here necessarily. But then I do see that we might potentially creep into stripes a little bit with these backdrops and a little bit with this grandma aesthetic. But for now, I feel like we're really happy with the florals. And honestly, I'm not mad about it. This is also going to be a really good implementation of that vintage silver, right? It's going to be so good. Especially because all of the brides for the last five to ten years have been snapping up all the brass candlesticks at the thrift store or, you know, people who just like, really like brass have been snapping all those up that others are going to see copious amounts of silver left over and go, I guess I'll just play with this instead. That will lean really nicely into this grandma cottage core aesthetic as well. Any sort of silver platters, silver compotes, silver trays, I think are going to be really, really interest, really good touch to add in that aesthetic, that texture, that little extra detail that pulls us away from that really clean aesthetic that we've seen so prevalently for the past few years. This design will probably still also include very drapey, very artsy florals. I think I did a the video that I did at the end of 2025 of like trends that I really want to see gone. One of them was this gorgeous, do not get me wrong, gorgeous draped like tulip bouquet situation, which makes for an incredible, very in vogue photo, but also makes for a very impractical flor display for you to carry around throughout the day. I think we're still going to see some of that droopiness. I think we're still going to see some of that architecture, some of that artistry when it comes to wedding florals. And honestly, I'm not mad about it. Which will bleed perfectly into our next style, which is going to be Renaissance painting. I think last year I called it still life painting. This year, a lot of interior designers are leaning heavily into distinct marbled colors. There's a C M Interiors is an a design company I love to follow. I love their style and I love how relatable they are. They used a Red and white marble in one of their recent displays. Like a burgundy red. And I'm like, oh, this is so trendy. Remember last year when I was like, oh, people are gonna start to like bringing in burgundy walls, and I'm. At first I'm gonna hate it, and I'm not gonna like it, and then someone's gonna do it right, and then I'm gonna love it. Here we are. Here we are. So as we're moving from, like, the still life idea, we're moving into a little bit more renaissance. As we're looking at some of these really gaudy, more elegant homes that people are now trying to emul. Unique marble pieces. I think we'll see more marble. I think we'll see more of that burgundy tone. I think we'll still see the still life idea when it comes to the fruits and the florals and the draping. I think we'll still see amaranthus, and I think we'll still see tulips and calla lilies. I think we'll still see a lot of those really like, structural florals that have a really good stem that provide that little bit of artistic detail to an overall display. I also think busts aren't going anywhere. Like the head, those ones, I think those are still going to be definitely in for a little bit. They're not everybody's vibe, and that's okay. But I think this idea of renaissance of like an understated but still slightly gaudy pillars are not going anywhere. We might see them shifting from a more minimal looking pillar to a little bit more, like, Grecian looking pillar. That could be something that's coming up. I do love this idea. I do love it. Just a little bit of texture in the place of a white box to complement that drop waist, that corset style. I think we're still going to see a lot more of this 90s reboot that we've been seeing over the past handful of years. But I think we're specifically going to see this in. In some color tones. Remember that baby blue that I predicted? Yeah, that one. Or like a soft pink. But we are most assuredly going to be seeing more Brown in 2024. A lot of design, interior design companies were predicting brown is going to start coming in. Lone Fox is all over this. He is calling it not just a muted palette, but more saturated tones with that deeper burgundy that we were talking about earlier and those deeper browns and really kind of playing with some depth and level to that. That is Extremely reminiscent of 1995, Pinterest has an interesting idea that they're calling opera aesthetic. And, like, this lines up really well with, I think Meredith from Plus One Planning called this. What is a fever? You can't sweat out the very panic at the disco vibe, where we will probably be seeing a lot more opulence, because, again, we've been operating in this minimalism for a lot of wedding styles. We're going to kind of move towards this level of a little bit extra. And you know what? I'm not mad about it. So Pinterest's version of this is the opera aesthetic, and they have a couple images on their prediction trends that I feel like resonate really well with potential wedding ideas. We're talking a cake with, like, fondant that, again, has that drapey fabric look to it. We're seeing that that initial idea be repeated across signage, across cakes. Now, potentially, I think with sheath dresses coming in, we'll see it there as well. Those droopy florals. We're talking about calla lilies. Just, like, with the structured stem, but just enough to fall. It gives me the same vibe as, like, a dolly painting, you know, where everything's just kind of, like, melting a little bit. Like a little bit of slouchy elegance. Does that make any sense to anybody out there, or am I just putting words together to try to describe what I think is happening up here? Anyways, Pinterest gets it, and included in their inspo photos is, again, that classic Burgundy. I think we thought red was going to be more of a vibe. I think what we see is red can be really, really strong and very distinct. So we see a lot of couples going, I'll take that, but I'll just. I'll just elevate it or I'll mature it a little bit. And so we'll see a wine, we'll see a plum, or we'll see a Burgundy or a maroon. Just a slightly elevated version of that bright red that we were all anticipating was going to be a huge hit. And honestly, I think personally felt a little bit flat in the 2025 season. And I'm okay with that because red can be a very, very specific tone. But Burgundy. Burgundy, my dear, can go with just about anything. And last theme that I'm kind of calling for 2026 is definitely a return to nostalgia with companies like Wedding Weekend or sending out camcorders and then sending you an edited video afterwards. Which, by the way, if anyone knows them or has content with them, let me know, because I think that they are fascinating. I would love to get them on the podcast because this is such a unique niche and I think it's definitely, definitely needed. People love the idea of Super 8 film for their weddings, of actual film for their weddings, of using that heavy flash to take the champagne toast photos or the cake cutting photos. We're seeing this desire for a texture not only on our tabletops, not only in our wallpapers, not only in our envelope insert, but also in our photography and videography as well. And that's why I think this idea of nostalgia, this idea of not being clean, but almost feeling aged, textured, cozy, comfortable, not perfect, a little bit squidgy around the edges, a little bit more droopy, a little bit more relaxed, a little bit more dolly, a little bit more falling, a little bit more lace, and a lot less straight lines and pure glass and super simple and minimal. We're seeing texture and pattern play now. Trends that are not quite here, but I think are definitely going to make their way into the wedding space. Checkers, I think a couple designers are calling it for this year. I think people are gonna be a little bit more hesitant to really implement it until next year. It's all over. The interior design space has been for about a year or two. So usually we're about due for something like that to come trickling on over to the wedding space. So that'll be interesting to see how that implements because it can come across a little kitschy and a little childlike. So I'd be curious to see how people are going to elevate checkers in a wedding planning capacity. Also, this idea of circus, this over the top, really opulent, like, literally tents, striped tents, or like fringed umbrellas, I think we could see some of this happening. It is very, very cost prohibitive to pull some of this off. So I think that's where we'll see a lot of the striping coming into the linens, into the backdrops, into that kind of grandma core we were talking about earlier, where we see people kind of sticking with the floral idea of a wallpaper, but they might end up trickling on over to a striped version instead, or a striped backdrop on their invitations. I'm not saying this stuff isn't already here. I'm just wondering if it's going to become a lot more prevalent. I also think tapestry, tapestry textures, I think brocade. I think we might see a lot more tablecloths with actual, like, texture, embroidered texture to them, that tapestry style tablecloth, where we're looking for texture and, and I'm incorporating it in unique ways that really enrich the visual experience of the overall wedding. I just. I think we are on the precipice of a texture revival, and I love it so much. I still don't like serpentine tables, though. Still don't like them. Still think they're silly. Still don't love drapery, like, as a whole, throughout your entire event because it's just so cost prohibitive and it takes so much time to put together. But I. I can think some implementations a little bit softer, a little bit lower to the ground, nothing hanging from the ceiling. It's still in, and a lot of people are really vibing with it, and I think we'll start to see this trickle over into other areas as well. Oh, oh, oh. And that grass trend, I don't like. I don't. It looks like hair. It looks like green hair. And I'm so glad for people who are excited about it. I know there are so many designers that are super into it, and, you know, maybe this will be, like, the maroon thing for me. Last year, I was like, I don't like it. Okay. Cuz, listen, I didn't like skinny jeans at first, and then I. Then I saw it enough, and I was like, okay, maybe maybe I like it now. All right, Maybe maybe this will be the same thing. I highly doubt it, though, because it still looks like hair no matter what. But, you know, teach their own. There's one creator who's like, I try really hard not to insert my opinion. I'm like, that's nice. I don't like it. I don't like it. Now am I okay with grassy plants that have, like, just the grass doing its natural vibey thing? Yeah. Do I love it when it's, like, being combed into submission like Johnny Bravo's pompadour? No. No, not so much. Anyways, that's all we have for today's video, guys. Thank you so much for watching. And as we say with every single trend video, just do you. Okay? Don't worry about following trends. If you find this video inspiring, please jump on down there and give it a like. And subscribe to this channel for more tips and tricks from Monterey Brett. But if you're just watching this for funsies, you know, that's okay, too. If you're doing anything that is considered dated or too trendy or. Or insert other potentially perceived as rude terminology here. Listen, you found the love of your life, and you're having an incredible day to celebrate that, and you're spending a lot of money to make that happen. Enjoy your day whether it's trendy in a good way or a bad way. Whether you are using in these colors or not using in these colors. At the end of the day you found your favorite person and you are creating a day to celebrate that. What are you doing design wise for your event? Do any of these trends stand out to you? Do any of them excite you? Do any of them give you the ick? Are you with me on the grass hair situation? Support me in the comments please and thank you because I just don't get it. I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't like it. And until next week, bye guys. That's all we have for this week's episode. Guys. If you enjoyed it, do me a favor, screenshot that episode and share it on socials. Tag me in it. I would love to see or Wolfer and company on Instagram. Let me know if you're enjoying it. You can also let me know if you didn't enjoy it, but I'm probably not going to re share that one. I hope you guys enjoy this week's episode and we'll see you in the next one.