Summer officially begins on June 20th this year (for those of us in the northern hemisphere, anyway), and delightful summer details can already be seen popping up in weddings. Here are a few summer wedding trends you can expect to see at weddings this season and ways you can incorporate them into your own special day.
Bold Color
At the beginning of 2012, Pantone, the color authority, named Tangerine Tango as the color of the year. Summer is the perfect season to give this color a try. This orangey-peachy hue looks cool, crisp and playful when paired with aqua. For a more formal look, try pairing it with charcoal grey. A gorgeous grey dress with a bright punch of tangerine as an accent is stunning. Whether you consider this color for your bridesmaids, or perhaps your mom or his might consider it for their mother of the bride/mother of the groom outfits, one thing is for sure – this is the hot color for summer!
Letterpress Invitations
If you’ve been browsing Pinterest for wedding inspiration lately, you’ve probably noticed how popular letterpress is becoming for wedding invitations. If you’re not familiar with this ancient printing technique, letterpress involves printing words or images on paper with ink, while at the same time “pressing” or debossing them into the paper. When you run your fingers over a letterpress invitation you can feel the raised lettering. Letterpress is truly an art form, with each individual letter, character and punctuation mark painstakingly set by hand by the letterpress operator. Each letterpress invitation is essentially a handmade piece of art.
While letterpress itself is a popular trend right now, using bold and bright colors will really make your invitations pop. For example, rather than choosing an invitation printed with fuchsia ink on white stock, try reversing it for a real “punch” of color by printing with white ink on fuchsia. Imagine what a statement your invitations will make when your guests open those envelopes!
Rustic Elegance
According to the experts at Lover.ly, burlap and lace accents are already making a big impression at weddings. If you’re a fan of the rustic and shabby style, summer is the perfect opportunity for you to use this theme. Not everyone is able to have a quaint outdoor wedding in a picturesque meadow, followed by a casually elegant reception in a rustic, old barn adorned with antique chandeliers and vintage wood furniture. But now it’s easier than ever to throw the rustic wedding of your dreams using items such as burlap, lace and twine. With a little creativity and DIY spirit, you can turn ordinary, everyday items into vintage looking, rustic glam accents. View this Pinterest board for some inspiration.
Repurposing old furniture is another great way to inject the shabby chic feel into your party. You can use a set of old glass paned doors as the backdrop during your ceremony (the shabbier the better). For a makeshift altar, use a vintage or antique desk/dresser. Dress it up with old glass jars and vases filled with wildflowers, antique frames with pictures of you and your beloved, and even old books. You can set up paned window with frames at the entrance to your reception. Using chalkboard paint to cover all the glass, you can then write on the panes with chalk. It’s an interesting and very rustic way to give guests their table numbers or post the evening’s menu.
To soften up the rustic look and add a touch of elegance when using old vintage items, add lace or other feminine fabrics. Use lace tablecloths on old barn wood tables, or even just lace runners over regular tablecloths. Squares of burlap make rustic looking placemats. Add grosgrain ribbons to tie silverware together with a pretty piece of lace or cloth. Mason jars are a must at a rustic/shabby wedding. You can use these as centerpieces with candles, as vases for flowers, as drinking glasses, even as hanging lanterns or a chandelier. Take a walk through your local antiques store or even the flea market for ideas. You never know where inspiration might strike.
Mother of the Bride/Mother of the Groom Outfits
Mothers of the bride and groom are historically younger than ever before. Thankfully designers have taken notice of this fact and are creating outfits for them that are fashionable, stylish and trendy. Today’s moms are stylish in their everyday life, so naturally they want such an important outfit to be just as stylish and fabulous. Moms have more options for special occasion wear than they ever have in the past. They no longer have to blend into the background wearing shapeless, pastel caftans or suits. Now, moms have a choice of bold, vibrant colors (tangerine tango, anyone?) in styles that have been translated right from popular red carpet looks.
To the moms: You do need to remember when shopping for your mother of the groom outfit/mother of the bride outfit, this is not your wedding day. It is the bride’s day to shine (and the groom’s too, of course). It’s important for you to look and feel wonderful and glamorous; however, you should not purchase anything that would embarrass the bride and groom or draw unnecessary attention to yourself. You should be striving for a classy and elegant look. It might be tempting to buy a revealing dress, but it simply isn’t worth upsetting your kids. The wedding only lasts one day. Their marriage will last a lifetime, just like the pictures will. You do not want to start off this new relationship with your new son or daughter-in-law with hurt feelings that surface every time the wedding album is taken out.
Whether you choose a bold color palette, throw a rustic elegant wedding or opt for unique letterpress invitations, one thing is certain; weddings this summer will be sizzling hot! For more summer wedding trends and ideas for incorporating them into your own wedding, view this Pinterest board.