One of the interesting things about being a Wedding DJ/Planner is the opportunity to observe the change in wedding trends from one summer to the next. Here are some of the trends from this summer, based on weddings that Kaleidoscope has done:
The Ceremony:
-Let’s start with the ceremony. Obviously, it isn’t a wedding without the ceremony. But, what we have seen this summer is that Ceremony time has been “short and sweet.” More and more, brides and grooms are telling us that more is less when it comes to the ceremony. They want it to be meaningful and compelling, but they also want their guests to not have to sit through more than 20-25 minutes of Ceremony programming.
-Unity Elements: We see much less of the classic Unity Elements than we used to. Instead of doing the Unity Candle or Unity Sand, couples are opting instead for other, less common options. These are the three things that we have seen more and more of this season: 1. The Unity Knot, 2. The Unity Tree, 3. Unity Wine. As a side note, drinking two different types of wine mixed together doesn’t sound delicious, but the symbolism is nice…
Cocktail Hour:
-We have seen an uptick in the third-site cocktail hour. What this means is that many people are having their cocktail hour in a site that is different from where the rest of the reception will take place. For instance, if your venue is indoors, do your cocktail hour in a scenic spot on the grass outside of your venue. How do you get the people out there you ask? Ask your venue if they can/will set up a temporary bar in the location where you want your Cocktail Hour to be. Just to clarify, this is still at your reception venue, it’s just not inside of the venue where the dancing and dinner will be.
-Activities: We’ve seen a lot more weddings that offer activities for the guests. Here are what we see: Corn Hole, Ladder Ball, Giant Jenga, Spike Ball, and many other random lawn games. Guests like these, and it creates a casual and fun BBQ vibe, if that’s what you’re going for.
Dinner:
-Family Style: 75% of the weddings we do offer Family Style dinner. It is insanely popular in the Barns especially. Beware though, it is often times the slowest form of serving dinner in our experience. The second most popular form of dinner is buffet style, but it isn’t nearly as popular as Family Style.
Programming:
-Bouquet/Garter Toss: This summer, we have rarely done these. More often than not, couples are electing to not do either of these, or to do the Bouquet Toss but skip the Garter Toss.
-Anniversary Dance: Probably about 2/3 of our brides and grooms elect to do the Anniversary Dance. It’s definitely popular.
-The Dollar Dance- This tradition is super rare for us. We almost never do it. Beware, if you want to do it that it’s called the Dollar Dance, but it is actually 4-5 slow songs in a row. Can be good if people are tired from dancing and need a break, but can also kill the mood in your reception.
-Cake Cutting-More and more we see these two trends in the cake cutting– a one tier wedding cake for cutting, but cupcakes for the guests. If they don’t do this option, another popular thing we often see is pie. The bride and groom cut a pie and their guests eat pie. This is a great option for barn weddings.
-Toasts: More and more we are doing the toasts after the salad is served, but before dinner is served. This allows guests to eat a little bit and it also gets the toasts out of the way.
Dancing:
-Very few Group Dances. To be honest, Group Dances will pack the dance floor. Nobody listens to them on their iPod for fun, but the truth is they work. But, they are also cheesy and cliché. Most couples are telling us to steer clear of them. We also are told often that the Wobble is acceptable, but not the YMCA, Cha Cha Slide, the Macarena, Electric Slide, or the Hustle. The Cupid Shuffle is outlawed as often as it is deemed acceptable.
-The Six Biggest New Songs this Summer in Order: Shut Up and Dance, Shake it Off, Watch Me Whip, Uptown Funk, I Can’t Feel My Face, Say Geronimo.
-New Songs That Should Fill the Floor But Don’t: Trap Queen and GDFR.
Miscellaneous:
-Busses/Trollies: The best weddings have trollies. Why? The reason is odd, but simple– the guests are a captive audience. They literally can’t leave. They are committed. We see this more and more and we think it’s a great trend.
-Warehouses: This is the “next big thing” in weddings. In 5 years the warehouse will be the new barn.
-Hashtags: This is nothing revolutionary, but we definitely like the trend. Automatically organizes all of your guest photos in one place. What’s not to like?
-Creative Guest Book: The most popular Guest Book trend we see involves the guests pressing colorful ink onto a creative image with their thumb.
These are the trends we have witnessed this summer. If you have any questions I’d love to talk more about any of these with you. Happy planning!