Wedding Trends and Tips for 2019 

Creating personalised wedding favours from fine chocolate relies on both technique and artistry. At Little Cocoa, we’re driven to create unique, contemporary products that our couples and their guests will love and remember.

Sometimes we’re asked to reflect popular styles and colours in our wedding favours; sometimes we want to be bold and different. Like other wedding vendors, we all grapple with being on trend or setting the trends.

Little Cocoa spoke to some wedding industry colleagues for their insights into what’s trending in 2019.

Sweet fun together

Marina from Marina Machado Cakes enjoys creating wedding cakes that make a statement – and that sometimes means challenging the trends and letting her artistry shine through.

“But at the end of the day I need to be commercial too. I need to produce cakes that are well received by my customers. I can’t go pure art on the cake.”

“My couples come for a complimentary tasting and that is when I talk to them and get an idea of the couple, who they are, how they met, the colours and style of the wedding. I will get the vibes from the couple and design something for them.”

She says dessert tables are currently very popular with the idea of ‘sharing this sweet fun together’.

“We have now a cake that is not massive but instead a whole dessert table piled with petit fours.”

“Textured cakes are really on trend these days versus a smooth fondant finish. Couples like different patterns, ruffles, and a lot of fresh flowers too.”

“I think this year it’s going to be peach and dark salmon colours. I’ve been going to style shoots and see the trend coming through. Monochrome or touched with gold. It’s a very fresh look; a lot of boho.”

Marina says mud cakes are still popular but nothing plain – think white chocolate mud cake or with raspberries or strawberries.

And while she has her list of popular recipes, couples don’t have to follow trends. She’s always open to creating something special or even using the bride’s favourite recipe.

Marina’s tip for couples: It’s never too soon to start planning if you want the best suppliers to help you build your dream wedding.

Sustainable fashion

Natalie from Only Dream Dresses is hoping her online market place for preloved wedding dresses is tapping into the broader lifestyle trend to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“There are an estimated 117,000 weddings every year in Australia and there are obviously a large number of wedding dresses being stored in cupboards and under beds.”

A platform for people to list their wedding dresses for hire or sale means other brides can have a designer gown at a fraction of the original price.

“In terms of the trends, I think there will always be a few designers who sell well so if those dresses are listed on my site, they will obviously be able to achieve a higher price and sell quicker than some other gowns.”

“For example, Grace Loves Lace is an Australian designer who will always sell really well as the style suits a lot of brides.”

She says Meaghan Markle inspired looks with simple and clean lines are definitely on trend and perhaps even extend to having a second dress for the reception.

Gold wedding dresses are also being sought out suggesting a number of brides are looking beyond the traditional.

“Part of any wedding day planning is selecting a colour palette or theme but now brides-to-be are taking it and incorporating it into their wedding dress as well as their table settings and flowers.”

Separates including crop top or jackets are also a popular push back from traditional wedding dresses.

Natalie’s tip for couples: Be yourself and make choices that reflect you and your partner. Too many brides take on the pressure of outside influences and find it’s not really them.

Big and beautiful

Flora and Winter florist Kelsea says most brides, armed with their Pinterest boards, already know how they want their wedding styled.

“But if they don’t know what they want, then we can guide them.”

She says while there are industry trends, individual florists also have their own styles which attract like-minded clients.

“For example, you get some florists who are very neat and tidy and they do that round bouquet look with not much foliage whereas I’m a very messy florist so it’s more of a wild, moody look.”

While the 2019 Colour of the Year might be ‘Living Coral’, she’s been seeing a lot of other colours including deep burgundy and blush pink.

Brides are also happy for their florists to try and improve on nature by dyeing or spray painting flowers any colour from mocha and toffee through to neon yellow.

“With flowers, a lot of brides love Phalaenopsis orchids, big dried date palm leaves, pampas grass and gigantic tropical leaves dried out and spray painted.”

“They bring in these leaves to make the arrangement bigger and for that wow factor. There are also new techniques such as peeling the roses to make them appear bigger than they are.”

Kelsea’s tip for couples: Know your budget and know your style – boho or modern chic – so we can get as close as possible to what you want.