Wedding Trend Predictions for 2026
And ones we want left behind
Photo: Chelsea Diane Photography
2024 brought toile, anthurium, and fruit-laden table scapes.
2025 brought draping, silver details, and drop-waist gowns (much to the chagrin of us girls who haven’t been 120 pounds since middle school).
Here are the 2026 trends that you’ll be seeing, the trends were excited to see die, and what we think is staying that we could live without.
THREE DYING TRENDS
The Wedding Introduction has been, frankly, on hospice the past few years and we predict its complete departure in 2026. Wedding hosts will find better ways to honor their families that feel more meaningful and organic. We get it, you want to acknowledge family. How about opting for a short documentary style film called Chapter 1 that includes footage of you and your partner as kids with a short voice-over thanking your family? (TM GGE)
Redundant Signage, especially flip-flops on-the-nose puns and rhymes that are somehow so millennial coded that you could gag. If your sign indicates that there are flip-flops for dancing, it’s time to reevaluate.
Fruits and Veggies on your table. This was very fun while it lasted, but the moment has passed for fruits and vegetables. Thank you for all that you have given us. See you in 75 years!
FOUR TRENDS UPCOMING
Intimate Dinners- private chef style receptions with 20 or fewer people. These could focus heavily on the story of the couple, or could progress geographically over the course of the evening.
Truly Unconventional Ceremonies- participation of guests will become commonplace, including offerings and interactions that surpass ring warmings. Aisles that were once straight and then winding will become nonexistent, and guest seating could go from amphitheater to full panopticon. Imagine a ceremony where guests are contributing in meaningful ways throughout to show love and support.
Surrealist Experiences. This is what we are most excited about at Fancy Crap! The rise of Matisse pastiche tables and Dutch master florals evolves. Light shows that feature dreamy, bright moving colors on blank walls, warped glassware, melting cakes, you name it. Unseen vow exchanges behind sheer veils, or orchestrated petal releases rather than tossing dried blooms.
Victorian Revival, and a return to 90s minimalism. High necklines, full skirts, silky asymmetry, buttons that will truly take hours to button without a crochet hook.
TRENDS I AM PUTTING ON WATCH—that we would like to see die, but probably shan’t
The wedding brunch. We all are ready to go home. THE SOCIAL BATTERY IS LIFELESS.
Welcome goodie bags. I mean, I’ll take the chocolate but the rest I can live without.
Floral purses. Didn’t we do this in the eighties? I think it’s done.
Any kind of hat on a bridesmaid. I know, I know, you’re Aquarius and need to be different but this is not the way, okay?