The Top 12 Trends for 2021 Weddings

An admittedly late, amped-up appreciation for sustainability was said to be a top trend in design and planning for 2020, until this year's gatherings were put on pause. While many events were inherently more sustainable given their smaller scale, this year's weddings were more locally sourced than ever before—planned in backyards, amid gardens, and on terraces with help from neighborhood vendors. 2021 weddings promise to continue that trend, with much of the product—from food to beverage to floral—being sourced as locally as possible, limiting carbon emissions in transportation and supporting small, artisan businesses.

An all-in-one package may seem like the easiest option, but couples are realizing that it's more important to support small businesses and work with brands they feel align with their values. From sustainable farmers to local vineyards, butchers, bakers, and more, getting married somewhere is now a commitment to supporting a local economy that undoubtedly felt the effects of 2020.

Getting married in the Northwest? Find a wine supplier based in Napa or Willamette Valley to support your beverage service. Wedding in the Midwest? Sourcing the very best quality meat locally should be a must. The list goes on.

Pictured: Stacia & Mario's Intimate Napa Valley Wedding

All white is always classic, but when it comes to color, gone are the days of blush weddings and basic color palettes. Expect the new year to bring about fresh pops of color, new palettes, print mixing, and statement hues that weddings haven't seen before. After all, we've been sitting around at home in our neutrals for most of 2020. Think: super bold, vibrant color with decor that is fantastical and worthy of the parties you dreamt of during endless evenings cooking at home.

The key to this idea is that your entertaining ethos should still feel like home—while daring to be different. Bold doses of color are inherently decadent; after all, creating a world you and your guests enjoy for one night only is the epitome of over-the-top. Use your favorite hues in unexpected places, keeping in mind stylistic wow factors like dramatic displays of candlelight and centerpieces that surprise and delight. Bring your bold takes on color into layers on the table, including the linens, glassware, and china. Each event we attend in the coming year should inspire joy, smiles, and vibrancy at every turn—after a year inside, we deserve it.

Pictured: Planning by The Lake Como Wedding Planner; Floral Design by Tulipina

This year sent us inside, and when we wanted to get out, we were prompted to the great outdoors for distancing. And as weddings pick back up, outdoor affairs will likely kick things off.

2021 will have loads more beach weddings than we've seen in the past, from the Hamptons to Miami to Malibu and beyond—but they won't be the standard. Expect an update to the previously all-too-boho beach wedding, some where ball gowns may walk down aisles and others where a simple slip is donned in front of waves crashing, with no ceremony arch, floral urn, or elaborate structure in sight. Some might feel like two events in one, featuring an easygoing ceremony on the shore followed by a more over-the-top dinner in a tent on dry land. Others might feel that much more casual and end with s'mores around a fire pit.

Whatever your style, expect beach weddings in 2021 to honor their natural setting, with a twist.

Pictured: Ally Hilfiger and Steve Hash's Wedding in Mustique, Photographed by Douglas Friedman

Destination weddings were all we talked about before 2020, and they're all we're currently craving as travel remains up in the air. Expect 2021 to be all about transformative design, rather than experiential travel—at least to start.

Extraordinary design is a mainstay, not a trend, but next year, a couple's favorite destinations may play a role more so than ever in inspiring the event's look, feel, color palette, and more. The goal here is to bring your original wedding destination, your dream honeymoon location, or an experience you shared together abroad or out of town into your home, or to an intimate affair, via destination-inspired experiences, tastes, textures, and colors.

Whether you set up tropical arrangements that call to the lush greenery of Bali, deck tables with accents that remind you of your favorite meal in Provence, or include Moroccan-inspired lounges with trays of abundant fruits and candies, immerse your guests in menus, music, scents, blooms, and multisensory experiences of your favorite destination in the world—even if you're actually at home.

Pictured: Florals by Putnam & Putnam (left); Design by David Stark (right)

Shoes were optional in 2020, and while the idea of dressing up again has us elated, easing back into high heels after a year of slides, slippers, sneakers, and flats feels far more daunting. We discovered just how much we love to be comfortable this year, and that likely won't change instantly when it comes to wedding dressing.

From mules to sandals and evening slides, comfortable wedding shoes will be paired with gowns, cocktail looks, and civil ceremony outfits this coming year, and perhaps long after. There will always be those who love a sky-high stiletto, but they're no longer a requirement for formal dressing, especially for the aisle. Brides are no longer wearing heels because they feel they're supposed to, opting instead for silhouettes they want to wear, with an under-three-inch heel, but with just as much style.

A year of Netflix binges, endless podcasts, and countless hours spent on Instagram has us all desperate for some live entertainment. Guests are ready for an all-out, no-holds-barred party. After dozens of at-home workouts and dance parties in our pajamas (at home, hoping nobody was watching), we're now looking forward to the day (or night) that we can get up and move to the music until the sun comes up.

Dance floors may still be limited for health, safety, and social distancing measures as we enter the new year, but no matter your guest count, a wedding is a wedding—plain and simple. Celebrations should be filled with love, joy, music, and entertainment, no matter the size or scope. Couples will opt for unique ways to surprise and delight their guests—from large bands that rival the size of the guest list to DJs remixing your favorite hits, and alternative entertainment, like stand-up comedians, illusionists, aerialists, and other performers, aimed at keeping guests entertained while they stay safely in their seats.

No matter the size of your event, from the ceremony to the reception, music and performances are not where you should cut back in the coming year and beyond.

Pictured: Entertainment by ALR Music

There's long been a tradition of having family photos present on the wedding day. However, as we conclude a year that emphasized the importance of those we love and have lost, we expect to see more subtle acknowledgments of family history scattered throughout each and every affair. From vintage family china and candlesticks to donning heirloom jewelry and fashion, the standing tradition of "something old" is taking on new life. It now feels frivolous to fill an event's design or a wardrobe with all things new, new, new—expect couples to incorporate vintage in unexpected, meaningful ways.

Case in point: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, pictured here, who wed in her grandmother's 67-year-old Dior wedding dress after restoring the French vanilla ivory gown with Miami-based boutique Ever After Miami.

Pictured: Planning by Daughter of Design, Photographed by KT Merry

If you haven't gotten the gist just yet, 2021's wedding trends are all a result of the pandemic's reframing of our priorities. And with that new look on things, registries and wedding gifts are sure to shift as well. This year made it abundantly clear that even as a bride- and groom-to-be, it's not always about you.

We've already seen couples change course on traditional gifting, like Avriel Epps and Erin Darling (pictured here), who wed in Malibu and donated to 20 organizations in their guests' honor, rather than accepting gifts. We expect to see more couples following suit, opting for charitable registries and donation campaigns that give back to the organizations and missions close to their families and their hearts as individuals, and as a couple.