Wedding Trends 2016 and 2017

For those who attended the wedding event in the Pillo Hotel & Spa Ashbourne, you would have heard my top wedding trends for 2016 and 2017.

I took my inspiration from what I could see in Pinterest, Instagram, Etsy, Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week and some of the American magazines and blogs. America is always one step ahead!

I will be doing a blog on each of these trends as a piece but to summarise what I’m seeing out there at the moment here are my top trends;

Wedding Pantone Inspiration
Photo Credit – elegantinvitations on Pinterest

Colour

I recently attended an interior design course and got to learn all about colour trends. I made note of this and when I searched online after, I spotted that these colour trends apply to the fashion and bridal world too! Every year a company called Pantone set the colours of the year. In 2016, they set Rose Quartz and Serenity.

When I dug a little deeper, the Rose Quartz colour is everywhere at the moment. It’s basically a blush pink and is so versatile for a wedding. If those colours hit the shops this year, we should see the bridesmaids dresses live in summer 2016 right through to 2017.

When we look at 2017, there is no clarity as to what the colour will be, but there is talk that it might be a blood red/burgundy colour.

Outside of Pantone, when you open Instagram and Pinterest; metallic colours are the main colours i’m seeing. From rose golds to silver, it is so popular. To take this colour tone a step further, we see sequins starting to appear in a lot of bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses as well as on decor pieces such as table cloths. I recently wrote a blog for Xpose.ie highlighting this trend.

Themes

Rustic Wedding Theme
Photo Credit RusticWed

This is my favourite part of wedding planning. The best challenge you can give any wedding planner, and yourselves as a couple, is to come up with a creative concept for your wedding decor and style. This style is your theme and it should be fluid throughout your stationary, fashion and decor. I always encourage couples to work with their own theme rather than following trends as I feel it is important to make your wedding day all about you both.

In the absence of an individual theme preference, there are some themes that are popular from my observation online:

Rustic: When we think of rustic, we think of barns, wood craft, bunting, home made desserts, farms, fresh cut garden flowers with daisies and baby breath and good old country style.

Romance: This theme takes in that gorgeous Rose Quartz colour. It boasts over the top calligraphy as if you were writing a love letter in Shakespearian times. It has big loose curls, big trains on dresses and of course, pink roses.

High Drama: This is a step over Hollywood Glamour. It packs a punch and is very focused on lighting, opulence, Hollywood Glamour style bridal gowns with added crystals and pearls and pretty much over the top in every part of the planning! The table centrepieces should be tall with huge flowers and crystals pouring over. Lighting is very very important in this theme. We want big chandeliers, uplighters, fairy light backdrops, light up/ LED dance floor and the cherry on the cake would be some of the light up / LED letters from the likes of Lovin Letters.

Beauty and the Beast Theme

Alice Through the Looking Glass: This hits the cinemas very soon and when Alice in Wonderland came out a few years ago, wedding themes took in a mad hatter tea party style. I can see this happening again and we see this theme work really well on table decor and in particular for cakes. I spotted a cake suitable to this theme in Creative Cakes when I visited there a few weeks ago. The theme will be very quirky and really stand out if you are brave enough to embrace it!

Beauty & The Beast: The trailer has been released and the remake of the movie is due to hit cinemas in 2017. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be great inspiration taken from the visuals in this movie. You could have a pink rose under a glass case as a centrepiece. Use teapots and cups as centrepieces too! The dress will no doubt be princess style and you can bank on the use of pink and navy making an impact.

Bridal:

Anti-Dress – Herrera – WeddingDreams

I studied the forms from designers that showcased in New York Bridal Fashion week and Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week. They both pretty much had the same styles, plus I looked at smaller designers that are getting great feedback online.

Read the full Wedding Dress Trend article here.

Feathers: Many designers added big feathers to mainly skirts of dresses.

Cut Out: After Kim Kardashian’s wedding dress, we saw cut out make an appearance. This look is now almost everywhere. It’s not for everyone as it does show some skin!

Off the Shoulder: Pretty much all shops outside of bridal have off the shoulder looks at the moment. This has also translated to the bridal catwalks.

The Anti-Dress: As weddings become less traditional and more diverse, wedding style has no boundaries. We are seeing more and more opt for a wedding suit, jumpsuit, romper suit and dresses that are not bridal at all.

Colour: More and more brides are opting for different colours outside of the white/ivory/champagne colours. We are seeing a lot of blush dresses.

Mis-matched bridesmaids: We look at bridesmaids wearing the same colour but different style dresses or the same dresses in a range of colours. Going that one step further we see some weddings go for different colours within a colour tone and different dresses.

Cut Out – Jim Hjelm
Photo Credit – Brides.com

Flowers: We are seeing floral prints and 3D flower details.

High to Low: This is where we have the skirt at the front appearing above the knee and then drops at the back to a train.

Peplum: There are more and more dresses with a peplum skirt which is good news as it can be very flattering for certain shapes!

Bows: A signature or feature bow on a dress is big news.

Halter: A halter neck top is becoming very popular and in some cases, the back tie is a feature bow.

Plunging Neckline: This has been a big trend for the last 2 years and it appears to be holding strong again this year.

Back: A completely cut out back is on trend. We see a lot more designers adding jewellery to the cut out back to make a bigger feature of a back.

Long Sleeves, Wings and Capes: Similar to last year, we see lace long sleeves, wings and capes featuring quite prominently.

Accessories

Etsy: Etsy is becoming one of the main shopping destinations for all things weddings. Brides and Grooms-to-be are flocking to the site to get their wedding decor or accessories.

Kelly Spence Design

Quirky Food: There is always a new foodie fad and this year is no different. Dessert tables are big right now. Street food vendors are becoming popular in other countries. Couples are looking to move away from the traditional beef/salmon and look for a more diverse menu which takes in cuisine from across the globe.

Less Veil more Hair Jewellery: I’m not seeing as many veils at the moment. Hair chains and clips are everywhere.

Floral Wall: We all remember Kimye having this at their wedding and now this is a reality for Irish weddings.

That’s a wrap up of the most obvious wedding trends that I am seeing. As more come to light I will add them in!