It’s March already, which can mean only one thing, the 2023 wedding season is about to kick off! Here are our predictions for this year’s trends. After the post-pandemic craziness of 2022 we’re a more chilled vibe with lots of individual touches.
1. Orange!
According to a survey by Pinterest, orange will be the colour for 2023. The latter part of 2022 saw a rise in terracotta and burnt oranges, for bridesmaid dresses and centrepieces in particular, and it looks like orange is here to stay. After evaluating information based on rising searches from millennials and Generation X, the site has seen a 695% increase in “burnt orange wedding themes,” a 230% increase in “terracotta bridesmaid dresses,” and a 150% increase in “orange wedding centerpieces.
Pantone’s colour of the year is Viva Magenta, so we should expect to see some hot pinks incorporated, particularly in wedding flowers.
2. Individualised styling
Expect to see a much more personalised take on wedding party styling in 2023. From mismatched bridesmaid’s dresses to stand-out blazers and shirts for grooms in a variety of textures, including velvet.
Meanwhile, there’s a return to a clean and timeless look for brides, with some opting for a second, fun option for the evening party.
3. Taking it outdoors
This trend started in 2020 and looks set to stay. This has been helped in part by a law passed in 2022 allowing couples to marry anywhere outside at a venue that already holds a civil ceremony licence. We have a gazebo on our lawn which is perfect for outside ceremonies and is proving increasingly popular with couples as their first choice. We always have a wet weather option ready to go, this is the UK after all!
4. Dinner party style receptions
Banquet-style seating has been popular for some time, with many couples opting to sit amongst their guests instead of at a designated top table. This works really well for smaller weddings and makes the speeches feel more personal.
Weddings with lower guest numbers have also been on the rise. According to hitched.co.uk, pre-pandemic couples invited an average of 102 guests in total to celebrate their day with them, but this has since dipped to an average of 72.
5. Graze all day..
Couples are stepping away from traditional ‘meat and 2 veg’ style wedding breakfasts toward more contemporary options like grazing tables. This is increasingly popular for desserts, with dessert tables featuring lots of mini desserts so people can try lots of different things. We have also seen a rise in the number of ‘vegan only’ wedding menus as more and more people adopt plant-based diets.
6. Mocktail Hour
According to Pinterest, there has been an increased interest in low and no-alcohol drinks at weddings apparently driven by ‘Gen Z’s disinterest in the drinking habits of the generations before them’.
The annual National Wedding Survey by Hitched concurred, revealing last year that teetotal weddings were on the rise with as many as one in ten weddings choosing to serve no alcohol at all last year.
It seems that there’s no slowing down where this trend is concerned, with Pinterest searches for ‘fancy non-alcoholic drinks’ reportedly up by 220% this year, along with 75% more interest in ‘mocktail bar’ inspiration by users too.
7. Setting your own rules
Couples are shunning traditional wedding ‘rules’ in favour of doing things their own way. When it comes to the first dance, for example, half of couples revealed to Hitched.co.uk that they are nervous about doing one while more than a fifth (21%) admitting that they are “dreading it”. Unsurprisingly, therefore, almost a fifth of those married last year (17%) said they skipped the ritual altogether on their big day, “substituting it with something more comfortable for the happy couple” – a trend which looks set only to rise in 2023.
A fifth of couples reportedly also chose to veto the traditional cake-cutting ceremony (often opting for an alternative wedding dessert for their guests instead) while only 12% of weddings last year included the classic bouquet toss.
Hitched also found that more than 10% of couples adopted the American trend of doing a ‘first look’ – a private meeting before the ceremony.