If you’ve been following our blog for the past few weeks, you’ll know we’ve been fabulously inspired by Harry and Meghan’s wedding. But enough from us! We found out what some of our suppliers thought about the big day and the trends it may have sparked.
Giving to Charity
“After the spectacular wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex it’s impossible to not be influenced by the incredible detail we were all lucky enough to bear witness to. Here at The Wedding Present Co., we predict that following Harry and Meghan’s decision to ask for charitable gifts we will see a rise in couples doing the same. During a time of indulgence, couples will likely feel the urge to give something back.
“At The Wedding Present Co. we donate 2% of the value of a couples list to a charity of their choice – this always comes from our pocket. It’s the perfect way for couples to tick all the boxes when it comes to getting a wedding list full of presents they will love for a lifetime, as well as ensuring they are doing something for the greater good”.
Georgie Evans, Web and Marketing Manager – weddingpresentco.com
Stationery
“We saw that the evening reception invitation was modern and less formal in comparison to the wedding day invitation. The evening invitation used a hand-drawn illustration of Frogmore House, which holds a special place in the heart of the couple. At Ananya, we feel that illustrations and drawings will increase in popularity now. Illustrations could be of the venue, the couple or the theme of the wedding if there is one.
“The invitation had M + H on the front which was used as Meghan and Harry’s own personal marque or monogram. It may well have been used for other items at the wedding reception and could be used by the couple going forward. It is interesting that the order was M + H with Meghan’s initial first. This suggests that the feminist Duchess of Sussex wanted her name first despite male members of the Royal Family traditionally being named first on any invitations.
We believe that there will be a trend to find unique and creative ways to hand finish a stationery design, to really wow guests with that experience of artisanal craftsmanship. When designing new collections, or working on bespoke suites, we at Ananya love enriching our stationery with intricate and meaningful detail, whether it’s in the design, the textures, or the wording.
The Royal Wedding demonstrated how to incorporate elements of different cultures into the ceremony. This is something that we believe wholeheartedly at Ananya where we embrace different cultures and weave aspects of their heritage harmoniously into the stationery. We expect to see increased awareness and implementation of this going forward, with the confidence that it is important and okay to represent both cultures in a wedding”.
Vaishali Shah – Stationery Designer at Ananyacards.com
Charlotte Page-Smith, Senior Wedding Specialist at The Elvetham shared her predictions with us on cake, florals and food.
Cake
“One of the biggest trends we are expecting to see in forthcoming weddings are couples moving away from the traditional wedding cakes with tiered layers of fruitcake and white royal icing and, like Harry and Meghan, using seasonal ingredients instead. Elderflower and lemon cakes are certainly due to growing in popularity but a big trend will be seasonal inspired creations and flavours such as Unique Cakes by Yevnig’s Strawberry Champagne cupcakes which make perfect spring-inspired wedding favours and for a more wintery theme there’s always red velvet or Yevnig’s incredible Guinness cake!
Florals
“Another big trend will be elaborate floral decorations and flower walls will continue to grow in popularity. Flower walls create beautiful backdrops and can work anywhere you would like to draw attention to, from wedding cakes to your own photo booth, they are also a great way to incorporate your chosen colour scheme/theme and to bring the outside in.

Food
Finally, we’re expecting to see lots of couples looking at alternative ways of serving food to their guests, moving away from the traditional three-course Wedding Breakfasts and traditional evening buffets and opting for something unique and less informal like bowl food and paella pans or pizza ovens”.
The following trend predictions are from Sam and Lisa Johnson, wedding planners at Carmela Weddings.
Dress
The most obvious area for inspiration and trendsetting is that dress.
After so much speculation about what the wedding dress would look like, Meghan kept it simple, classic and understated with a sleek silk cady bracelet-sleeved, bateau-necked gown. We’ve always believed that the less is more approach is a winner, and classic luxury doesn’t have to mean overly embellished or ostentatious. In the history of Royal brides, this is quite a break from tradition, so we applaud you, Meghan. We are fully expecting to see a lot of boat-necked gowns over the next year or two!

Understated bouquet
Yes, the arrangements by Philippa Craddock at the Chapel were pretty impressive, but we have big respect for Meghan’s decision to keep the bouquet simple. Her small arrangement consisted of sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine and astrantia. Apparently, the blooms were even picked the day before by Prince Harry. This is such a simple idea, but just a gorgeous heartfelt gesture that any couple could follow on their big day. An absolute winner for brides and grooms wanting to keep the budget under control, but still, have that personal touch.

Little ones
There’s nothing worse than an already stressed bride trying to manage all her friend’s expectations when allocating roles. So, clever Meghan avoided all the potential fall out caused when choosing bridesmaids by not having any! Instead of opting for the never-failing cuteness of ten little ones – now who doesn’t love a flower girl and page boy squad?
Independence
We were pretty impressed by Meghan walking herself into the chapel and down the aisle, well most of it, on her own. That takes some courage, so brides, be inspired by this modern, confident young woman.
Speeches
It’s not the rarity that it used to be, but a bride making a speech is still not overly common. The groom’s father, groom and best man all have their place, but why should this be the exclusive rite of the men? We’re all for it, and reckon a whole squad of confident, speech smashing brides will have been inspired by Meghan!
Cake choices
Fruitcake is still the traditional choice, but more and more couples are opting for something different. We’re pretty sure there will be a heavy demand at cake makers for lemon, elderflower and lemon curd combinations over the next few months.
We think that this royal wedding will have a major impact on the trends over the next year or two. Meghan and Harry managed to balance tradition with a healthy dose of 2018. It’s the small, personal touches that make all the difference, and the beauty of this wedding is that there are plenty of opportunities to be inspired without perhaps the budgetary investment of the Royal Couple.
Thank you to our wedding experts The Wedding Present Co, Ananya Cards, The Elvetham and Carmela Weddings for your wonderful pearls of wisdom – we cannot wait to see how the royal wedding influences wedding trends over the coming year.