Here are nine 2023 Wedding Trends for your wedding day!

The new year is just around the corner and weddings have been completely re-energized. Couples are finding fresh and unique ways to celebrate their vows. And that means new wedding trends are on the horizon! Look, trends come and go. There are plenty of fashion trends from our High School, and even college days that we’d like to forget. But wedding trends are not necessarily “trends” in the same sense of the word. The wedding industry moves at a different pace than the fashion industry. So what’s new and on-trend tends to stick around a lot longer than that dress hanging in your closet that is “just so last season”. Whether you are getting married in 2023 or beyond, here are nine wedding trends that are here to stay!

1. On-trend Gowns
2. Weekday Weddings
3. Champagne Towers
4. Adding a Unique Spin to Old traditions
5. Sustainability
6. Mix & Match Themes
7. Late Night Bites
8. Celebrations as Experiences
9. Honeymoons

1) On-trend Gowns

Jumpsuits and blush-colored gowns are still in! But printed floral wedding gowns made a huge splash in 2022 and, really, they were just getting started! What defines the norm of a bridal gown is breaking the mold as we see more and more gowns with prints & bold designs!

Floral printed gowns are for the bride who is a romantic at heart. Choose one of these gowns in a style with an off-the-shoulder sleeve, another big trend for 2023 weddings! And you have a gorgeous wedding day vibe full of romance.

For the bride who has a more bold sense of fashion, we are loving gowns with super short and flirty lengths. Think “Kravis getting married in Vegas!” Or a vibrant colored tulle dress with daringly puffy sleeves!

And if the thought of stepping into a bridal salon makes you cringe, you’re in luck. Shimmery metallic gowns are all the rage! Designer gowns from department stores with so much shimmer you’d think it’s New Year’s Eve are also having their moment for 2023 weddings!

And, we’d just like to take a quick moment and throw out an honorable mention for bridal headbands! We’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill jewel-encrusted headbands either. We are talking about headbands inspired by the 80s. Quilted fabric headbands that can transition from ceremony to reception to after-party. The bridal halo is also in for 2023 and beyond! If you’re looking for those celestial-inspired vibes that will have you feeling like a moon goddess on your big day, you’re in luck!

2) Weekday Weddings

The wedding boom of 2022 reached its height mid-year. While an estimated 2.2 million weddings are being predicted in the US alone for 2023 (Source, The Wedding Report, INC.)

The timeline for booking a wedding venue and wedding photographer is typically set at the 18-month mark. Meaning if you booked your venue and photographer at least 18 months before your actual wedding day, you’d pretty much be guaranteed to snag your preferred date with the vendors of your choice. However, the wedding boom has blown that 18-month mark to itty bitty pieces. Still, want that dreamy venue and epic photographer that you had your eye on? Weekday Weddings have entered the chat! 

Yes, you can totally get married during the week, and because weekday weddings are just starting to have their moment, you are all but guaranteed the wedding vendors of your choice. However, don’t get too arrogant about it and assume that your preferred vendors will be free. Because weekday weddings are on the rise, you’ll still want to book those vendors asap!

Worried about what your guest’s experience will be like for a weekday wedding? If the thought of a weekday wedding is at the forefront of your wedding plan details, we recommend going with a Monday or a Thursday! Either of these days will allow your guests the flexibility of making your wedding into a “long weekend” and further immersing themselves in your wedding day experience! 

3) Champagne Towers

We watched champagne towers burst on the scene in 2022. But these aren’t your mama’s champagne towers of the 80s and 90s. There’s no flowing supply of champagne coming from a mechanical fountain at a venue with 4 other weddings going in on in adjacent rooms. Oh, no-no! These have much more flair!

So what are these champagne towers that are going to take 2023 weddings by storm? Well, it’s literally the newlyweds, a bottle or two of their favorite bubbly, and a stack of coupe-style champagne glasses (these are the best glasses for stacking and have a vintage-y romantic vibe to them!). The cork pops and the champagne spray is epic! If you plan on having a champagne tower for your wedding, you and your fiance will need to decide who is popping the cork or if you both want a bottle to pop, the rest is easy! You pour the bubbly into the top glass of the champagne tower until it overflows into the glasses below. 

Stylistically, it’s part retro, but experience-wise, it’s major fun! A champagne tower also makes an amazing photo opportunity! And by the way, if you plan on having a champagne tower moment at your wedding, be sure to communicate this with your photographer. Your guests will be enchanted and entertained at the somewhat opulent spectacle of celebration happening in front of their eyes and the real magic happens when you invite them all in to pick up a glass!

4) Adding a Unique Spin to Old traditions

We kind of watched this happen in recent years, don’t you think? But it’s picking up steam for 2023 weddings and beyond. Think of those viral videos you’ve seen on FaceBook of a bride pretending to throw her bouquet, only to stop midstream and personally hand it off to one of her bridesmaids. Suddenly, a partner steps out of the shadows. They are down on one knee proposing to the recipient of the bouquet as guests look on in shock and excitement. Awe ensues.

Now, we’re not saying we necessarily agree with going out of your way to orchestrate a proposal on your wedding day. But hey, it’s your day so ultimately, it’s your call. But the idea of taking a classic tradition like a bouquet toss, and making it completely your own, that’s where get on board with our full approval!

Your flower girl can be a flower dude, your bouquet can be handed to a special guest who went out of their way to help you and your fiance instead of being tossed. Finally,  your cocktail hour doesn’t have to be filled with the sounds of that 4-string quartet that you hired for your ceremony. It can be filled with the sounds of amazingly fun song selections that were hand-picked by your guests!

Scroll all the way through for nine 2023 wedding trends for your best day ever!

5) Sustainability

More and more couples are working on ways to add sustainability to their wedding day, without necessarily having a completely zero-waste wedding day! And yes, you absolutely can still be an environmentalist by working on making sure that specific aspects of your wedding are more sustainable for the environment, as opposed to the entire wedding day! 

One amazing way to make your wedding day more sustainable is by using lab-grown diamonds. Your wedding bands, earrings, necklace, or any other bridal jewelry can be made sustainable by purchasing lab-grown diamonds versus natural diamonds. Lab-grown diamonds have the same genetic makeup as natural diamonds minus the environmental impact that comes from the diamond mining trade. They are also fair trade and ethically sourced. Lab-grown diamonds carry a smaller price tag than their natural counterparts, saving you anywhere from 40%-50% of the total cost in the process. To the naked eye, lab-grown diamonds look exactly the same as natural diamonds, with the same level of sparkle and shine!

Another easy way to make your wedding more sustainable is to ditch the rice, and have a dried floral or petal toss! We go over ways to make that happen in this post!

If you want more ideas on creating a sustainable wedding day, you can read our blog on how to have a sustainable wedding, while you’re here!

6) Mix & Match Themes

Have you chosen a color palette for your wedding? Amazing! But, you are just getting started. The tones of your wedding day really only set the stage for the overall feeling you want to convey to your guests. While your theme brings it home for a full experience! If you want a simple formula to make this happen, its color palette + feeling = experience!

Here are a few of our favorite ways we’ve seen couples create mix and match themes for an elevated wedding guest experience using 2023 wedding trends!

Glam Disco

Disco balls go with well, just about everything! Don’t you agree? Picture silver disco balls hanging above heaps and heaps of crisp snowy white orchids. Now you have a glam/disco wedding day!

Hauntingly Romantic Fall Wedding

Fall weddings are kind of known for having an extra layer of mysterious romance to them. A beautiful way to elevate a fall wedding is by expanding your color palette and adding in texture. We love long sleeve bridal party gowns in varying shades of crushed velvet!

80’s Boho

Sounds contradictory right? Boho is typically known for its minimalistic approach! But pampas grass can be sourced in neon pink hues and surrounding decor can be created in fun yellow tones to make this theme come to life! 

Rock and Roll Retro

Short gowns, sunglasses, super long veils, rollerskates, red roses, long and loose hairstyles, leather jackets, and partying until the wee hours of daybreak. Rock and roll retro might be one of the easiest 2023 wedding trends to pull off when it comes to the theme of your day!

7) Late Night Bites

Admittedly, donut walls have been rocking the sweet tooth of the wedding industry for about a good 5 years now, and if you have a major love for these sweet and savory treats, you’ll be happy to know they are here to stay! Late-night bites got a big upgrade in the way we started celebrating weddings in 2022. Luckily, they are here to stay for 2023 wedding trends and beyond! 

Now that restrictions have fully eased on wedding celebrations, full-size grazing tables are back. Including oversized charcuterie boards, french-fry boards, and Viennese tables. But, let’s be honest here, late-night bites are all about good old-fashioned junk food! Happy Meals, Taco Bell, Pizza, and Nachos. If your guests have been dancing and drinking up a storm all night at your wedding, nothing will hit the spot quite the same way as some good old salty, greasy junk food will!

If you want to be fully present and part of the “I danced so long I lost track of time” experience, you’ll need to have your day-of coordinator orchestrate the late-night bites for you and your guests. And if you really want to kick it up a notch, there’s nothing quite like Taco Bell delivered on a silver platter directly to the dance floor! It’s an experience your guests won’t soon forget!

8) Celebrations as Experiences

Your wedding day is an experience. And your experience is your guest’s experience. No pressure, right?! No sarcasm, but it’s easy to create an unforgettable wedding day experience for you and your guests if you just focus your attention on all the right aspects. Planning your wedding in 2023 and beyond means that you as the couple (and the host) understand that your guests having fun is a driving factor for you yourself to have fun!

That means shifting away from bow-wrapped wedding favors and focusing on ways to delight your guests with fun interactive experiences. Point blank, nobody wants to sit at a random table at a wedding where they only know their date. That’s an easy recipe for phone scrolling and guests who make an early exit. Want to avoid this altogether? The best way is to introduce your guests to each other before your wedding day! And, you can get the conversation started between your guests, right here! After your guests are all introduced, and on a first-name basis, you can skip spending your wedding day bouncing from table to table. Instead, they can get right to hitting the dance floor, the bar, or the photobooth together!

9) Honeymoons

2023 Wedding trends include travel! Ahh traveling! There is nothing quite like jetting off to an exotic or historic destination after you’ve just married the love of your life. Honeymoons have become less “what island can we lay around on for a week” and more “what experience can we have together to kick off married life”? Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to do the laying in front of the pool or beach with a drink in hand thing, it’s just not at the forefront of couple’s minds when planning their 2023 honeymoons. 

More and more couples are choosing honeymoons that lay the foundation for great memories and unforgettable experiences.

If you want to jet off to Italy, skip the gondola ride on the canals of Venice! Instead, explore the medieval hill town of Umbria. Here you can avoid the crowds and take in the local art and history. Then enjoy the night dining on locally sourced truffles and region-made wine!

Thinking about a honeymoon in Greece? You might be picturing the iconic blue domes of Santorini. We’ll let you in on a little secret, all of the tourists have been photoshopped out of those photos. Because Santorini is never not bustling.  Paros, Greece makes an equally gorgeous choice of honeymoon destination! And it’s filled with amazing sites and a history all its own. Paros is full of whitewashed arches and the remains of a Venetian Castle. In Paros, you can also visit the 6th century Byzantine Church of Ekatondapiliani, also known as the Church of a Hundred doors!

Which of these 9 2023 Wedding Trends will you incorporate into your wedding experience?

Photography by Theresa Kelly Photography & Claudia Rios Photography