by Sharon Auld

I’m not big into trends. I prefer a couple’s wedding be tailored to their individual preferences and not based on random trends. However, weddings much like fashion and home decor, are influenced by the world around us. That’s not necessarily a bad thing! One of my favorite wedding trends of the last few years has been the trend for personalization! You can have a classic, elegant style and still have a personalized wedding!

As a wedding professional, I love looking back at wedding trends of the past to see how weddings have changed and how past trends influence future weddings. Last year I wrote a post on 2011 Wedding Trends and it’s been fun reflecting on how several of the weddings I worked on this past season have included many of the trends I wrote about (many of the 2011 trends are still popular).

Once again, I’ve decided to compile a list of “trends” we can expect to see in 2012. As with any trend, it’s important to incorporate trends into your wedding because it’s something you really love and not because it’s fashionable. Small inclusions of trends can give a wedding a modern edge without dating it. Choose design elements for your wedding that are a reflection of you as a couple, but go ahead and have some fun too!

Here’s my picks for some trends we’ll be seeing in 2012:

1. Lace
2. Sequins
3. Rustic Elegance
4. More formality
5. Custom favors

One of the most renown and most watched wedding of 2011 was the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. Wedding and style experts have been predicting that their wedding will impact not only weddings of 2012, but weddings for several years to come. Think Splendid, a consulting firm that specializes in market development and strategy for the wedding industry wrote that the Royal Wedding is “an event celebrating legitimate joy, is a guilt-free break from a world filled with heavy news…In addition, many of today’s students grew up in families that didn’t incorporate a lot of tradition into their daily lives and that is something that many want to change as they start their own families.”

Kate’s wedding dress, was an Alexander McQueen dress designed by Sarah Burton with lace sleeves. Her dress may be responsible for a resurgence in the use of lace in not only wedding attire, but also in decor. Expect to see more of her “illusion neckline” that has been showing up on runways as well!

The use of lace in wedding decor is also becoming increasingly fashionable! We made these engraved “faux” lace on wood veneer placecards for one of our recent weddings.

Our faux lace wood placecard / photo courtesy of Orange Girl Photographs, lace design from Martha Stewart Weddings

Lace wedding cake via Belle the Magazine

The sparkle of sequins are inspiring more and more wedding decor!

winter shoot via Style me Pretty and Simply Fabulous Events

Greer G Photography via Inspired By This

Here is our use of sequins in a Winter Photo Shoot we designed that was featured on Style Me Pretty!

Rustic winter photo shoot designed by Naturally Chic / Photograph by Orange Girl Photographs, Florals by Willow Haven 

The Royal Wedding was one of classic elegance, tradition and style; as a result many couples are now choosing a more classic and formal style for their own weddings. Vintage weddings have dominated the wedding scene for a few years now and many experts believe that couples are tired of this trend. The Huffington Post’s HuffWeddings blog reported that vintage, shabby chic style weddings will give way to a more formal wedding style. They predict there will be a return to a more formal weddings influenced by classic American designers such as Ralph Lauren (whom I absolutely love by the way!). When I think of Ralph Lauren, I envision rustic elegance and luxurious natural elements; wood, leather, silver trays and candle sticks, natural shed antlers… equestrian influences. I would love to design a Ralph Lauren inspired wedding!

Personally, I’m not convinced that we’ve seen the end of vintage weddings just quite yet (maybe the over the top eclectic vintage look however). I think we’ll see weddings with more of a modern, vintage vibe…elegant, rustic with small vintage touches. Here’s a recent wedding we designed that had a rustic vintage, yet elegant feel (it also incorporated lace and burlap)! What do you think?

Rustic Elegance designed by Naturally Chic photo courtesy of Orange Girl Photographs

Personalization in my view isn’t a trend; I really hope it is here to stay! I love when couples have personalized, custom touches that are meaningful to the couple!

Whether it’s a favor monogrammed with the couple’s name, like our engraved veneer wood smore covers or a mason jar full of popcorn (our couple’s favorite snack food), custom favors will continue to be used to add special personal touches to weddings in 2012.

Custom wood veneer smores wrappers by Naturally Chic photo courtesy of Orange Girl Photographs

custom popcorn favor designed by Naturally Chic, label design by The Wedding Chicks, Photograph courtesy of Orange Girl Photographs

We personally are loving the latest wedding trends! Will you be incorporating any of these trends into your wedding?

Contact us about your 2012 wedding at 1.888.679.9056 or info@naturallychic or via the Naturally Chic website.

Happy Planning!!