Planning a Wedding? Color Today's Trends Bright, Nontraditional

A gourmet meal served in a white-and-black-adorned banquet hall, while a band serenades the audience, is no longer the average wedding scene.

Instead, appetizers are served while a DJ caters to the audience’s request, and the only thing white is the bride’s wedding gown. Lights and crystals add an extravagant shimmer to the chosen venue.

“The traditional wedding is gone; people are just not doing traditional white weddings much anymore,” said Becca Schlussel, vice president of Joe Cornell Entertainment.

Schlussel, who is in putting the finishing touches on the first on Sunday at the Jewish Community Center, noted that personality is now a major part of the wedding planning process as the planning has shifted from the parents of the bride and groom to the couple getting married. Even the wedding photos have a flair of personality, she said, with a lot of urban portrayals, such as photos with graffiti in the background.

“It’s way more intimate now with the brides and grooms taking over,” Schlussel said.

Setting the scene with a color scheme

Many people who work within the wedding industry say white and black are no longer the trademark colors for the occasion. Though wedding dresses are still mostly white, or an off-white tone, everything else surrounding the wedding from the bridesmaid dresses, to invitations to the bride’s shoes are vibrant and colorful.

Trendy colors are turquoise, teal, blues and purples. Bonnie Steinbock, president of Elm Events, said that especially for fall, brown has made its way into the popular colors.

“Chocolate with turquoise is a hot combination right now,” Steinbock said. 

Hand-in-hand with splashes of bright color are ornamental decorations. From the invitations to the centerpieces and floral bouquets, wedding accessories are being adorned with rhinestones, crystals and more.

“I see a lot of people using embellishments on their invitations now,” said Stephanie Langwell, owner of Grand Occasions in West Bloomfield. “A lot of people are using textured paper now too – not just flat cardstock. Instead, velour, silk and glittery paper are popular.”

Aside from embellishments and a variety of color, Langwell said that the eco-friendly theme is commonly used. Many customers ask about and order invitations made with recyclable inks and paper, she said. In fact, Grand Occasions offers a paper that has seeds imbedded into it. “You can literally crumble it up and throw it in the ground and grow flowers,” Langwell said.

Schlussel, noted she has seen the eco-friendly theme reach the banquet tables with packets of seeds being the party favors and potted plants being the center pieces. Flowers are still popular for centerpieces, said Courtney Teeple, social sales manager at the Diamond Center at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, but people are looking for as much variety as possible. According to Teeple she sees a lot of tall and short centerpieces alternating across the tables in their facilities. Likewise, if the couple has selected vases of pink flowers as their centerpieces, with tall and short vases, more times than not flowers will be scattered about in a variety of shades of pink.

Decorating and choosing the facility

Choosing the right venue is one of the biggest decisions for the bride and groom, and something traditionally that has ended up with a church wedding followed by a country club or hall reception.

“Now people are thinking outside of the box,” Steinbock said. “There are less country clubs and less churches being used and more cool off premise venues for the wedding day.”

Schlussel noted similarly that outdoorsy and rustic weddings hosted in barns are big, as are vintage wedding celebrations. Schlussel also said weddings seem to be getting smaller, perhaps because of the economy. Teeple said the Diamond Center at Suburban Collection Showplace still hosts weddings where the average guest list includes 150-250 people. Seating formats are getting decorative as well, Teeple said, with couples opting to combine round and square tables for an aesthetically pleasing look around the room.

Regardless of where the weddings are held, LED lighting is popular, said both Teeple and Schlussel.

“They are lighting the walls, centerpieces, underneath the tables – everywhere,” Schlussel said.

Along with LED lighting, photo booths are starting to crop up at the majority of weddings.

Finger foods and signature drinks

Like every other aspect of a wedding, food patterns have changed with time as well. Instead of offering guests a sit-down meal, the bride and groom are opting for hors d’oeuvres to be set out at stations, and more popularly passed out while people are mingling.

“It’s nice because they’re already on a fork, or the desserts are in shot glasses – everything is about presentation,” Schlussel said.

Cupcakes are still really big, and cake pops are trendier as well in comparison to the three-tiered traditional cake. Still, many couples are still having a smaller cake made so they can cut the cake together.

In terms of beverages, instead of springing for a full bar, which tends to be costly, the brides and grooms have been choosing to serve a signature cocktail like a cosmopolitan or a mojito, Schlussel noted. Teeple said some couples choose based on what their favorite  drink is and others offer specialty mixes like a “pink drink” to match the color theme of their wedding.

“The traditional wedding is gone, but there are a lot of fun things that seem to be happening in the industry right now,” Schlussel said.