Do These WEDDING TRENDS Need to GO?

Well, hello lovely humans, and welcome to Engage, a wedding planning podcast for the modern day couple. I'm your host, Jamie Wolfer, and I truly believe that wedding planning does not need to be complicated or time consuming. I kind of picture these episodes like jumping on a quick phone call with your wedding planner. You get your answers and you go on your merry way. Because sometimes not all of us have an hour to dedicate to listening to super long podcasts or super long intros. So without further ado, let's just jump right on into it. Today's episode is actually a audio recording of one of my most popular YouTube videos. I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need to sit down and and be able to process through the audio without the distraction of a video. So we decided to take this sweet little nugget and turn it into a podcast for you. I hope you find this helpful. My friends. Here's a term that we in the wedding industry love to use liberally, and that's wedding trends. About once a year I release a video talking about trends for the upcoming wedding season because honestly, this is my job and I love different wedding trends and different wedding ideas. But at a certain point we have to admit that things might have gotten a little out of hand. Now it's become trendy to talk about what trends aren't trendy anymore, and I'm not immune to it. In my never ending quest to find the perfect clickbaity title, I thought, let's bring it up today. What are some trends that the people of the Internet think need to go? Bye bye. All done. See you later. Woohoo. Okay, without further ado, let's just jump right on into it. Found a thread under the wedding planning subreddit that we should probably go over wedding trends that you think will change or be gone in the next five to 10 years. Just for fun, what are some current wedding trends that you think will either change or disappear in the near future? My prediction is that bridal parties will change this year in particular, I heard I've heard of more brides either not having a bridal party or having a smaller bridal party that sits during the ceremony and is more of an honorary role than an involved portion of the wedding. And unlike the formatting that I do for most of these videos, I'm actually just going to reply after each and every single one because I don't have patience or the memory to wait for all of these ideas. I don't think wedding parties are going anywhere. I think we are seeing a trend where couples are like, oh, I, I can allow them to sit. I'm going to go ahead and do that. But that's not anything new. In fact, we've had quite a few Catholic ceremonies in the past. I think even a Greek Orthodox ceremony where the wedding party was actually requested to sit. So this isn't, this isn't necessarily a new thing. This is going to be one of those things that's a little bit more cyclical where we'll have really small wedding parties and the wedding parties got really big again. So the whole sitting aspect of things that might stick around for a little bit, but most people are still going to have their wedding party standing. Another trend that was really, really popular for quite a few years is to have wedding parties swap sides. And so people still do this to this day where if you got your bride and your groom, you've got your bridesmaids and your groo, they would actually swap where the wedding party was standing so they could watch their friends faces as they're getting married. We'll also see couples do this with their family members so they don't have like their mom standing behind them during the super, super emotional times. That is not done with great frequency, but it's not uncommon. It's neither trendy nor not trendy. It's just a matter of preference. Which, as you'll find, is a statement that could be made for almost everything we'll talk about in this video. But also, we still see tons of weddings with giant wedding parties and tons of weddings with no wedding parties at all whatsoever. It's just a matter of preference. I think garter toss disappear entirely in the near future. Please, please let the garter toss die. It's so awkward as a guest. I'm a guy and I've gotten lined up, made no effort to catch the dang thing, and still subsequently hit in the face with a tiny piece of outdated lingerie several times. How tall are you? That's nonsensical that you've been hit in the face several times. This is honestly one of the number one things mentioned when I do unpopular wedding opinions over on Instagram. Occasionally on Thursdays, people will be like, garter toss is gross. We don't like it. You don't have to do it. It's not a requirement. You're not legally obligated to include this in your event. And I do love that we are seeing a trend of people not doing it because think of your poor tall friends faces, okay? Think of them. If you have anyone over 6 foot 2. They're doomed. Okay, Just. Just leave them out of this. The poor guy's been hit in the face way too many times in these circumstances. Now, all jokes aside, there is still a high frequency of weddings that are still doing these. Please take this as your permission, though, to say, I'm not doing it. I am ditching that. It is, technically, I would say this is more of a tradition than it is a trend because it's been around for so long. But this is why I love modern day weddings so very much, is you get to pick and choose how you want your wedding day to look and feel and how you want your guests to feel on your wedding day. Sitting here listening to a podcast is all fine and dandy, right? But sometimes you need an actual person to be asking some of these questions. Questions to. And you may be sitting there going, you know what, Jamie? Actually, yeah, that. That makes a lot of sense. I would love to be able to ask you these questions. Guess what? You need to join the master plan. You've heard me talk about it, but do you know why I love it so much? You get over 10 lessons that walk you through planning your wedding with videos and spreadsheets and other detailed resources. Along the way, join me and my virtual clients over in the master plan and get all your wedding planning questions answered. Literally thousands of couples have gone on this journey with me, and I'd love for you to be next. Check it out@wolferandco.com tmp that's wolferandco.com tmp Listen. Wedding budgets suck. They're just like the actual worst. And the hardest part for me is that weddings are not cookie cutter. They're not one size fits all. And I think it's important to make sure that you're budgeting according to your priorities. Build a budget that works with your vision and you'll be on the path to planning a wedding that you really want. So if you want my recommendations for making your perfect budget for you and your partner, head on over to wedding priorities dot com. I can see favors for guests at weddings going away. Most people are skipping them. This is cultural, okay, Because I talk about this. This was like one of like the biggest eye opening experiences for me on the Internet when I would talk about favors and be like, hey, ditch them. I see a ton of them get left behind. And then I had slews of couples from different cultures being like, if I did that, my tia would disown me. Like, you don't understand. We have to give favors. They will leave with the centerpieces, they will leave with the tablecloths if they can. That's just how we roll here. So I think this one's cultural. And again, this is a tradition that people are choosing to opt out of. I opted out of it at my wedding. Anytime a couple opts out of it at theirs, I think it's great. I do think favors are left behind it. I wouldn't be mad if it disappeared entirely in the cultures that it does not affect. But we can't have TIAs stealing your rented centerpiece, vase or tablecloth. So if we need some Jordan Albans to appease them, we're going to keep those in the rotation. Color schemes and decor always change over time. There's nothing inherently wrong with sage green dresses, eucalyptus leaves or disco balls, but there will be a new trendy esthetic soon enough. Signage on every surface may disappear. Anything that's expensive but adds little to the guest experience tends to die out. Ooh, good take. I bet the choose your own bridesmaid dress trend will stay. Maybe not multiple colors, but I don't think bridesmaids will be okay wearing a uniform, unflattering style now that a better option is widely accepted. Yes, I agree that the identical bridesmaid dresses are going out. Not necessarily. We've got some couples hanging on to that tradition for dear life. Conversely, what I do see as a trend that probably will fade out a little bit over the next subset of years and then return in another 10 or so is the really, really printed dresses, those with aggressive floral prints, et cetera, that make a very bold statement visually. Instead, we'll probably stick to the more neutral tones or subtle patterns. Those tend to be around and stick around with a lot more frequency than the really, really patterned styles do. As for the bridal party, I've seen people online, on Reddit or Facebook groups talking about foregoing bridal parties, but in plus weddings I've been to in the last couple of years, I've not seen a single one do it. Yeah, put your money where your mouth is, folks. Keep talking about doing I'm just kidding bouquet toss. I think it'll disappear in the future. I think these women would beg to disagree with you, and his name is John cen, And maybe I just showed you the perfect reason for why they should go away. I don't know. Does make for entertaining content though. I'm really sorry, but those detachable bishop and puff sleeves are going to look super dated in a few years. Yeah, well, I mean, you're not wrong, okay? You're not wrong but everything has a season. Hate to break to you but a lot of things that you think are timeless are in fact just trends in a longer time setting. I'm kind of hoping the personalized circuit. I'm assuming you mean Cricket style gifts and proposal for bridesmaids and groomsmen, but I'm a bit biased as I dislike most cricket cricut slash poorly personalized things. I can understand this one. This one makes sense. Well I would prefer it being done with a cricut because I've done some Cricut DIYs here on this channel. I prefer that over buying something that says bridesmaid Can't. It's not for me. It's not for me. I'm so sorry if you are like I just put together my bridesmaid gift boxes and everything says the word bridesmaid on it. I'm not a huge fan. That's why I came up with an entire range of married merch that doesn't say the word bride on it and it says stuff like married till you're buried or Mrs. Or Mr. And it's super cut and it's always linked down below these videos. You should go check them out. Honestly, I wear this stuff all the time and I've been married for a lot longer. I just think that if we are going to be gifting things, let's make sure that it has a little bit more of a timeless element to it because I agree with the person who replied to that comment saying same I hate any one time, wear or use thing. It's essentially creating a piece of trash. It's so wasteful. No one actually wants to wear a shirt that says Sarah's Bride Tribe after the fact. Even if you're my best friend and I'm super happy for you, a picture is a perfectly fine memento. I don't need crap cluttering my house to remember your wedding. I completely forgot to throw myself a bridal shower. So did everyone else. Oh, my only regret on this is that I missed out on some free cookware or something. I don't like that spirit at all. Also, I think that the crazy everyone must wear pink and black. What? What sort of wedding are you referring to? 1 from 2002 bachelorette party. Oh, Bachelorette party. I should have kept reading before reacting is going by the wayside. I just rented a cabin for the boys, Nabunglo at the beach for the gals and ordered in Italian. I have no idea what the boys did. It sounded like they Just had beers around the campfire and hung. Then again, we were in our mid-30s by the time we got around to getting married, so we kind of were out of our let's go crazy face. Bud vases. What? Telephone. Guest books. Matchbook favors. No. Neon signs. Yeah. Disco balls. They could go. Wildflower florals. Those are staying drop waist dresses. We'll see them again like another 20, 30 years. Off the shoulder sleeves. Timeless. Not going anywhere. Gold mirrors and frames, for example. Seating chart. Nope. That one's here to stay. Sorry. Cheesecloths slash chiffon table runners. I think those have also earned a permanent spot in wedding planning in general. Roll. They're just. It's a great way to add, like, ground the center of your table as well as add a pop of color and a little bit of texture to something without spending a lot of money. Pearls and bows on everything. Pearls. Timeless. I will die on that hill. Okay. Die. I will die on that hill. Bows only if you're four or below. Heart shaped sunglasses. Bye bye. Glow sticks on the dance floor. Timeless. You can't get rid of. I'm sorry. Squiggly line. Borders on signage.

Mmm.

Yeah, that's. Why did that start? Fruit and vegetables as decorations. I mean, like, I'm always going to be a fan of a still life painting and I always think that's going to be like a timeless, like, look. But I don't think we're going to be seeing like, tons of lettuce clad tabletops for ever and ever. Amen. Checkerboard dance floors. Timeless. Sorry. Wax seals. Over my dead body. Are those leaving? Those are staying forever. Thank you. Disposable slash Polaroid cameras. Nah, those will come around again. Pets on koozies cups and cocktail napkins. Someone actually got really mad at me for bringing these up in a video saying, how dare you? How dare you. I'm doing those. And I was like, you do you Boo bear. We can't make the pet parents angry. Eucalyptus and pompous grass already on their way out. Nah, Eucalyptus is here to stay, no matter how much florists would prefer for it to be gone. Pompous grass. Pompous grass might be gone. It might be going, I don't know. Battery powered slash rechargeable table lamps. Ooh. Ooh. I don't think those are going anywhere for a long, long, long time, though. Black and white color scheme with greenery. Slash baby's breast. Slash white flowers. That's kind of timeless. I don't think that's going. Oh, that's not going. That's not going anywhere. Mismatched bridesmaid dresses. This one will be around for a while, but I could totally see it going away in 10 to 15 years. Yeah. Okay, well, that is the entire nature of the industry.

Okay.

But you know what? I'm doing most of these things at my own wedding. Plot twist. And I simply do not care if any of these things are outdated. In a decade's time, all weddings look outdated as time goes on. As long as you're doing the things that make you happy, then when you look back on your wedding photos in the future, of course, you might cringe at a few things, but for the most part, you'll just remember how happy and in love you were. That's all that matters. This is the take that I can get on board with. Okay. Like, listen, if you like it, do it. If you don't, it's totally fine. But then you get on TikTok and this sort of situation happens.

Wedding trends, I think, are going to be overdone in 2025 and 2026. I know this is going to be kind of controversial, and I don't mean, like, if you're doing this for your wedding, like it's going to be overdone and, like, it's not cute. At the end of the day, you're getting married, and if that's what you want to do, that's what you want to do.

Not the controversial take on wedding trends. Sorry. She's adorable. She's got great cheekbones.

These are just the things that I have seen so many celebrities and so many influencers do over and over and over again. You might not be coming off as, like, unique and cool any anymore, and they might just come off trendy.

Okay. Okay. If all you're doing is getting your wedding inspiration from celebrities and influencers, then you're probably pushing yourself out of a lot of budget categories. What I want you to be doing in situations like this when you're planning your wedding and you see these gorgeous, gorgeous influencers with their gorgeous, gorgeous weddings or these celebrities with their incredibly lavish events, is to pull inspiration from, not copy. Because we're getting really nuanced with the terminology that she's using here, where we say it's cool and unique and then becomes trendy and then becomes dated. It's all the same thing. It just matters what day you look at it.

Let's just get into it. This next year is going to be the death of the arch. I have seen less and less people use an arch at the altar and honestly, use nothing. And I think it's so beautiful and it has more focus on the couple. So no more arches.

Well, then their marriage is not going to be valid. If you know, you know. But also it's a superbly fantastic way to save money because that's a lot of florals. So, like, don't feel like you have to do it. I love how it frames the couple in the right circumstance, but it is totally overkill. You don't need to have it. And I don't think that we're gonna see them go anywhere, though.

This one physically pains me to say this because I love these flowers. As a 2026 bride, I have to also ask myself this question. Are these flowers just really trendy right now or do I actually like them for my wedding?

Do you have to ask yourself? You have to. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. She's so sweet.

Is anthuriums and calla lilies. I have seen so many calla lily bouquets and just people holding one calla lily. I've seen.

You know what's trendy? Her ring. Like, you want to talk about wedding trends, you can, with a pretty decent accuracy track when someone was engaged based on what their engagement ring looks like. And this whole two stone, two different shape thing, it's giving like kind of like Jackie Kennedy vibes. She technically had two different types of stones, but it gave the feeling of that mismatched effect. Right. But that wasn't a trend that stuck around for a long time. This is hyperspecific. And this is going to be one of those things in 10 years that we're like, oh, you got engaged in like 2024, 2025.

Didn't you mean so many people with ethereum flower arrangements and everything, it's all so beautiful. But is that just highly trendy right now? I think it might be. And I think by the time 2026 rolls around for me, like, like it will have been done so much that it's just not going to feel cool and unique.

Anthuriums and callows are definitely a throwback. This is why when we talk about trends, we see that it is cyclical over the decades. So these are very much a nod to the 90s and the early aughts, where we see those as very, very prominent in floral displays, very prominent in wedding bouquets, etc, so this is just something that's coming back around. Usually when a trend like this comes around, it's here to stay for at least a Couple of seasons. So I don't think that this is going anywhere for 2026, but I also don't think it'll be five to 10 years.

Parasols. I have seen so many cool parasol photos, people with parasols at their weddings, and I think it's beautiful. However, every wedding I have seen for inspiration this year had parasols. So now it leads me to ask the same question. Is it highly trendy right now, and will it be overdone by my wedding? And the answer is coming out yes. So I think, think if you guys have 2025 and 2026 weddings, it may just be completely overdone by then, which.

Honestly, I wouldn't be terribly mad about because they are super expensive. But we've been doing parasols for a long time, sister friend. They have been around. I remember my second or third styled shoot I ever did. I used parasols as a part of the styled shoot. It's not. It's not a trend. It's something that if you have extra money to throw at something like this, like, we will absolutely do. We've had parasols at wedding. Gosh, what was it, 2016? This isn't going anywhere. It's bougie, it's extra it expensive. It's really cute, and makes for fantastic photos. Just think we might be seeing some photographers highlighting them if they're present, and that might just be your specific algorithm. But no, parasols are not a trend, and no, they're not going anywhere.

Chandeliers outside, this, I think, is just so overdone, and people are just trying to copy one wedding in particular and, like, emulate someone else's wedding.

Okay.

Chandlers have been outside for a really long time. Like, Chandlers outside in wedding. Long time. Usually just one. Right. So copious amounts of them, like, arched over and lit up like, that feels next level. That's, like, real expensive, real busy. But I don't think they're going anywhere. I do think that they're a really expensive accessory, and I think it'll be one of those things that, like, kind of comes in and out a little bit more, like, dips in a little bit more frequency, and then. And then it's kind of gone. So maybe a trend, maybe not. But they've been around since, like, 2002, 2005, and I don't think they're going anywhere.

Heavy drapery and bows everywhere and, like, heavy fabrics everywhere. It's so beautiful. The bow trend came and went. We're gonna all be so over bows and, like, heavy drapery.

Okay. I am also a fan of not going heavy on the drapery simply because the installation and the cost of the installation. Just not. Not a. Not a huge fan. Never really been a huge fan of heavy, heavy, heavy drapery. This will be something that is trendy. This will be something that will go away. We'll still see it for a few more seasons. It's just not going to stay very heavy and very prominent. Like, we talked about bows earlier. Yeah, that's gonna go too.

This one may be controversial, but I don't know how I feel about a champagne tower. I feel like it is so extremely overdone, but it's honestly been overdone for years. Maybe it's kind of classic. So many opinions on weddings and. And wedding aesthetic in general. Please don't take offense to this, because at the end of the day, it's just. It's your day, and you do whatever the you want.

You know, she kind of hit the nail on the head there with the champagne tower specifically. Like, is it trendy or is it timeless? Is it here to stay? Honestly, who cares? Like, she rounded it out really beautifully at the end to be like, it's your wedding day. It's totally fine. But I. What I. What I got a lot of humor from is watching that specifically all the controversial takes, including, if this is controversial, I might not have an opinion on the champagne tower to then be followed up by this post. Trends I'm loving as a 2025 bride, including but not limited to draped calla lilies drapery ceremony. That's. I don't. That's not ceremony site. That looks like an art installment. That's a choice. See, the arch is gone, though. So, like, maybe her trend prediction was correct because this just looks like an art piece. It looks like something. It looks like something. I just feel like that would look really weird in photos, unless you're really far back. Linen fabric signage. That's not a trend. That's here. That's not going anywhere. Oh, look, more calla lilies. Basque or corset wedding dresses that drop waist. They'll definitely be cycled through for a minimum of three wedding seasons, for sure. Oh, look, more calla lilies. This is given. This is given. 90s for sure. Got some unique flowers. Oh, the. What's. Why are we doing that with tulips? Why are we doing that? Do you know how impractical that is? That is made for this one photo and one photo only. Hey, I actually don't mind A really pretty cascading bouquet. This flower accessory. No, no, I don't like it. Wait, what? All I see is a drunk groomsman at 10pm swinging that around his head. It doesn't look well built enough to sustain that kind of energy. And then I see pearls just flying all across the room. All right. And then the flower bag. Not my personal cup of tea. Fruit all over the table. Covered this earlier. I'm not mad. Still life. Okay. Not mad. Unique table designs. I don't, I don't like them. I don't like them. I don't like them. I don't like them. Okay. Anything like this, where your back could be to somebody else, you have to. Where you have to turn to be able to be able to have a conversation with your literal seat next door neighbor. I'm not a huge, Not a huge fan. I think it photographs beautifully. I think it's highly impractical from a guest experience. This aisle arrangement, this is. I don't like it. Imagine being the person at the very end, just being stuck back there, being like, I can't see anything. Guys, can you lean back? Thanks. Fruitcakes, dessert. I'm on board with this. I'm a fan. This is fine. I'm fine with all of this. I just love that we went from one post being like, they've gone from being cool and unique to now trendy, and that's a four letter word in some languages, to another post being like, I love these trends, they're so incredible. And then here's me being like, like some and hate some of everything that you guys just mentioned. It's totally fine. And I promise this isn't just a video where I'm hyper, specifically bashing things on the Internet. There's a point. There is definitely a seasonality to wedding planning and wedding design and things that we are absolutely obsessed with today. We will not be obsessed with five to ten years from now. Things that were considered stylistically on the cutting edge were probably done 20 to 30 years ago, which is basically a recycled version of what happened 20 to 30 years before that. And I think the best way of rounding this out is by bringing my gal, Meredith up, because she is just a breath of fresh air. If you're on any sort of social media platform, you should be following her. I, I just absolutely love this wedding planner. Like, I want to meet her in real life.

Everything that once was cringe will eventually become cool again. Everything that is cool right now, not so long ago called cringe2. All are coordinating the bridesmaids bouquet to their dress. I guess we're not calling it cringy this year. Sun hats, cool again. Drop waist with a bubble hem with a puff sleeve. Drop waist with a bubble hem. Drop waist with a bubble sleeve. Bridesmaid parasols. Oh, they' cool again. It's made flower baskets. It's got a rebrand. We're calling it the flower purse. Big ass veils. We still got big ass veils. Little hair gem pearl doodads. You got those too. Everything is cyclical. Things fall out of trend. Then with enough time, they eventually come back around. Not for long. Soon enough, this will be labeled cringe, too. It's the circle of life. And if you have the fear that 30 years from now somebody's going to call your wedding cringe, don't worry, they will. Might as well get over it now. I can almost promise you, two generations ago, they were not planning their weddings with the thought of, what are my grandkids going to say? Why the hell do you care now? If you start making choices just because they're trendy, just because you saw it online, just because somebody else did it, now you need to do it too. Yeah. Then maybe you're gonna look back with regret, be like, why did I do that? That was really weird. Once you stop worrying about what's cool or uncool, because eventually it's all uncool. Hone in to what feels right for you. If you are planning your wedding day authentically, then it will not even matter that someday your wedding day will probably look kind of uncool. Not here to stir. Fear of everything you love is someday gonna be ugly. So don't do it. It. It's the opposite of that.

Do whatever the hell you want.

Wear whatever you want. It's just one day. But then tomorrow, time keeps spinning on. As long as you plan a day that makes you happy, you will love looking back at your wedding photos. Even if someday they might look cringe. But soon enough, they'll be cool again.

I rest my case. Use wedding trends as inspiration to pull from. Get excited about things that you see online, especially if you're into the visual aesthetics of an overall look for a wedding without becoming obsessed with the details of having a timeless look or a timeless effect. Because honestly, there are very few things in the wedding industry and in this world that are considered well and truly timeless by absolutely everyone. Plan a wedding day that suits you and your fiance. Plan a wedding day that gets you excited. To think about it. Plan a wedding day that makes your guests feel Warm and welcome and loved. Plan your wedding day with good food, good lighting, good music and a good spouse by your side. And everything else will fall into place. That's what we have for today's video. Guys, thank you so much for watching. If you are struggling through wedding planning planning and try to figure out how to style your wedding in the midst of all of these trends and what you should do and what you should not do, sometimes it is really helpful to have a wedding planner come alongside you. But that doesn't mean you can necessarily afford a wedding planner. That's my creative the Master Plan. It's my online wedding planning course where I walk you through everything that you need to plan your wedding from point A to wedding day. I'm gonna go ahead and link it right up here. As always, it is linked in the bio down below. I have an entire module dedicated on how to style your wedding using Pinterest. And on top of that, I do live monthly phone call calls to help you plan your wedding as intentionally and as cost effectively as possible. Oh wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we go, what's a trend that you vibe with? What's the trend that you're like, I love this. I hope it never goes anywhere. And then what's a trend that you're like, you gotta go. You gotta go. I'm done with it. I'm done seeing you. We're over it. Let me know in the comments down below. If you like the video, jump on down there like the video and subscribe to this channel for more tips and tricks for the modern day bride. And until next week, bye guys. If you are struggling with wedding planning and you have questions and you just need someone to listen and to chat with, come join us in the master plan community over@themasterplanwed.com. i would love to have you in there. Thanks so much for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe, Jump on over to wherever you're listening to this podcast and leave a five star review so we can let the podcast people know that Jamie knows what she's talking about sometimes. And until next time, bye guys.