It’s that time of year where there’s a lot of blogs and news pieces floating around about ‘this year’s trends’ and ‘the next big thing’. They’re good fun and all, but something I think is much more useful for engaged couples is to know that some of those trends - they actually suck! Here’s why -
1.Bombonniere
It’s difficult to get guests to remember to take them home, they’re an un-necessary drain on your wedding budget, and look, I hate to burst your bubble, but nobody wants to take home a mug with your faces on it, or a bottle opener with your names and wedding date on it. That’s not practical, it’s actually pretty cringe-worthy.
If you have the budget for it and you really want to do something nice for your guests, then please make your bombon either edible or truly useful. A packet of flower seeds with a cute thank-you tag is a reasonable choice. My favourite is a box of macarons or cookies for the ride home when guests will definitely appreciate a midnight snack.
2. White Bridesmaid’s Dresses
I get the look you’re going for, and in general the monochromatic thing is cool. But dressing your bridesmaid’s in white just turns your gown into one of the crowd, instead of the stand-out feature. Case closed.
3. Greenery as Table Runners
Couples have been tending toward this trend for the last few years now, and one of the reasons is because they think they can DIY it and save some cash on their floral budget, which to be fair, is true. Unfortunately a lot of the time it just ends up looking messy and in one particular case as if a tree branch just fell on the table from overhead. Florists make it look easy, and that’s because they have a ton of training and experience behind them. The other thing is that greenery along the length of your tables make share platters impossible, as well as pretty much any other kind of table decor. So if you’re doing this you better make sure you love the look to the exclusion of all else.
4. Outfit Changes
So let me preface this one by saying that some outfit changes are awesome and I’m all about a party dress for your reception. I’ve seen quite a few wedding gowns customised with an overskirt that can be easily removed to reveal a more slinky dress for the evening and they’re amazing! There are some other great options out there too, but here’s what you have to think about - a change of outfit that requires you to leave the room for any more than five minutes is going to cut in to your experience of the day and reduce the time you can spend with your guests, enjoying the day you spent a year or more planning. More importantly, if you have to take any clothing over your head then you’ll probably need to spend more time and money getting your hair and makeup touched up also.
5. Sparkler Send-Off’s
Put simply, I hate the living crap out of a sparkler send-off. Who was it who thought it would be a great idea to give a bunch of drunk people what is essentially an open flame and have at it?! ‘But the photos!’ I hear you saying. Yep, well they need a professional photographer to do them justice and how many of you have contracted your photog to stay the entire night, right til the end?
You need several people prepared to light them all in a short space of time so the first ones don’t go out too soon, you need galvanised buckets for the hot sparklers once they’re burnt out (as well as someone not-drunk to make sure the sparklers end up in said buckets instead of in the garden and setting that alight), and you need to make sure there’s nothing flammable about. I used to manage these sparkler send-off’s for couples but after several mishaps I finished up having to put so many bossy rules in place that eventually I just called time on it and started refusing to do them. It was probably the time I almost had my hair set on fire that really finished it for me.
So there you go, a little bit controversial perhaps, but you know I always like to keep it real. Trends are great, the practicalities are sometimes not. I promise that with the right planning, and by staying true to yourself rather than trying to shoe-horn all the latest and greatest into your day, you’ll still have a day to remember and the time of your life. After all, no guest ever left a wedding and went home saying ‘You know, that wedding would have been so much better if only the bride and groom had let me pose for photos in front of a flower wall’ ;)
