Perspex, alpacas, and capes, oh my!

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We’re all for embracing individuality on your wedding day, but some ideas are just too covetable not to pinch, and we’ve got 11 of them right here in our 2018 wedding trends round-up. Our style, decor and concept picks are all set to take weddings by storm over the next 12 months, and if we’ve done our job right, maybe some of our predictions will even make it into your big day! Of course, your wedding inspiration doesn’t have to stop with 2018 wedding trends. In January 2017, we championed oversized blooms, ‘70s styling and signature cocktail bars, all of which are still rocking our socks.

Ready to be inspired? Read on…

1. Restaurant and Pub Weddings

While we do love the romance of a country manor or castle wedding, there's a lot to be said for having your wedding reception in your favourite pub or restaurant. Not only do these types of wedding venues allow you to party the night away in a beloved haunt - maybe even one that played a major role in your relationship! - but they help strip away any sense of formality around your wedding day, allowing you and your guests to feel completely at home. Check out this post on restaurant venues in Ireland to get the ideas flowing.

2. Eloping with Family

We’ve been known to lose our heads over chic and adventurous elopements here in One Fab Day HQ, but we often wonder if it isn’t a little strange getting hitched without having your nearest and dearest there to share the moment. Clearly, some couples have had the same idea and decided to give themselves the best of both by eloping with just a handful of family members. We’re all about ditching the rulebook, so if you dream of tying the knot on a sun-kissed Hawaiian beach or in a chateau in the French countryside but also want your parents, siblings or children to be there grinning at you the whole time, go for it!

For inspiration, see how American couple Delaney and Alex hopped across the pond to Donegal with their parents to get wed, how Irish pair Annie and Pair decamped to Florence with a small entourage, and how US couple Fatimae and Jeff made it official in the Burren with their two children as their only guests.

3. Offbeat Animals

We’ve ooh and aahed at lots of real weddings where the couple’s pet pup played a starring role, but in 2018, you’ll be partying with animals of a more unusual breed. We’re talking alpacas, donkeys, goats, pigs, peacocks - even turtles! Brides and grooms who want to channel their inner Dr. Dolittle are spoiled for choice with Irish venues - Larchfield Estate boasts donkeys and alpacas, and who wouldn’t want the regal peacocks at Ashley Park House to play a cameo in their wedding portraits?

4. Swap the Veil for a Bridal Cape

If you’re still swooning over the chic, caped Stéphane Rolland jumpsuit that Solange Knowles wore on her wedding day in 2014, or the regal Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen number donned by Serena Williams in November, this trend is definitely for you! While veils are a beautiful nod to tradition, a cape is equally well suited to modern and vintage-inspired bridal looks. Go full length for drama, short and beaded for retro glamour, or sleek and simple for Solange levels of cool.

5. City Hall Wedding Dresses

The interior of some Irish and UK city halls are stunning enough to support a show-stopping designer gown but if red carpet-worthy opulence isn’t your style, or you’re getting married in a humble registry, you’ll want to go for something a little more chic and simple. If the Sex and the City movie taught us nothing else, it’s that a tea-length dress or skirt suit can be just as stunning as a floor-length bridal number, and when it slots in effortlessly with the vibe of the venue, the effect will be drop-dead gorgeous!

6. Single-Colour Bridal Bouquets

For many brides, the bouquet is a chance to go overboard with colour, to balance out the stark whiteness of their gown, but a single-colour bouquet does this just as well. If you’re already picturing bold yellow sunflowers or sentimental blue hydrangeas with your gown, this can help set the colour palette for the whole day, but it works the other way around, too! If your decor is starting to feel a little fussy, why not strip the bouquets down to just a handful of red peonies or fragrant lavender? Your florist can create texture by combining different flowers in a similar shade, and don't forget about all-white bouquets - styled correctly, they're effortlessly chic!

7. Perspex Everything!

Last year, we brought you some of our favourite acrylic wedding invite and menu ideas, but we’re not stopping at stationery! In 2018, backdrops, table plans, signage and chairs are all going clear. Nothing combines the modern with the romantic quite like acrylic, also known as perspex, lucite, and plexiglass. And it’s durable too, so custom-made pieces are likely to survive a collision with any enthusiastic dancers!

8. Rehearsal Dinners (Irish Style!)

Rehearsal dinners are a long-standing tradition in the U.S., but as weddings in Ireland and the UK swell to two, three and four-day affairs, they're becoming much more common on this side of the pond. The Irish twist on the trend is smaller and less formal - let's just say that not a whole lot of rehearsing gets done! Whether your rehearsal dinner is an intimate, night-before meal in your venue, or pub grub and a trad session in a local bar with all your guests (and half the village!), the key is to make it fun, but not so fun that you're still there at 1am!

Read about Emma & Lisa's pre-wedding party here.

9. Kitchen Parties

Our editor Claire championed these cosy, pre-wedding ‘dos back in a post in October, but this one is not so much a trend as a resurrection of a fabulous old tradition that we reckon should have never gone away in the first place! Simply put, the kitchen party is an old Irish version of a wedding shower (that you don’t have to be Irish to adopt!), thrown by a family matriarch, for female friends, family members and neighbours - you guessed it - in her kitchen! It’s a refreshingly low-key affair where the guests all pitch in with cakes, salads and sandwiches, a chance for well-wishers who won’t be at the wedding to pop around for a cuppa and a chat. It’s also a great way to include older female relatives in the wedding build-up without subjecting them to the chaos of the hen ‘do!

10. Glass Marquees

If you dream of having your wedding at home, on the unspoiled beach you played on as a kid, or in a secluded forest - firstly, we admire your enthusiasm! Of course, to pull off such a feat, you'll need to hire a marquee, and in 2018, it's all about elegant, vintage-looking glass marquees, inspired by the one that Pippa Middleton had installed at her parents' house in Berkshire for her wedding last year. A handful of events companies around Europe will ship glass marquees to Ireland and the UK, but, as you might expect, this service ain't cheap! A tent with a clear gable, like the ones provided by Pavilion Marquees, gives a similar effect. Or for a glass marquee feel without the hassle of marquee rental, try a venue with a conservatory or Orangery, like Killruddery House, Ballyfin House or Marlfield House.

11. Whatever Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are doing!

Nobody sets wedding trends quite like the royals, as proven by Prince William and Kate Middleton’s epic 2011 celebration, which is still inspiring lace bodice gowns, elaborate fascinators and white bridesmaid dresses a whopping seven years later! Meghan and Harry will likely move even further away from tradition, as they have with their engagement portraits, when they tie the knot on May 19th at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. There’s already talk of banana wedding cake (it’s Harry’s fave!) and a slinky, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy-esque wedding gown, but whatever these two lovebirds cook up, their style will be reflected in thousands of other weddings around the globe. As always, we’ll be keeping an eye out for details we can steal without incurring a royal-sized fee!

We're not stopping here...

OK, so your imagination’s been sparked. What’s next? Well, don’t go too far, because in the coming weeks and months, we’ll be giving you in-depth looks at our 2018 wedding trends, and showing you how to make them a reality on your big day! And of course, these are just the details we’re most excited about right now - we’ll continue to bring you the sweetest and most sensational trends throughout 2018.

Will any of these trends feature in your big day? Let us know over on Facebook and Instagram.

See more in:

The Bride, The Details, The Style, Wedding Colour Palettes, Wedding Decoration, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Flowers, Wedding Planning, Wedding Stationery, Wedding Venues

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