The most noticed trend in planning a 21st century wedding is relying and shopping on the Internet for wedding gifts, accessories and even attire. Brides and grooms check the Internet for wedding articles, for information, for ideas and unique weddings gifts for their family and attendants and wedding accessories for themselves. The Internet often offers them items they always wanted bu did not know exist. Brides and grooms also appreciate the ease and convenience of shopping from and having everything delivered to their homes or work places without running all over town.

The second very noticeable trend is the deep involvement of a growing number of grooms in the wedding planning process.

The third is personalisation.

Personalisation

Ask any engaged couple what they want their wedding to reflect and you can expect an almost unanimous answer. Today brides and grooms want their wedding to be very personalised and reflect who they are and what makes them special. So, what makes a wedding personalised – what is a personalised wedding?

What was once the norm, is no longer. Gone are the days when all you chose were you weddings attendants, invitations and attire. When you hired a hall you expected them to provide the caterer, the decorations, the musicians, the cake and the flowers. Today, brides and grooms want and get involved in every aspect and plan both the ceremony and reception.

A 21st century wedding includes many elements that when put together create the feel and the atmosphere and make it special and personalised. Whether they plan a most formal evening event or a whimsical afternoon wedding party, brides and grooms planning a wedding today give it their personal touch.

Many 21st century brides and grooms choose their wedding date to correspond with something personal to them. Whether it is connected with a first date, engagement, a birthday, a specific season, a holiday, a numerical sequence like 777 (July 7, 2007) or 888 (August 8, 2008) or even the day their parents or grandparents got married, the date chosen often has a special meaning.

They choose their wedding colour scheme and follow with coordinating as many aspects of the wedding with it including but not limited to the tablecloths and napkins, flowers, cake and decorations. When you attend a current wedding, look around. Is there a colour that runs throughout? Most probably.

Attire

Wedding attire choices have become less traditional and more of personal preference. According to bridal salon owners, the trend for brides married in 2008, andd those planning a wedding in 2009, calls for sleek and relatively simple gown or dress style. Favoured are both plain yet elegant gowns or dresses and gowns or dresses adorned with crystal, pearls and lace.

The major contributors to pulling away from fairy tale gown or dress styles, in favour of elegant simplicity as being the preferred choice for brides, can be contributed to: today’s working, price concious brides who want to adhere to a budget, do not want to sacrifice style or beauty, but want a lot of vale for their money.

The trend for men has also become more casual, offering a choice of a dark suit, or dark pants with a white dinner jacket instead of a tuxedo.

Jewellery

Today’s brides preferred to keep their and their bridesmaids jewellery simple, choosing Swarovski crystal, classic pearl clusters and pearl strand necklaces, with matching earrngs. Bracelets are very popular as gifts for the ladies. Some brides choose to give their bridesmaids jewellery that coordinates with their attire. Yet a growing trend, in step with personalisation, is to give them jewellery in the colour of their birthstones.

Gifts from the Bride & Groom

In keeping up with personalisation the current trend is that brides and grooms give their family and wedding party personalised items.

Some personalise the gifts with their own first names and wedding date, making the gifts a momento of the event. Others personalise them with the first name of the recipient.

A change that is currently taking place is that instead of at the wedding, the majority of brides and grooms plan to present the gifts at the rehearsal dinner.

The Wedding Cake

The wedding cake is the centrepiece of the wedding reception.

The traditional cake is erected from tiers of various sizes all decorated as instructed by the bride and groom and is crowned with a cake top. This cake, baked and decorated by a professional has become so expensive, especially when adding the customary cutting and serving fees, that brides and grooms planning a wedding on a budget started looking for alternatives. Now, what used to be a creative alternative by some became a trand.

Brides and grooms realised that in addition to saving the cutting and serving fees they could also shave off the centrepiece expense and have a dessert at every table. So though they still order at least a single tier cake for feeding each other and photographs they often opt for the two options that are most favoured.

1. An individual mini wedding cake for each table to make a spectacular and edible centrepiece. For additional fun, guests are invitied to cut and seerve the occupants at their own table.
2. A cupcake wedding cake tower is a well-liked trend. Most couples top their cupcake tower with a cake tier for the bride and groom. Mini tower is placed as the centrepiece at each table and the cupcakes placed on it serve as the dessert. Both single layer cakes and cupcakes are easily available in supermarkets.