by MARSHALL BONE
This year, like every year, thousands upon thousands of loving couples will tie the knot, jump the broom, and approach the altar to kick off what is hopefully a lifelong union founded in and on love.
And this year, like every year, there are some leading trends you need to know about to ensure you’re getting the wedding ambiance and decor best suited to you and your beloved intended spouse. So, let’s look at 2024 wedding trends, juxtaposing what’s hot against what’s not!
Hot: Black Wedding
The black wedding brings dark fashion to your big day with all this trend’s high tone, sexy texture, and rich detail. The black wedding is an opportunity to gleam sensually, instead of glittering conspicuously. Very high-end and Black Tie, blacking weddings are a top trend this year that eschews the virginal white dress for a duskier, more sophisticated vision of Holy Matrimony.
Go high-end for your black wedding with centerpiece vases overflowing with dark, velvety blooms, punctuated by curling vines. Bring back more elegant times with velvet, lace, and flickering candles. Lights, camera, action. The black wedding is this year’s tony social event of the season.
Not: Oddball Color Themes
While 2023 was all about unusual colors paired to create quirky themescapes for weddings, it’s time to put that one to bed. That means a big, fat “No!” to the magenta and apple green extravaganza that’s been keeping you awake some nights. And please – the periwinkle pairing with acid yellow must never be spoken of again!
This year it’s black or traditional, with the black wedding offering tradition’s appeal to sophistication but on the flipside – just like a photo negative! Think white, blush pink, and this year’s Pantone Color of the Year “Peachfuzz” as your frontrunner colors for traditional weddings and lushly deep shades of burgundy, carmine, and eggplant for black weddings.
Hot: Mini-Wedding Dress
When the mini-wedding dress made its first appearance in the 1960s, there was a great clutching of pearls. But times have changed and now, the mini-wedding dress returns triumphant in a context it can be at ease in – the 21st Century wedding!
Traditional weddings and their dress codes have always rankled some, so the non-wedding wedding is the ideal platform to launch a mini-wedding dress, right? I sure think so! I also think that being able to dance until dawn in your wedding dress is a major reason to go “mini” this year!
Not: Floof
As you may have guessed, the princess in you is not atop the wedding cake this year, for the mini-dressed free spirit has wrestled her to the ground. Hold the ruffles, floof, and feathers, princess! This is the mini’s moment, not Scarlet O’Hara’s!
You know the hoop skirt will cycle back to the altar of popular favor eventually. But even if it doesn’t, you should wear the dress you most adore. Fashion is fickle but your big day is a life event, so hot or not if it’s floof you want, it’s floof you shall have!
Hot: First Looks and Quality Bride/Groom Time, Pre-Wedding
As Western nuptial tradition begins to yield to the shifting sands of time, greater leniency is being exerted with respect to the bride and groom seeing each other before the big event. Recently, “first looks” have become a standard part of the modern wedding, with the bride and groom meeting prior to the ceremony to see each other arrayed in their wedding finery.
Some couples take the opportunity to document each other’s responses to the sight of their impending spouse with a photographer attending. For me, though, this new ritual is intimate, placing itself outside the public side of the celebration. Some couples have even taken to setting aside time for an intimate breakfast to center themselves before going to the altar. Because they find themselves needing each other more than ever.
Not: Treating the Bride Like a Weird Artifact of the Bronze Age
The bride is no longer veiled in all but the most rigid patriarchal cultures and traditional ceremonial settings. So, it does seem a little strange to hide her away like an artifact of a bygone era, lost in the mists of time.
The bride is the only person who should decide whether the groom or anyone else sees her in her wedding dress pre-ceremony. It’s her day and all the magic she desires is all that matters. No more veil and no more “Where’s Waldo” for brides, pre-ceremony
When it comes down to it, this is your wedding. All trends and non-trends aside, you should do whatever makes you both happy.
Marshall Bone is a writer, copy strategist and all-around stylish guy who has been following trends in GQ for more than two decades. Voted best-dressed both his junior and senior year, Bone has continued this legacy and can be found covering various topics from men’s fashion to self care and grooming. He enjoys reading and is based in the greater Los Angeles area.
