Wedding trends: 10 things to note

Among the most important guides to a wedding you will forever be happy with is the knowledge of what is trending and what is long gone. Christine W. Wanjala brings you up to speed on the in-things.

1. The evolution of the bridal gown:

The long sleeve dress: This could have something to do with the requirement starting next year of brides saying their vows in the church of Uganda having to cover up. But it is also a trend in itself in the past few months. Of course, it could also be influenced by Kate Middleton’s conservative wedding dress. Note, however, that we do not have the super heavy puffed sleeves of yesteryears. This is more fitted and is mainly lace.

Two for the price of one: A two-in-one dress that can be modified by something as simple as detaching the tail, or unzipping so the skirt comes off, revealing either something much shorter or body hugging underneath. Even for brides who still want to change, the dress comes is handy. After the pictures of the dramatic train are done, you can get rid of it.

Move over snow white: “Brides don’t seem to be that into white anymore,” says Lilian Mganga, a bridal stylist at M’ Adelaide Bridal shop. She says more are veering towards ivory and champagne instead.

2. Long earrings for the bridal party:
With this trend, necklaces are skipped altogether.

3. Exploring silver:
From the bridal parties to venue schemes, silver also seems to be having a moment and is being matched with colours often mixed with gold, like purple, red and black. The resulting effect is not half bad.

4. Something purple:
It is either a favourite of many people getting married now or it is just having a high fashion moment. The most popular hue is deep royal purple and it is appearing everywhere from maids dresses, to flower girl sashes to grooms’ waistcoats, to the venue décor.

5. Smaller bridal party
The number of accessories is not the only the only thing shrinking. So is the bridal party. We are seeing few maids now, almost no groomsmen and in some cases, just the bride groom, matron, best man, flower girl and page boy.

6. Convenient wedding boutiques
These are just coming up, places where you can buy or hire a dress, get a suit for your groom, as well as have all bridal salon services done, for you and your maids not to forget a studio where you take impeccable pictures before starting your day. Convenient considering that’s about four strikes on your wedding planning list!

7. Eclectic motorcades
It is not goodbye yet for the uniformly matched cars but we see more and more weddings with pretty much any car that was available. The only thing that will alert you to the fact that it is the same wedding entourage is maybe bows or ribbons they tend to be decorated with.

8. Professional wedding planners
William Katuramu, a wedding planner and founder of Moonlight Wedding Consultancy solutions, notes that there is an emergence of the professional wedding planner and a small number of people opting for them. Instead of toughing it out, trying to organise the wedding of your dreams yourself, or enlisting the help of your near and dear, brides are opting to get a person whose business is to make this happen, a wedding planner.

9. Reception venue:
Katuramu says hotels have become the number one choice for wedding receptions and here’s why; “When selecting a venue for reception, an overall package has become important. Many facilities offer packages inclusive of venue, service, food, steel ware, glass ware, china, and needed furniture.” The trend is, in other words, to go for the venue that can offer food and beverages in the package.

10. Fake tiers
Forget about the humongous cake accompanied by several little giving away cakes that has been trending. According to our planner, the new trend is to order a small cake and fill out the bottom with plastic tiers. He says it can save some money while maintaining the wow factor of a big cake.

fullwoman@ug.nationmedia.com