by Felicia Lazaridou

Everybody wants their wedding to be unique and to stand-out-from-the-crowd, but it would be a mistake to have a wedding that could become dated in the future. You want a wedding that is timeless in its grace and elegance, that you can look back on and that future generations can look back on and can picture as an event that was cutting edge for its time but is understated in its longevity. This is why brides-to-be need to be careful about getting too caught up in the current era of trendiness and weddings. So as brides to be continue to try and avoid making trend-related mistakes, Felicia Lazaridou, CEO and Creative Director at Loves Young Dream Weddings, a wedding planning company in Halkidiki, Greece gives us her predictions of great wedding trends that will stay fovever.  
 
1. White weddings

These days whilst the emphasis on colour palettes and thematic planning continues to grow, white weddings have a timeless grace. Most brides continue to don a white gown, a tradition stemming from Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Before she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in a lacy white silk-satin gown brides used to adorn brightly coloured gowns.

A few years later, the white gown bridal gown became to symbolise virginity because a popular women's publication at the time released the idea into the media that brides should wear white as "an emblem of purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one". It might seem a tad old-fashioned but the trend continues to thrive effortlessly as influential fashionistas (think Madonna, Kim Kardashian, Kate Middleton etc) continue to wear white gowns.

2. The first dance

I suspect that in many cases the choice of song for the first dance is very much a fashion statement influenced by the era in which the wedding is taking place. Nevertheless, the trend itself remains consistently full of charm. In years gone by when royal balls were more commonplace the guest of honour would open the dancefloor with a display of ballroom dancing. Those were the days when everyone knew how to to dance the waltz, dance lessons could be found on the curriculum at most schools even.

3. Asking parents for blessing

Anthropologically speaking, in societies across the world it is customary for the man to ask the father for permission to marry his daughter, and for his family to pay the bride price. Since the legal paradigms that allowed this to make sense no longer exist in modern Western society, men in this part of the world no longer transfer money, property or any other form of wealth for permission to marry his woman. Similarly, women no longer necessarily bring a dowry (seed money) from her parents for the new marriage.  
 
These days, since societal structures have changed and because of the evolution of feminism, it is more and more appropriate for the man to ask for his woman’s parents blessing to marry their daughter rather than permission. Considering the historical context to this continuing trend it is easy to wonder why it stills exists. It is my understanding that this trend is timeless because nowadays it represents at its underlying philosophical core the bond between two families. It is a declaration of dedication, respect and signals towards the approaching wedding planning process.

4. Professional photography and videography

The trend towards DIY weddings continues but the trend towards professional photography and videography continues also, even amongst the DIY-ers. And the reason for this is simple enough. Anyone can shoot photos these days, the camera on most smartphones is enough to capture high quality images of the bride and groom, but it takes a professional to capture the love between them. At the end of the day couples want magazine worthy images that document their special day in its entirety.  
 
This trend is known as storyboard wedding photography. Its when photographers deliberately capture a record of the entire event, from the small details of bouquets and shoes to larger details such as the wedding dress and the wedding rings. The event itself is broken down into digestible chunks such as hair and makeup, to the ceremony, to the cutting of the cake right through to the last dance. The images then compiled in a unique way to form a romantic fairytale storyboard. Anyone who did not attend the event can understand how the day unravelled. A true momento to be treasured forever.

5. The cutting of the cake

The current trend is for wedding cakes to break all traditional boundaries and be reflective of unique style rather than what you’d typically expect. This means cupcake towers, donut towers, single tiers, batman cakes, pastel colour cakes, glitter cakes and so much more. But, no matter what, wedding cake as a trend is a pretty classical one. Wedding cake is a very special element of weddings and they will continue to be forever. The wedding cake is by default designed to be a showstopping element of the catering deliberately placed to woo your guests.

It is a very tasty element of the catering too and it is important for the taste of the the cake to match its looks. Another current trend is that wedding cake is more frequently not the only dessert served. Despite this, in either case, the wedding cake is an extension of the beautiful theme of the wedding, the stationery, the flowers, the venue and the dress. The cutting of the cake ceremony is a chance to make sure your guests get a good view of the cake, and it makes for a fantastic photo op so all care should be taken to ensure the wedding cake is positioned in a suitable, prominent position.

6. Destination weddings

This great trend encapsulates all the values that weddings are supposed to uphold. If the people you love and care for can logistically only gather at three pivotal occasions in your life: a. when you hatch, b. when you match, and c. when you dispatch, then why not make the most of the one occassion of the three where you can actually party!

I love that couples are beginning to understand this. The destination is the focus of destination weddings and as with all excursions its successfulness is based around experiences. It's a once in a lifetime chance to bring your nearest and dearest together for an extended period of time in your honour to celebrate and reconnect with you.

7. Beach weddings

Since the philosophy underpinning destination weddings is all about being away from home to have fun with the ones you love and care for its no wonder beach weddings have become a great trend. Even though beach holidays are not everyone's idea of vacation, beach weddings conjure up images of breezy, relaxed experiences. Wedding guests love the philosophy and ambience of beach weddings, I think they always will.

About Felicia

Felicia Lazaridou is CEO and creative director at Loves Young Dream Weddings; a bespoke wedding planning company for stress-free dream destination weddings in Halkidiki, Greece. You can find out more about how Felicia can help you by visiting the DWD profile of Loves Young Dream Weddings.