Midwest Wedding Trends (#3 in a Series): How to Have Amazing Wedding Details That Guests will Remember

• Plan to see and use polaroids as vintage photo decor. (Thanks to Taylor Swift and her obsession with them.)
• Give out awesome party favors. Maybe iTunes gift cards (to download your first dance song) or digital photo prints of each guest. Here are more brilliant ideas. Be sure to choose a favor that’s personal to you two. Food is always a hit. Here are 10 more ideas to spark more ideas.
• Keep the kids occupied with a kids room or table full of bubbles, Legos, crayons…and heavy duty wet wipes. 🙂
• Don’t let guests get bored between the ceremony and the reception. Have lawn games & lemonade (with vodka of course), a photo booth, a scavenger hunt, or a friend playing his/her acoustic guitar for background music on a chill patio. Temporary tattoo parlors and characature artists are popping up as fun wedding reception entertainment also! My family will most likely be playing “Spoons” the weekend of any wedding.  🙂
• Bring in a tasting station, whether it’s craft beer, whiskeys, tequilas, cheeses…anything. Bring in an expert and let your guests learn from the best!
• Allow your guests to do more than sit. Let them mingle by the dessert station and chocolate fountain, chat near the bar area while sipping your signature cocktail, take a load of their heels in your popcorn & lounge area and move them around the room with your build-your-own appetizer stations. Key insight here: keep them moving.
• What if you provided creative transportation to/from wedding? A fun party bus, a limo ride, a vintage vehicle for you and your wedding party perhaps. Here’s a local contact for South Dakota brides.
• For table numbers, make them into trivia! “3 years ago today, we met under the Oak Street bridge.” On the other side of the table number, have a photo of you two!

• Have fun with your first dance. Consider starting with a slow love song and ending with something fun!
• Speaking of dancing, consider a “Dollar Selfie” instead of “Dollar Dance”!!
• Lighting is a great way to set the ambiance for your wedding dance. Check out some options from DJ Jer in Sioux Falls.
• After parties are huge. Have yours at a patio bar or lake house so you can dance until early morning. Who should you invite?

• Continued development of trend toward flowing, loose bouquets with plenty of greenery, instead of round, flower-filled bouquets. Click to see pictures here, here and here.
• Boutonnieres: We predict a growing emphasis on greenery, and a unique use of leaves.

• Ombre color scheme! So. adorable. can’t. get. enough. ombre. See examples here, here and here.
• Think beyond the cake! Think donuts, cookies, mini cheesecakes, truffles, cupcakes, candies, along with local treats. The dessert bar can double as your wedding favor by setting out bags or plastic boxes for your guests to take a snack with them.
• Custom cake toppers! Pinterest or Etsy those words for a million ideas.

• Say good by to the strapless look for now. We’re moving on to a higher neckline and lots of lace covering the shoulders and neck. Don’t think overly modest, think: subtly sexy! See some stunning examples here, here and here.
• Changing into a little white dress before the dance will make you so much more comfortable. And your enjoyment will rub off on guests!

• Using watercolor and floral inspirations on a crisp, white background.
• Or, going in a totally different direction and embracing strong, clean typography that simply cannot be ignored. So sleek! See examples here and here.
• Shine, texture, metallics, double-thick paper, letterpress, foils, custom hand-drawn fonts, monograms, stripes, and patterns.
• Embellishments like satin ribbon or lace, charms or envelope liners.
• Colors: Soft, creamy hues with pops of color are IN.
• Get your guests involved by asking a question on the RSVP card. Have them suggest songs to be played at the dance or vote on appetizers at the wedding. They could even suggest the cake flavor! They’ll love knowing they played a part in your wedding.
• At Hitch, we specialize in designing wedding invitations for the modern midwestern couple. The changes in wedding invitations are often subtle, but we pick right up on them. (It is our job after all!) Here are a few of our favorite trends! Contact us today to set up a consultation for your wedding invitations.
• As one of our fellow Stationery Academy alums said, “To me, a fabulous invitation is not just a pretty piece of paper … it’s the joy that she walks away with at the end of the day.” Megan Wright, Megan Wright Design Co.

• Vintage Bicycles
• Lace & Doilies
• Custom City Landscapes: (We could do home town image for bride, groom or both.)
• Custom Farm “Scape”: A farm scene might be special for rural couples.
• Tassels

• Wedding Hashtags: Including this in the wedding stationary with a saying such as “To help us collect photos of our special day, please use this to tag your photos #mjwedding2015”. This is a practical and fun trend, what a great way to collect more photos.
• Gift out-of-town guests with a wedding “welcome kit/starter kit” at the hotel! Have the hotel staff give them out at check in or in each hotel room. Include local craft beer, a custom scented soap, a map marking the fun locations in the city, local coffee grounds to brew in the morning and a special welcome note all inside a tote bag (customized of course).
• Play with your wedding timeline so it fits you as a couple. Perhaps dinner, ceremony at dusk, toasts, then dance?
• According to TheKnot.com, “While the overall wedding budget has gone up ($31,213 was the average spent on a wedding in 2014), the average number of guests at a wedding has gone down. Today, the average guest list size is 136. That’s down from 149 in 2009.” But, Midwest brides remember, these numbers include areas like New York City and Los Angeles, driving that average way up. Midwest states enjoy a perk: our weddings don’t cost as much and our wedding counts are much higher, which means we spend less…but have more family and friends present!
• Anniversary prints and second save the dates (sent out to guests about 2 weeks before the wedding with general reminders, more photos, more details, etc.)

That’s a lot of trends. We hope this helped. And if you’re overwhelmed or not sure which direction to go for some of these decisions, contact Hitch. Making your wedding day memorable is what we’re here for!

Check out future wedding trends! 2019 Wedding Trends & 2020 Wedding Trends

Renee Halgerson