Wedding planner shares 5 wedding trends that are in and 5 that are out this year, so far

Typical floral arrangements aren't out of style, but we'll be seeing more installations created by florists — clouds of roses, hanging structures with daisies, or even asymmetrical arches made of wildflowers.

Installations are a higher-ticket item because of the labor and number of flowers involved, which means more flower-loving clients are opting to buy fewer personals (the flowers we wear or carry) and/or fewer decoratives (like centerpieces) so they can put their money where they really want it.

In a world where we're wondering what it means to have a wedding, more clients are using their day as an opportunity to celebrate the fact that we can be together in person at all. One way they've been doing this is by planning surprises.

I've coordinated many surprises, from booking a mariachi band to helping a groom dress up as a knight for his new wife.

I also have 2023 and 2024 clients interested in hiring magicians, tarot readers, quilt makers, and illustrators with the sole purpose of delighting their guests.

One of the most popular resources I send my consulting and coordinating clients are ridesharing options through Uber and Lyft that are specific to events and weddings.

These are voucher-based programs where a client only pays for the people who opt for a ride

These options may not be as economical or efficient as renting a larger shuttle bus, particularly if your goal is to get wedding guests from a central location to a less-central location. But ridesharing is a nice fit for weddings in more urban areas and/or for clients who prefer not to spring for a multi-thousand-dollar charter bus.

The ceremony has long been a part that people blow past, which is sad since a ceremony makes a wedding a wedding! But this year, more of my clients are asking for ways to make their ceremony feel more personal.

The options are as limitless as your relationship. You can use wedding-prioritization exercises and ceremony-script templates to help customize your event.

I also encourage you to search for virtual and in-person options provided by professional wedding officiants. Examples include videos to help first-time officiants prepare and vow-writing workshops.

More and more people are telling me they found me because their venue requires them to hire a wedding coordinator. This change could be due to limited staffing or venues setting better boundaries.

While (obviously) that's good for me, it's not always ideal for a client, who might not have budgeted for this extra member of the vendor team.

Fortunately, though, there are usually a few options and different scales of work and price points that coordinators and planners offer.

The appetite to live stream every moment of a wedding fell off for my clientele a couple of years ago.

I still see guests FaceTiming in folks who couldn't make it to the wedding, but the desire to capture every moment live isn't there anymore.

Instead, couples might want to hire a videographer or task a guest with capturing a certain moment they want to share after the wedding.

For folks who have a wedding party (and remember, not everyone does), the days of the customized entrances with choreographed dance moves and special songs into a reception are largely behind us.

Does this mean you can't do it? Of course not! I'm just seeing more people opt to mingle with their guests as long as they can at cocktail hour instead of putting together a literal song and dance ahead of the main meal.

This time last year, my templates for a COVID safety policy and for sharing that policy with guests and vendors were some of the most popular resources on my site. This year? Not so much.

That doesn't mean COVID is gone, but I believe our relationship with it has changed in the wedding world.

I encourage you to reframe the question of safety as you plan. Instead of, "How do we keep our wedding safe from COVID?" ask yourself, "How do we prioritize safety for our wedding?"

Safety takes all kinds of forms — from identity to accessibility to food allergies — and it pays to consider it because it's much easier to feel joy when we also feel safe.

Instead of big exits, couples seem to be prioritizing hanging out with their loved ones as long as possible.

If you still want to make the end of the wedding special, consider having a last song that has particular meaning to the people you know will be there to the bittersweet end.

Most of my clients this summer are having everything but cake for dessert. I'm talking pie with ice cream, black and white cookies, cannoli, and — a personal favorite — an entire wheel of cheese.

Dessert isn't required at a wedding, either. If you don't like it, deprioritize dessert on your catering and/or consider spending money on food that you like more — for example, I'm doing a late-night Taco Bell run for a wedding this year.