After a tough year and a half of lockdowns and restrictions, couples that are soon to be newlyweds are looking forward to 2024 with restored hope and excitement. Once again, the dream is to have packed venues of happy, smiling guests and full dancefloors. The plan is to celebrate together with loved ones, all the things denied in the past 18 months and start off the new year with joyous enthusiasm.
Understandably, the pandemic has left a lasting impression on the next year’s trends as well, so there’ll be outdoor weddings and destination elopements for those with itchy feet, but there’ll also be couples who will simply enjoy a smaller gathering in the comfort of home.
The following are some of the biggest wedding trends for 2024.
Destination weddings
Getaway weddings and elopements have grown in popularity since a smaller crowd allows more flexibility when it comes to location. More and more couples are looking the escape the feeling of being cooped up at home and are ready to change the scenery. A destination wedding offers both the couple and their guests to celebrate the marriage and have a holiday at the same time.
However, don’t be fooled by the idea of destination or elopement as something exotic or expensive –couples are often choosing to “escape” to a nearby town instead of flying to some faraway tropical island.
Multi-day experiences
If you’re set on having a getaway wedding, consider making it a multi-day experience, even if it’s in a city nearby. While everyone is still in town, use the chance to organize pre and post-wedding events and then set off to a three-day weekend experience that will give the guests an opportunity to celebrate your wedding with you and create a myriad of additional memories with friends and family.
The expectations are that in 2024, couples will rather opt for a smaller guest count over a couple of days for their weddings because it adds in more experiences than just having the single-day wedding bash. Wedding planners and agencies also reveal that many couples choose to book local rental homes and host there everything from wedding celebrations, after parties to farewell brunches for their guests.
Weekday weddings
Another trend that came out of cancellations in the past two years is the idea of weekday events. Couples had to postpone their wedding dates, but naturally, people still got engaged and this resulted in fierce competition for weekend weddings. In 2024 already the weekend date availability is slimmer than ever!
Many hotels and wedding venues are fully booked with weekend dates for the upcoming year including a variety of other services, such as planning and photography. For all these reasons, couples are turning to smaller, more original wedding events in the middle of the week and they make sure too book a perfect wedding photographer from Melbourne on time.
Statement details
Opting for a smaller wedding also means you’ll have more room in your budget to splurge on some extras and unique details such as personalized menus, fancy guest book displays, speciality rentals, lavish floral installations, additional comfy seating areas with custom-made throw pillows and luxurious signage.
It’s perfectly understandable you want your big day to be special and everything you do for the day, gravitates to that idea of perfection, so why not hire light up letters to have the venue looking even more spectacular? They can spell whatever you like and can be positioned wherever you think is best, but they will surely add glamour and glitz to your wedding day! Moreover, such unique details and thoughtful touches will enhance your wedding experience both for you and your guests.
Speciality wedding vendors
Naturally, your big day will call for help from wedding professionals, such as a reputable caterer, but couples are now turning to unique vendors as well. These haven’t often been a part of a traditional wedding but couples now want more entertainment for their guests. This is often in the form of performers, on-site painting, games, beer burros, duelling pianos or even interactive stations.
Nature-inspired earthy palettes
An increased focus on the environment will continue into the following year. People were generally spending more time outdoors during the pandemic and most of them report they’ve found a completely new appreciation of nature.
As for the wedding décor, the colour palette is shifting slowly away from neutral whites and pastels, and more towards earthy, natural colours. People are readily abandoning the traditional ‘norm’ and opting for bolder colours, so the trends show that rust, browns and occasional gold accents will be the colours of 2024.
The décor will also include earthy textures with linen napkins, terracotta pots, driftwood ornaments and flower arrangements that will show off a more refined take on the traditional nude palette. This means that soft pink flowers will be mixed with silky ivories, caramel and coffee. The table settings will also include honeyed neutral colours with pops of brighter amber, rust, copper, brass and coral tones.
Unique wedding dresses
With a continual rise of micro-events, elopements and casual-chic week-day weddings, brides-to-be are stepping away from the traditional lavish gowns and turning to something more in accordance with their modern, minimalist styling. Such is the contemporary, elegant two-piece attire. This can easily be transformed during the event with an overskirt to suit the official ceremony and a change to trousers or a mini skirt for a night at the dancefloor. The advantages are manifold – you can make almost limitless combinations that can suit any style and body type plus it’s all re-wearable!
Trends also show an inclination towards shorter hemlines which include both minis and midis, but there’s also a preference for jumpsuits and tea-lengths that are very ceremony-appropriate.
These are the trends that are likely to define wedding trends in 2022. Hopefully, many of the restrictive elements that have marked the previous couple of years will have cleared up by 2022, but the future is hard to predict. On a brighter note, where there’s a will, there is always a way! Your dream wedding is still within reach, it just might require a bit more careful planning.
