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Caroline LaRocca, author, TV personality, and renowned East Coast wedding planner, says the coming year will feature some surprising and interesting trends for getting married. LaRocca’s Fabulous Forecast for Wedding Trends 2012 predicts the new year will be filled with tonal colors, shiny jewels, interesting destinations, and couples inserting their personal styles.

 

“Traditional is out next year,” says LaRocca. “From jewelry to destination to how the event is captured will all turn new corners.” LaRocca predicts colors will be: yellow in all shades, especially canary. Other colors will include Tiffany blue, hyacinth, ink/midnight blue, grass, orangeade, poppy, geranium, and honey. Ivory and white bridal parties are definitely in (a la the Kardashians). Bride jewelry goes from grandmother’s pearls to an investment piece that begins its own tradition; wedding gowns inspired by vampire brides and real-life princesses, and destination weddings are in.

 

Fashion

Three major trends: long sleeves, lace, and ladylike. Vampires and royals will be setting the trends in 2012 with sleeves and lace on the wedding dress. Alfred Angelo has done a knock off of Twilight movie character Bella’s Breaking Dawn wedding gown by Carolina Herrera, and there are Kate Middleton-inspired looks everywhere—*see Monique Lhullier’s Spring Collection. Formal ladylike elements like hats and gloves make a comeback.

 

Jewelry

Grandmother’s pearls remain timeless, but 2012 brides will be donning less traditional bridal jewelry. I see an increasing investment in pieces that have a life beyond the big day like a Todd Reed (toddreed.com) set that offers a personalized and unexpected edge to the long white dress, or a Stella & Dot (stelladot.com) necklace that infuses high style to a simple cut frock. There will also be more rose gold wedding bands and raw diamonds.

 

Colored Shoes, Jeweled Bouquets, Bridesmaids Dresses, and Other Delights

Personal style overshadows tradition more than ever. Brides are escaping what they must do and replacing it with what they want to do. Etiquette? Sure, but whatever feels right is the answer, as long as it makes sense and everyone involved is comfortable. Bridesmaids can choose their own style and colors (as long as they come from a pre-selected palette), white shoes are replaced by colors, and simple bouquets get some jeweled sparkle.

 

Professional Makeup

Everyday makeup doesn’t stand up to lights used with professional cameras of geniuses like William Mahone, so wedding parties, especially for the bride are scheduling professional make-up sessions. Makeup artists have the talent and training to hide blemishes, uneven skin tones, and bring out the most beautiful subject with techniques learned from much experience. Rising stars artists like Christin Burdette can transform any bridal party into walking art that makes a statement and the moment most memorable.

 

Destination Weddings

Whether it is a dreamy castle like Villa Foscarini Cornaro in Venice, Italy, Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, a Virginia mountain retreat like Primland, or a gentile Southern estate with Jefferson cups and magnolias, destination weddings are growing by leaps and bounds. When the wedding magically morphs into a festive getaway for your nearest and dearest it becomes a lasting memory.

 

Décor

2012 brides won’t just hire the local florist because wedding day décor now encompasses much more than fresh flowers. Customized table linens, ambient lighting, lounge areas, and complete room transformations have taken the place of the table centerpiece, though they are still as gorgeous as ever. Brides will also opt to invest in a single high impact focal point, balanced with simple less expensive elements.

 

Foods

More sit down dinners with fewer guests, but with longer and more elaborate cocktail hours and midnight snacks served while people are dancing. Snacks will include mini PB&J, sliders, milk and cookies, and freshly popped corn. We see a lot of creative packaging at the cocktail hour like dim sum served in mini-Chinese take out containers.

 

Interactive elements

Guests can expect more than the first dance and the bouquet toss to engage them at the wedding reception. Photo booth rental is at an all time high and will only grow in 2012. Guests get to dress up, let loose, cut up and engage in some serious bonding at the photo booth. Weddings, after all, are meant to be fun.

Reception entertainment

More and more brides are going for bands and DJs. The DJ plays when the band breaks, and the atmosphere morphs from elegant to clubby with house music and unique mixes.

 

Creative lighting

Ambient and mood lighting is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. Creative lighting has been in fashion now for at least ten years in the wedding industry, but almost never a line item on the budget worksheets and checklist you see in so many publications, and often a surprise to brides. That changes now. Nothing impacts a room like ambient lighting. Without it, you are stuck with institutional room lighting, or if you are in a tent no lighting. We say, let there be ambient light.

 

What’s out:

§  Signature drinks. Who wants to be forced to drink a concoction called an "I’m Yours" when all they really want is a Grey Goose and tonic? 

§  Table names. It’s as difficult to find the “Machu Picchu table” in a ballroom of 36 tables in dim lighting as it is to find the actual pre-Columbian Incan site. It's much simpler to find Table 12.

§  Matchy-matchy colors. No more bridesmaids dress matching tablecloths or specific colors for the event. More brides are going with colors and styles that make the most sense in their chosen venue—i.e. if the carpet is burgundy and green swirl, no more pink and purple stripe tablecloths and flowers.

§  Bridal party/head tables. But darlings, tables are definitely in.

 

To view the report visit: http://www.carolinelarocca.com/wedding-trends-for-2012/