37 Wedding Trends That People Predict Brides And Grooms Will Regret Participating In

I really hope the extravagance dies out. I just…my heart aches for these couples spending upper 5 and 6 figures mostly for the aesthetic, and then come back here and post about everything that went wrong.

The extravagant pre-wedding events.

The Instagram worthy planning (so stress producing).

On wedding dresses: the tops that look like lingerie. Super cute if that's your style, but in a few years it'll be so dated.

Going into debt.

Massive destination bachelor/bachelorette parties that costs thousands of dollars over days at a time. LOL I can’t wait for them to go away.

All of them! There is nothing in 2024 that won’t look dated in 2050, just like how there was nothing in 1980 that didn’t look dated in 2000. Some things will be dated faster than others, but everything will be dated, from the clothes and accessories to the hairstyles to the food served to the photography style. Even the fact that you had wedding photography at all will be dated one day.

Timelessness is a myth. Always has been.

The bustier/corset/lingerie type dress bodice I think will be the equivalent of the 80s puffy sleeve.

Garter toss 🙃

Makes me uncomfortable EVERY. TIME.

I would love if the trend of expecting friends and family to spend hundreds (even thousands) of dollars on wedding related events would die. Unfortunately, if the posts here show anything, the entitlement culture seems to be alive and well.

Donut walls.

The cursive minimal signage and beige/white/tan everything.

Most of it to be honest - the huge expensive Instagram weddings, the cursive fonts, so many signs, getaway bach parties, the dress style that’s mostly lace top with a line bottom.

We all just kind of have to assume that whatever we do for our weddings now, eventually we’re going to have to defend ourselves to the grandkids of “it was cool at the time!”.

I'm actually surprised the cursive "bridesmaid" font hasn't died off yet. god i hate that font.

The bare/minimal icing wedding cakes! I think that they’re cute, but it’s definitely a trend and will probably look dated in photos.

Following the *trend* in this comment section by sharing something I’m including in my own wedding that I’m sure will be dated soon:

Alternative bouquets.

I’m doing a LEGO bouquet, I see crochet bouquets are becoming more popular, but honestly I think it’s one of those things like themed weddings where some people will always do it, but it won’t be as common as it is now.

Having a lot of guests. I think that elopements and micro-weddings will continue to become more and more normalized and socially acceptable as couples look to save money and keep things low-key and low-pressure.

Guests expect more from weddings nowadays than they did a few decades ago when potluck receptions and having family and friends pitch in were still socially acceptable. Now, couples are expected to wine and dine their wedding guests to a certain extent and hire professionals instead of relying on family and friends.

I'm not saying that guests' expectations are wrong or out of line. I understand that many guests travel long distances, take time off work, and/or make other sacrifices to attend weddings. What I'm saying is that most couples, even now, can't really afford to provide that level of hospitality to very many guests.

I mean, if you think about it, the biggest line items on a typical wedding budget aren't the venue or the decorations, they're the things that effect the guest experience the most: food, beverage, entertainment, and staff (so you don't have to put guests to work). It is simply impossible to have a wedding below a certain cost threshold without significantly impacting the guest experience.

So as housing shortages persist in the Western world and the cost of living (and therefore vendor pricing) continues to go up, we're going to see more and more couples forgoing having wedding guests, or choosing to only have a select few family/friends in attendance.

Personally, I regret letting my husband's family pressure us into having a wedding instead of an elopement. I enjoyed our wedding, but even though we did what we could to keep costs down while providing good hospitality to our guests, the wedding still set us way back financially. And the real kicker is that the vast majority of his family ended up not being able to even attend our wedding.

When my own daughter grows up, if she ever wants to get married, I will most definitely emphasize that she and her partner can have whatever kind of wedding they want and can afford. They don't have to follow any specific tradition and they don't even have to include her father or me or anyone else.

Neon signs, drink/champagne walls, first looks (which I love and we are doing, but I think the pendulum will swing on this one), blurry film photos.

Wedding photographer of 15+ years here. All clothing and hairstyles will obviously be dated. Almost all decor will be dated.

But these people commenting about first looks are hilarious. First looks aren’t a trend lol. They are a logistical aspect of a wedding.

I think (hope) the concept of a wedding weekend will go out of style. It’s expensive to host a welcome dinner, celebration brunch, etc in addition to a wedding and as a guest I’m just not interested.

Also all the wedding adjacent events like bridal showers are unnecessary when people live together before marriage and it feels weird with giving multiple gifts between all the wedding events.

Geometric and hoop arches are also probably a trend (and one I am using). Also all those mirror sign seating charts since they’re difficult to read.

In terms of dresses, I think the more form fitting, lace style will be dated (but that is also what I got so no hate)

In terms of rings, the solitaire cut and pave band are both very trendy so I can see those being dated. Diamonds in general are also becoming less popular, so we may see a shift to a non diamond ring being more common.

So many!

- extravagant pre wedding events. I think this is partially fueled by social media, partially by friend groups and family being all geographically scattered. I can see it getting scaled significantly back to just a private intimate activity the weekend of the wedding
- any activities that heavily are influenced by social media: bridesmaid proposal boxes, instagram reel/tiktok created by your videographer, etc
- fashion-wise: deep illusion v necks, corset bodices, reception dresses, Hollywood curls
- design/decor: *the* cursive font, marquee letters, neon signs, film cameras on tables, Y2K/70s design elements.