Our Favourite 2021 Wedding Trends
In 2019, Tailored Entertainment provided top notch wedding entertainment to almost 2000 weddings across the UK, into Europe and beyond. Whilst this is, admittedly, a pretty epic and resounding humblebrag – it also lends us a fairly useful sense of perspective when it comes to wedding planning.
You see, what with our bands heading to scores of venues across the country on a weekly basis, we’re in a great position to anticipate the next big 2021 wedding trends before they make a significant impact on the world of wedding planning.
Bubbles - a fun, sustainable alternative to wedding confetti
Our Favourite 2021 Wedding Trends
So for this week’s blog, we thought we’d lend our unique collective insight to sniffing out the biggest wedding trends in 2021. We canvassed a handful of our busiest, most in-demand professional wedding bands to get their take on the themes, aesthetics and suppliers that seem to be gathering momentum heading into this year’s wedding season. There’s some seriously exciting stuff on this list. We hope you find a few things to inspire you!
Here we go!
Sustainability Conscious Weddings
Whilst living sustainably should never be considered a ‘trend’, it’s an established fact that more and more couples are consciously making an effort to plan eco-friendly weddings. In truth, the carbon footprint of the average wedding can be pretty staggering. When you consider the quantity of individual suppliers sourcing products and services from far afield, the distance your guests may potentially travel, not to mention the honeymoon…it can all start to feel a little dizzying.
However, the wedding market has reacted to these concerns in a resoundingly positive way over the last year or two. There has never been a better opportunity to plan a wedding that is both sustainable and luxurious in equal measure. In a recent blog, we wrote about eco-friendly wedding venues in Wales that are bucking the trend for how standard wedding venues operate. Venues like Welsh Green Weddings in Pembrokeshire go above and beyond to make sure your wedding is incredibly special, whilst not having a negative impact on the surrounding environment. There’s never been a better time for sustainable wedding planning! Flowers can be locally sourced, plastic is out and veggie catering is very much in. You’ll also see plenty of sustainable alternatives to confetti, too!
Banquet-Style Dining & Statement Table Decorations
The wedding breakfast has long been the focal-point of the wedding party’s festivities. The latest dining wedding trend for 2021 is to ditch the round tables for long, banquet style set ups – and it’s a trend we absolutely love! There’s something immediately grander and more imposing to this table set up, and it can work in rooms of any shape and with any sized guest list! Even a party as small as 30 can look great in this arrangement. It even works great outdoors! What’s more, this banquet style immediately gives your party a much more inclusive feel – everyone is encouraged to interact a lot more than they would do in smaller, circle table settings.
In terms of table design, were seeing lots of wonderfully kitsch vintage table settings featuring big, bold patterns and standout colours. And even as lavish centrepieces fall out of fashion, it doesn’t mean you need to scrimp on your table design! Big, lavish ‘tablescapes’ are becoming the big talking piece around the wedding breakfast…think hanging lighting and long, intricate floral design stretching the length of those beautiful banquet settings.
Country Pub Wedding Venues
We’ve spoken in previous blogs (and to anyone who will listen) about how much we absolutely love a country pub wedding venue – for that matter, how much we love a country pub in and of itself! So, it fills us with joy to tell you that everyone else seems to have cottoned on to how bloody brilliant they are, with country pub weddings becoming one of the big wedding trends for 2021. These beautiful little countryside watering holes are a great place to tie the knot.
There’s a real sense of camaraderie and community spirit to a lovely little rural pub, and lots of smart publicans have begun to couple this rustic setting with some fantastic wedding packages. For example, take a venue we wrote about in a previous blog on Yorkshire wedding venues, the fabulous Angel Inn at Hetton. Here, chef Michael Wignall can treat you and your guests to a seven-course tasting menu from the Michelin-starred kitchen – all in the stunning climbs of the Yorkshire Dales. I don’t know about you, but for us that sounds pretty close to perfection!
Self-Service Bars
We’ve seen more and more couples adopting this awesome little wedding trend, one that offers several advantages to your wedding party. We’re seeing a lot more self-service bars, beer taps and 70’s style cocktail stations at wedding receptions right now – and whilst that may feel like a bit of a dangerous move for the more self-indulgent of your wedding party, it does offer the benefit of a lot less stress for you and your wedding venue’s staff on the day.
We’re seeing lots of buckets on ice and hollowed out tree trunks filled with beautifully presented, pre-mixed cocktails. Whilst this might seem like a trend that could take it’s toll on your budget, something like a homemade beer tap can be put together at a fairly reasonable price. It all ads to the tactile experience of your wedding day, too.
Glitzy Wedding Bands
As with all things in the world of wedding planning, wedding bands move in and out of trend at an alarming speed. With wedding aesthetics scaling up into grander styling and intricate design, wedding bands have gone the same way. Everyone is after a little bit of glamour from their wedding entertainment right now – and luckily, we’ve got a handful of bands that could prove absolutely perfect. Nothing says glitz and glamour like a big soul showband, and Soul Motion is one of the best you’re likely to find. They take timeless Motown classics and perform them with an awesome little kick of contemporary neo-soul.
Alternatively, you could make a real statement and go all-out with a Gatsby-style wedding band – and Gatsby’s Jukebox are the country’s most in demand for this swinging vintage style. They’re a near-perfect compliment to that grandiose theme running through your whole day!
Amazing Grazing
Wedding catering trends seem to be evolving all the time – we’ve seen fish and chip vans make way for street food, and sweet carts replaced by ice cream trucks…suppliers never stop finding more and more wonderful ways to keep us fed at weddings. The big 2021 wedding trend in catering seems to be centred around what wedding bloggers are calling ‘amazing grazing’.
Set courses are out, and in their place comes wonderful sharing platters filled with delicious food to entice and delight. Expect charcuterie boards, big bowls of colourful salads and wonderfully warming dishes like paella and curries. It’s making us hungry just thinking about it!
Drinks Reception Ice Breakers
The drinks reception can be a troublesome part of the wedding day to plan around. If you’re not careful, it can turn into a bit of a no-man’s land between the ceremony and wedding breakfast that sees your guests standing round, getting hungry and drinking a little too much. A great new 2021 wedding trend that we really love is drinks reception ice breakers. We’ve seen lawn games become a tried and tested drinks reception staple, but some venues are going the extra mile with some fantastic activities to accompany the prosecco. Our favourite has to be Crazy 9 Golf, a mobile crazy golf course that can set up at most wedding venues! How cool is that?
We also, of course offer some brilliant drinks reception entertainment options. How about an amazing roaming weddding band like The Roaming Tones? These guys are totally acoustic and unplugged – they’ll mingle in and around your guests, getting them dancing and singing along. Theirs is a live show that’s high energy and tonnes of fun, great for getting your drinks reception going!
So there you have it! Our favourite 2021 wedding trends, some of which we hope you’ll love! If you would like to talk about your wedding day with us, feel free to give our friendly team of wedding planning experts a call. We can’t wait to hear from you!
