15 Wedding Features & Trends

Make it personal with a signature cocktail

1. Make it Personal

Craft a thoughtful menu: The entrée could reflect your first-date dinner or an array of dishes that reprise the culinary highlights from your love story. Your signature drink(s) offers an opportunity to showcase your shared history with clever names tying in your wedding location, pet names or a city you love.

2. Travel Tales

Frequent travelers might create a passport for their guests that includes the wedding program, tables named for their favorite international destinations, the menu and a personal note from the bride and groom.

3. Sports Themes

Baseball fans and former players might use their favorite pastime as the theme for a late-night snack station. Décor can include memorabilia and ball caps from beloved teams. Snacks can be stadium favorites like buttered popcorn, hot dogs and oversized cookies.

Pressed flower cakes

4. Pressed Flower Cakes

The vintage dried flower look is now being applied to layer cakes for a retro artistic element. This delicate arrangement can be a romantic touch combining the hues of nature and plenty of greenery.

5. Landmark Locales

Find a standout address in your preferred location that delivers the “wow” factor. Scout an outdoor terrace lined with lighted trees, an open grassy lawn or a lush garden at peak bloom for a glamorous occasion that you’ll treasure forever.

6. Upcycle Family Heirlooms

Raid a relative’s cupboard for sentimental service items like a silver cake knife, embroidered napkins or a pair of crystal flutes for a champagne toast. Celebrate family heritage by highlighting beloved keepsakes and blend new traditions with the old.

7. Replace the Flower Girl

Instead of young children flinging flowers down the aisle, reimagine your personnel choices. Grandma would love to be your flower girl. Give her a basket of rose petals and a place of honor in your wedding party.

Sand ceremony

8. Sand Ceremony

Perfect for your destination wedding, a sand ceremony blends colored sand into a vase signifying the couple’s unity. The technique works well for blended families, allowing each member to have their own color of sand and be represented in the final display.

Dress for less

9. Dress for Less

Your squad will be thrilled that you’re aware of today’s dress prices. Stylish and affordable bridesmaids’ dresses are available in the hundred-dollar range from brands like Birdy Grey, AW Bridal and Morilee.

10. Personalized Favors

Add your name to a sweet treat for a customized wedding favor. Select from a menu of designs, add your moniker or image and make it all yours. You can personalize tins of M&Ms, Hershey’s Kisses and mini-jars of Nutella.

11. 1-2-3 TURN AROUND!

Brides are giving their bridesmaids their own “reveal” just minutes before the ceremony. As hard as it is to keep your wedding day look a secret from your best pals, some brides do it for the delighted reaction that can buoy the mood just when nerves are starting to creep in.

Welcome your guests to a destination wedding with a gift bag representing the local culture. A couple in Jamaica gave their attendees a box with Red Stripe beer, mini-Tortuga rum cakes, handmade shortbread cookies from The Shortbread Shop and organic Hibiscus Petal cold brew tea.

Pop the question with a small gift

13. Pop the Question

Proposals aren’t just for the bride or groom. The bridal party gets a special ask, which usually comes with a token of appreciation for their participation. Small gifts like an initial necklace, a pair of cozy PJs or a crossbody bag are meaningful ways to celebrate your friendship.

14. Go Farther

Destination weddings are more popular than ever for couples who want to incorporate adventure into their celebration. Sandy beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean are perennial favorites, but some are venturing to distinctive locations like Italy’s scenic Lake Como, South Africa’s formidable wine regions and Hawaii’s dramatic oceanfront cliffs.

VeriFlora-certified bouquet

Let us help you plan the destination wedding of your dreams. Contact a travel agency today!