Kalimera !, from Rhodes, Greece, where the seventh congress of destination wedding organizers recently took place – the largest B2B networking platform of the global wedding industry, where finally, after a break of almost two years – gathered over 350 participants from almost 50 countries. Croatia was one of them.
This is my fifth participation in a congress like this and I will tell you that this is a gathering that really everyone from the wedding world wants to go to and not just now in COVID time when we are so desperate for socializing and traveling that we are able sit in the car and drive to Neum (at least in our case in Dubrovnik) just to get a personal or even better at the border, bring a passport and come home with the stamp of another country, even if it was BIH.
The motto of the Wedding Planners Congress is “Work hard, play harder”, so we just hung out on the first day. It started with a noon party at the hotel pool by the beach (hotels that are a kind of host of this congress are always on your bucket list if you travel to these locations, believe me- this time the host was Mitsis Alila exclusive all-inclusive resort located at miles long sandy beach of sunny Rhodes – see us walking barefoot and frescoing in the Aegean Sea before the lecture?), continued with a tour of the old town of Rhodes and just sailed into the first party of the congress.
It is a congress where we meet new people and connect in ways the Internet will never be able to connect us, on the other hand, it is a place where we learn minute by minute from colleagues from different countries, connect cultures in the most beautiful ways and not just exchange experiences and talk about trends- here we create trends. This is going to be our topic of the day 🙂
Wedding trends of 2022!
So the first panel of the second day of the congress was held on The Future of Weddings in Times of Instability where speakers were people we don’t need to represent much in our ranks- like Bob Conti, JoAnn Gregoli and Koby Bar Yehuda, and we expressed the future through trends.
As my dear colleague and world-famous event designer, Eddie Zaratsian, said: “I don’t like the word trend because it gives the design a time limit and it’s really not necessary, especially for personalized events we deal with”, let’s go through what the big players from the world of weddings predict are upcoming, let’s call them- popular practices.
1. COLOR.
How long have we been waiting for that trend to come back to life! Let me hear you, who got tired of the terms “blush” and “white wedding”? I would like some green and white… Well let’s spice up a few things! Finally, that carousel spun and I can’t hide my enthusiasm for this announced trend! We’ll see what Pantone will choose for us as a color in 2022, but as long as we speak the language of bright colors through weddings and express our characters through color and dynamic concepts, I am an advocate of this trend. Colors can not only show how fashionable you are, but also elevate the whole design, location, speak a language that has been forgotten – the language of love!
Come on white, green and pink, go get some sleep! Red, yellow and coral – welcome!
2. EXCLUSIVITY.
I do not mean the obvious luxury that the word exclusive imposes. I think that the trend of exclusive rentals, ie the privatization of hotels, villas, B&B, farms – whatever the newlyweds find a way to make their guests feel safe and protected. COVID has brought us that awkward (not to say damn) sense of insecurity when moving in our own lives. Believe me, in the world of destination weddings it is more than noticeable – for example, the weddings of most of our American clients, which were supposed to be a hundred people, and were postponed to 2022, by default were reduced to at least half fewer guests who decided to travel despite the chaos we find ourselves in. And yes, I’m not mistaken, we are talking about 2022 – many people believe that weddings will recover only there around 2025 when we hope that this whole story will be behind us and travel will again become a completely normal and integral part of life. So for those who decided to get married next year, and according to the announcements we are talking about the largest number of weddings since the early 80’s, many are considering exclusive leases of hotels, complexes, more villas in one place and islands where somehow by default people they feel more detached, and so in the new age, unfortunately, more secure. In any case, the more private and exclusive, the more interesting, at least that’s what the announcements for next year say …
3. SUSTAINABILITY.
I can’t tell you my enthusiasm for this finally current trend in the world of weddings and events in general. Paying tribute to Mother Nature and thinking about what we use when planning our wedding – from materials, choosing locations and suppliers to recycling flowers, has finally taken the deserved and necessary throne we have been waiting for forever – ignoring is never cool and especially ignoring the alarming world “Trends” that concern us all, such as global warming, a drastic reduction in the number of bees and air pollution, which we are witnessing on a daily basis reading world reports. It was high time that this worrying reality was addressed in the world of weddings as well. So we, for example, held an entire three-day event for 350 people in wonderful, chic, organic tents. Yes, you read that right, organic tents. Feel free to Google “Organic Concepts”, a company from Belgium that was one of the congress partners and set up 4 tents handmade by nautical tailoring companies from proven, sustainable and organic materials. Waterproof, windproof up to 170km / h, extremely aesthetically attractive and absolutely in sync with all the postulates of sustainability. That is the future of events. This is a trend that we do not want to have a time limit. Ask yourself- how can I make my wedding more sustainable? Some of the ideas are reusing flowers, using live flowers in bunches (think rosemary, lavender, etc.), but add a little color to the world), renting a flower truck with additional florists who will make your guests a bouquet of the remaining flowers and give a bouquet on your behalf. What they like- the idea is a million, you just need to see how best to incorporate them into your wedding. And don’t hesitate to talk about it out loud – it’s a voice that needs to be heard far away!
In the end, I will agree with my colleague Eddie about the practical dislike of trends, but at the same time I will tell you- some new kids have arrived in the world of wedding design and thank God they did! Sustainability and respect for nature are more than welcome!
