What are the lastest trends in weddings for 2011? According to Carley Roney, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Knot, some of the top trends for 2011 include food trucks, Prohibition-Era elegance, video guest books, wedding man caves, wedding websites, charity registries, as well as others. While some of these may sound simple enough to understand – wedding website, charity registries, you may be scratching your head asking what is a food truck doing at a wedding? Or what exactly is a wedding man cave? Even more so, what is Prohibition-Era Elegance? We surveyed couples on these hot trends to find out if these were something they would be, or have, incorporated into their wedding day. Before getting into their responses, it is important for those who have not heard of some of these trends, we explain just what they are.
According to The Knot, the top wedding trends of 2011 are:
Prohibition-Era Elegance: one of the most popular wedding trends this year, perhaps due to the popularity of the HBO show Boardwalk Empire. Couples going for this theme will dress in the way couples would have in the 1920′s, with women in lace dresses and men in wing-tip shoes. A prohibition era wedding would include moonshine available at the bar while the sounds of jazz played for guests to dance to.
Food Truck Fun: The popularity of street food trucks has made its way into weddings with foods like Belgian waffles and tacos now popping up at the cocktail hour or at wedding after parties. Couples are requesting, and in turn caterers are now offering, more international food options for their cocktail hour, such as dim sum and socca – a fried chickpea pancake.
Wedding Man Caves: The man cave has officially moved from the home to the wedding with the option for men to go to a groom’s corner of the reception, where they can find perhaps a Blackjack table, a brandy bar, or even a PlayStation set up. These man caves allow the groom his own part of the wedding to plan. This is also a place where wedding professionals can work with grooms to come up with fun and unique ideas that meet their interests.
Video Guest Books: In response to the popularity of the wedding photo booth, comes the video guest book. In the form of a confessional-style video booths and even iPads dressed up as guest books, this new way of “writing” well wishes to the happy couple becomes more visual and personal . Couples can then share their guest book online via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. This new trend can benefit photographers and videographers, as they can include the video guest books in their packages and provide access online for couple and guests.
All Day Affair: Couples will start adopting the idea of a morning ceremony followed by a brunch/afternoon reception and possibly an evening reception as well, due to the popularity of the Royal Wedding. Also, like the Royal Wedding, couples may even host after-parties that last until the wee-hours of the morning followed by a “survivor’s breakfast” for those still standing at 6am, like Harry did. For couples that have friends and family flying in to attend their wedding, a post-wedding breakfast or brunch is a great idea and also an additional chance for couples to thank guests for coming.
The Wedding Website: An easy and efficient way to keep family and friends up to date on wedding events is to have a wedding website.
Couples can post details about the day, their registry information, photos, as well as links to their wedding vendors. Most wedding websites are also free of cost to couples.
Charity Registry: A recent trend sparked by the Royal Wedding was the creation of a charity registry. The royal couple listed 26 charities from around the world on their wedding website that guests could choose to donate to. Charity Donation Programs are available from many wedding websites, including WeddingChannel.com, where couples can register for gifts through the site and the site then donates a percentage of the cost to a couple’s favorite charity each time a gift is purchased. Couples can also register for a charity on WeddingChannel.com so that guests can directly donate to it as their wedding gift.
What Couples Say: These trends are what The Knot says are hot in 2011, so what did the couples we surveyed have to say? Are they interested in these new trends? 1,403 people responded to the question: Consider your wedding, any events, or planning, which of these items did/will you use? (Check all that apply) The following charts show their responses.
The highest percentage of people (70.6%) indicated they would be using a wedding website. The next most popular trend among those surveyed was having an all day affair (20.2%), followed by those who said they would have a multi-day affair (13.3%). After that, the percentage of those who said they would use the other trends dropped – Charity Registries (6.8%), Video Guest Book (5.7%), a Food Truck (2.2%), and Prohibition-Era Theme and Wedding Man Cave ( 2.1%). 20.8% of those surveyed said they would use none of these new trends. While couples we surveyed seem to be on board with having a wedding website, they are not yet quite on board with a majority of the other hot new trends in weddings. Maybe next year? Then again we may see a new list of hot new trends for 2012!