Wedding trends are ‘dirty words’ in 2025, according to experts

How many years have you heard about the latest trends? Whether that’s in bridal fashion, colour schemes or even multi-day ceremonies, the It-weddings tend to change each year – until 2025.

In a shock move, the latest trend is that there are no trends, with wedding experts labelling them as “a dirty word” for those looking for personalised luxury that will stand the test of time. We headed to Kensington Palace – where the Prince and Princess of Wales have their second home – for the AP&Co Wedding Showcase to hear about what to expect in 2025…

After sipping on champagne in the Orangery – which can host 300 for a wedding reception – we sat down for a panel discussion hosted by Louise Roe, fashion journalist and Founder of Sharland England. Since we are still at the very beginning of the year, the conversation turned to trends, which caused quite a stir among the panellists.

Trends are dying

“Trends is a sort of it’s almost like a dirty word at the moment because I feel like, certainly in interiors, it’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, I don’t want trends. I don’t want to do what’s trending,'” explained Jo Jennings from Historical Palaces.

“Perhaps they’re seeing things on social media. I think the higher the budgets and the luxury, they don’t want to talk about trends,” she said.

“I think we’re moving more and more away from tradition as well. So they’re wanting to do their own bespoke thing, and this is where I think it lends into all the supplies as well, including venues.”

Personalisation is key

This idea of a one-of-a-kind wedding is why personalisation has continued to be a key priority for brides and grooms for years – and it is only set to continue. 

Jo said: “We’ve got to stop packaging things up, people want bespoke. They want to feel like they’re the only people getting married here, and they’re doing things completely different. There’s always an element to tradition, but we always sell it as a ceremony, drinks reception, dinner, and dancing. But why should we do it in that format?

“I think personalising things is almost the word for luxuries, you’re creating an event for you.”

Nobody wants “conveyor belt weddings”, but in Rose Lander, Head of Creative Development AP&Co’s experience, it is getting harder and harder to find a unique way to personalise things.

“I would say personalisation is almost a trend within itself. I mean, really down to the fine details. We’ve had pretzels which have been shaped into the initials of the bride and groom. We’ve had branded butter. Now that that’s kind of been done a little bit, I feel that people are gonna be going like, ‘Ok, can we put our initials on the napkins?’

“People are really trying to get these micro details that have a little bit of their spirit as a couple in them,” Rose added, before pointing out that food is a key way to bring your flair to the big day.

“Sometimes makes for quite unexpected menus because they’ll say, ‘Oh, we want to have a starter like this thing that we had at Nobu, but then we want to have this main course like we had at The Ivy.’ It is so different from how it was almost like 10, 15 years ago, where it would be like, ‘We want to have a Brazilian menu or a French menu.'”

Florist Simon Lycett, meanwhile, said sometimes you have to place your trust in the experts to bring their vision to life. It can be easy to get sucked into the visual aesthetics of Instagram and Pinterest, but sometimes they create unrealistic ideals that can’t be turned into a reality.

“I think when you’re trying to personalise their weddings, they will ask, ‘Have you got a photo of it?’ And we’re like, ‘No. I’ve just thought of it. I’ve never done it before,'” he began, before joking: “It’s not on Pinterest yet. Pinterest should be banned. It’s crap for brides. It’s horrendous. I hate it.”

DIY disasters

While it can be tempting to try and save on costs by getting your hands dirty and trying heartfelt DIY additions, this can often cause more stress and poorer results.

“We just don’t do it,” was the resounding opinion of all panellists, including weddings and party planner Susie Evans.

Drawing on his personal experience, Simon added: “We had to decorate a wedding cake once, and we were told the bridesmaid is going to make it.

“It was a really warm day in a tent. This bridesmaid was assembling it, and I could see she was almost as sweaty as the cake was becoming. 

“And it was just sort of collapsing and sliding, and I said to her, ‘Do you make a lot of cakes?’ She said, ‘No. I’ve never made one before. I thought it would be such fun.’

“Well, it was just a hot mess for everybody. You can hide a lot with flowers, but it’s managing that element of it that makes it challenging.”

Sometimes, things do turn out well, reassured Louise. She said: “A friend of mine recently got married in the summer. She’s very creative, and she actually hand-painted about 200 plates, took them out to LA herself. None of them broke.”

Overall, what we learnt is that less is more and you don’t always have to try hard to make something luxurious and bespoke. As Simon put it, we need to move away from the “perception that luxury is lots.”

READ: 9 of the most lavish wedding venues around the world