Post-COVID Wedding Trends [Sophia Young]
Photo Credit: Kelsey Straus Photo
From birthdays to anniversaries and weddings, Zoom or Google Meet were our venues for memorable life events. It’s been a long year of one virtual celebration after another, but now that the world’s slowly opening up again, in-person gatherings are more popular again.
Trends may come and go, but due to a certain pandemic, people have gained a new sense of perspective. This has effectively rearranged their priorities—health and safety come first before everything else. It’s because of this shift that COVID-19 has affected just about every aspect of a wedding, completely reshaping the way we think about it, plan for it, and celebrate it.
We’ve seen that this special day can work differently from what we were used to before lockdowns and though some of these trends we might leave behind once the pandemic becomes a long-forgotten memory, others might just be here to stay for the long run.
Here are 7 post-covid wedding trends to look out for if you’re planning a 2022 wedding.
An intimate wedding at Black Door. Photo Credit: Katy Weaver Photography
More Intimate Than Ever Before
Because of the pandemic, couples had to cut their guest list down to their closest friends and relatives. We witnessed a switch from grand, expensive weddings to more micro weddings, minimonies, and elopements. This has pushed couples to be more intentional when it comes to choosing the people they will invite.
Curated guest lists to create more intimate weddings will only continue even after the global pandemic blows over. Smaller events will be the norm for a while as couples have realized that while all-out parties are fun and exciting, they’re not necessary.
The best thing about this? With intimate weddings, you can focus more on your budget and maybe even put it all into the experience you and your guests will be having.
Consider CH Northeast or our partner venue Black Door for your intimate gathering of 10 to 80 guests.
Privacy is Safety
To create an environment of warmth and closeness between the soon-to-weds and their guests, partners are trying to find more intimate venues in private locations, residences, and even AirBNBs as opposed to hotels. With fewer people, you can manage and ensure the health and safety of your guests a little better than with a larger crowd.
Open-air venues are also gaining a lot of traction as they provide additional virus protection for your guests, making them feel safer and more secure while taking part in your big day. This is a big trend that’s likely to continue even after COVID.
If you’re planning on a small and simple ceremony, consider having your wedding at a winery, an urban gallery, a quaint lodge, your favorite restaurant, or even in your own backyard.
Personalized Everything
With couples not needing to think about the satisfaction of a large crowd, they can focus more on giving a personalized experience for their guests. Unique details about your love story as a couple can be interwoven into all the bits and pieces of your wedding—from serving your favorite date night meals and creating a bar menu that perfectly reflects your personality as a couple to getting gift tags featuring each guest’s first name instead of just a simple and generic gift tag.
These well-thought-out touches and intentional details will elevate your wedding to new heights for both you and your guests.
Wedding Details at Coopers Hall. Photo Credit: Feedle Bee Photography
Combining The In-Person and The Virtual
While there will always be wedding photos to look back on for elderly family members and friends and relatives at faraway places, the experience still wouldn't feel complete if they weren’t at the actual ceremony. Having digital access to your wedding is a welcome opportunity for them to witness a milestone of an event.
Even with the pandemic dying down, digital technology, live streaming, and social media will remain as some of the biggest trends to accommodate guests who are apprehensive or unable to attend. This is also something to consider if you’re planning on a destination wedding where you can’t take all of your loved ones with you.
Bigger & Bolder Fashion
We’ve been stuck at home for so long looking at the same colors every single day. It’s time to celebrate! And a celebration wouldn’t be complete without colors, colors, and more colors. Couples are getting bolder with their choices, opting to express their happiness and gratitude for life in the language of colors.
Think extravagant floral displays, brighter wedding party attire, and more striking guest fashion. Your wedding is a great opportunity for the people important to you to dress up.
Some Coopers Hall favorites for statement floral installations include Amarie Flora, Honor Flowers and Brier and Ivy.
Next Level Experiences
The venues might be smaller, but that doesn’t stop couples from going big when it comes to giving their guests an experience that they won’t soon forget. Instead of buffets, more and more weddings will feature gourmet family-style menus, wine pairings, mobile dessert carts and customized cocktail menus.
There will also be a shift towards providing entertainment to guests through unique activities that specialty wedding vendors can supply. Interactive stations, local performers, even event painters, and beer burros—all of this and more to give guests a wedding experience they will always treasure in their hearts.
At Coopers Hall, we have a trusted list of preferred vendors that can add thoughtful, delicious and entertaining touches to your celebration: from 1927 S’mores and Churros Locos to Illobooth and John Ross Music.
Focusing On What Matters Most
Due to the postponement of weddings in the past year, couples faced the importance of the wedding ceremony itself. They’ve realized that having the people important to them witness their love and commitment is a blessing in every sense of the word. Centering the event to the ceremony is a wedding trend that definitely deserves to last.
To make the actual ceremony even more profound for the two of you and your guests, consider focusing on your exchange of vows and making it more meaningful and memorable.
Weddings don’t look like they did before and maybe that’s for the better. Trends come and go but no matter how weddings will be held in the coming years, what’s important is that your guests are happy, healthy, and safe and that you and your partner are celebrating your love to the fullest.
No matter what your vision is or how it evolves, the experienced event staff at Coopers Hall will provide comprehensive coordination and ensure your event is executed with care and great attention to detail.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sophia Young recently quit a non-writing job to finally be able to tell stories and paint the world through her words. She loves talking about fashion and weddings and travel, but she can also easily kick ass with a thousand-word article about the latest marketing and business trends, finance-related topics, and can probably even whip up a nice heart-warming article about family life. She can totally go from fashion guru to your friendly neighborhood cat lady with mean budgeting skills and home tips real quick.