14 Wedding Trends Set To Wow Guests Across The Country In 2017

Whatever your tastes and budget, we’ve compiled some of the hottest wedding trends for 2017.
These ideas for weddings that range from just the bride and groom to large scale affairs are just what you need to get started in planning a wedding that will leave them amazed long after you’ve left for the honeymoon.
1. Unexpected Venues
Industrial warehouses, open spaces, cinemas, movie sets or any other distinct setting will help set your wedding up as the one everyone will be talking about for years to come.

2. Keepsake Flowers
Rather than fresh cut flowers that will already be wilting by the time vows are exchanged, consider potted plants, with or without blooms, scattered around the venue. Take them home to your garden afterward, give them to guests as gifts or donate to a local nursing home or hospital.
3. Gooey Grazing
Forget the cake and set up candy and sweet stations where guests can nibble on the flavors of their choice. Alternately, have slices passed out from a cart as a dessert round so guests can choose rather than all eating from the same cake.

4. Forego the Photographer
Download one of the new wedding apps that allow guests to snap away at the wedding and upload directly to an album you’ve set up. Put up a photo booth where they can take fun photos of themselves and others before and after the ceremony and during the reception. Hire a drone to film everything or put your own in the air if you have the skills. You can even bring in sketch artists for some unique take home treats for your guests and wedding party.
5. Reinvent the Reception
Why stick with an outdated formal reception when you can transform it into a grand cocktail party or a lounge style dance club? Kick it up a notch, while turning it into a glam night out for your guests rather than a stodgy event. Gin cocktail bar, anyone?
6. Make a Getaway
Limos are for lightweights. Exit your wedding in memorable fashion on the back of a motorcycle, by helicopter or stage a kidnapping into a dark sedan. That’ll leave them wondering!

7. Takeaway Food
Kick those multicourse meals to the curb with food stations that wow your guests. Oyster bars, wine and cheese stations or even large tables scattered with food for a family style meal. If you really want to take your food on the go, set up a reception in the great outdoors, complete with food trucks.
8. Would You Like to Play a Game?
It’s your big day and you want your guests to have just as wonderful a time as you are. Why not entertain them by splitting their tables into groups and playing a trivia game? If you’re having an outdoor reception, it’s the perfect opportunity to set up lawn games every age can enjoy.
9. Fabulous Furs
No, we’re not talking about wearing them. We’re talking about incorporating your pets into your big day. Place your bird cages among the décor or have your dog walk guests down the aisle. Behavior problems? Perhaps sign Fido up for some obedience lessons as part of your planning.

10. Go High Tech
Use the latest in projection technology to transform your venue with lighting, pictures or video of your choice. You can change it out to transform the same space from wedding to reception décor with just a click of a mouse. There are so many options with this from that you’ll be spoilt for choice.
11. Ditch the Wedding Singer
Opt to spend that entertainment budget on a choir, contortionist, magician or ballerinas. Set up a disco, a DJ spinning dance tunes or set up a big screen playing hot videos.
12. Break Tradition
Try a pastel bridal gown or add brightly colored embellishments like bows, beads or baubles. Forego the lace in favour of satin for some old-school starlet glam. Add metallic hints of gold threading, silver beading. Stick a cape on your dress. Emerging on catwalks all over the globe, these stunning trends are perfect for making a stylish impression.

13. Translucent Cakes
Tell your baker to skip the mounds of frosting in favour of a thin veil of sweetness. Top it off with fresh fruit or edible flowers for a cake that is not only beautiful, but delicious and far lighter than traditional cakes.
14. Skip The Wedding
Avoid the expense and hassle of wedding planning by going with a styled elopement. Offered by wedding planners and photographers in a grand selection of locations, you’ll keep it simple and private with one of these grand adventures. You can always plan a party or reception to celebrate with friends when you return home.
By Amy Naves, Excalibur Press

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