If you’re looking for fresh thoughtful ideas that will make your wedding an incredible celebration that you and all your guests can thoroughly enjoy, we’ve put together our 2025 wedding insights, with some great ideas for you to explore.
Reflecting on all the incredible weddings we’ve been a part of over the past year, we’re continuing to see a move away from the more traditional structure and inclusions of weddings.
This year, 2025 wedding trends are not as specific as a certain style or colour. Instead the trend is that couples are now increasingly drawn to ideas and inclusions unique to them, with the purpose of making their entire day, feel more authentic, personalised and above all else more enjoyable for both them and their guests, and we’re so here for it!
Emerging 2025 wedding ideas and trends
- All-in-one ceremony and celebrations at beautiful outdoor spaces. Where the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception celebrations all seamlessly fuse together in one beautiful space, without feeling like separate components of the day in different spaces.
This year we’ve seen the emergence of couples scrapping the traditional sit-down reception formalities and instead opting to combine their ceremony with an extended elegant and relaxed cocktail hour style mingling, making the most of the beautiful outdoor setting.
View the full blog post of this Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens all-in-one garden party wedding and cocktail style celebration.
2. Morning wedding ceremonies & long lunch celebrations, you can’t beat those long leisurely lunch reception celebrations (with optional sunset after party).
Who doesn’t love late morning ceremony followed by a long lunch! Picture live music, mingling, shared feasting menus and the very best of vibes. Whether you head to a venue after your ceremony, or continue the celebrations in the beautiful outdoors, a long lunch celebration is always a hit with guests.
If sunset photos are on your ‘must have’ list – simply duck out and get them at sunset and you won’t have any gaps or have missed any of the precious time celebrating with your nearest and dearest between the ceremony and reception.
HOT TIP: If you’re keen for more, have an optional after party plan in place for you and the party crew to kick on into the evening.
See the full blog post of this elegant Brisbane wedding here.
3. The small ceremony followed by the big reception – We’re huge advocates of wedding plans that involve creating a day that the couple can thoroughly enjoy every moment of and feel . We’ve seen a growing trend of couples opting to have a small intimate ceremony, in the presence of their direct family and sometimes their besties too. To reduce the nerves and eliminate any anxiety, so they can really be in the moment, sharing their vows in the presence of those they are closest to, so they can thoroughly enjoy their ceremony.
View the full post of this wedding at City Botanic Gardens to hear how this couple surprised guests at their engagement party, by announcing they’re now married.
FUN IDEA: Turn it in to a surprise ‘we got married’ wedding! Some of these couples are keeping the ceremony a secret and inviting the crowds to their ‘engagement party’ and announcing their news by sharing the professional photos or video at the engagement party turned surprise wedding reception.
This couple announced at their engagement party that they secretly eloped several days prior. Sharing the surprise with their wedding film on a projector screen.
You can view the blog post of this small elopement turned surprise wedding here.
4. The wedding outfit change – The second outfit for partying the night away – as perfectly demonstrated here by the stunning Lauren who switched from her elegant day gown to a fun and stylish long-sleeved mini dresses, bringing the party vibes!
View the full blog post of this wedding at Sunset Glade, Roma Street Park here.
As amazing as they look, wedding dresses may be uncomfortable to wear all day and all night, so an outfit change is practical too. It’s always a good idea to switch to a fresh pair of shoes ready to party the night away!
FUN IDEA: Why not both change in to more relaxed fun party reception attire and surprise guests with your outfit change on arrival at your reception.
Sarah also opted for the wedding reception dress change and what a vibe it was!
5. Creative group photos – Creative alternatives capturing all the guests, without them standing still staring at the camera. Okay this one isn’t trending yet but I think it should be! Here’s why:
Your wedding will probably be the only time you ever have ALL the special people in both of your lives together in one place, which is one of the reasons it will feel so special.
So getting a quick group photo is essential to capture that moment in time (and a group photo is more fun and more swift than trying to get individual shots with everyone!).
So why not get creative with it and create a photo you absolutely love! If your Photographer is super creative or has a drone, you could check what ideas they have. Here is my group photo idea and I LOVE how they turned out.
The inspiration was the American Photographer Slim Aaron, known for capturing the rich and famous at their high society gatherings. Knowing there was a pool at the venue where our event was taking place, I asked our Photographer to get a Slim Aarons style shot of us by the pool.
Instead of staring with grins at the camera, we simply mingled in small groups. The conversations were real, the moment felt relaxed not posed and it was a fun part of the day.
Images by The Infinity Collective.
Recent wedding ideas and trends we’re expecting to see a lot more of
Now for some wedding ideas that have been building in popularity over the last year or so. These have been such a hit at the weddings we’ve been a part of, so we’re expecting to see these a lot more over the year ahead.
- Private vows – Some couples love the idea of writing and sharing heartfelt vows with each other, but their heart races at the thought of public speaking and sharing those deeply personal words in front of an audience, so instead couples are opting to have first look photos prior to the ceremony and sharing their vows at this time, or alternatively sharing their vows privately during their location photos after the ceremony, taking the public speaking pressure off.
Image: We Are Twine
2. Couples arriving and walking down the aisle together – Sharing in the arrival moment reduces nerves and creates and adds to the excitement of the arrival.
Why? Sometimes couples don’t feel the need to have a family member walk them down the aisle or give them away, so this is a great alternative. This option also works particularly well with a first look photo shoot, or when the couple have decided to have their location photos together pre-ceremony.
See more of this blue themed wedding at Roma Street Park here.
Bride and groom arrival modelled here by a groomsman and bridesmaid, but I’m sure you get the picture. See more of this wedding at New Farm Rotunda here.
3. The champagne tower has evolved – Champagne towers are going off like donkey Kong! Not a champagne drinker, no problem, why not have a margarita tower instead – your guests will love it!
HOT TIP: Whatever you’re pouring, why not pour right after the group photo (and friends photo), so your guests aren’t stood around empty handed awkwardly watching all the various versions of your family photos taking place.
Champagne tower by Bubble Over captured by We Are Twine.
4. Custom plates and ribbon – As bows and ribbons fill our wedding inspiration feeds, we’re also really liking individual place names printed by heat transfer on to ribbons, then tied around cutlery, or glass stems. An extravagant personalisation is to customise the dinner plates with the couples wedding monogram or names and you can even add a fun wedding slogan.
5. The wedding recovery brunch – Especially popular when a significant number of guests have travelled long distances to attend, and making the most of that time with them is a priority. The after party usually includes a relaxed atmosphere, without the formalities where guests can re-meet, re-mingle and recover!
Picture a relaxed recovery brunch the next day, beautifully styled food platters, live music, and maybe even a preview of your sneak peek wedding photos!
Image by The Infinity Collective.
And that my friends is a wrap of our 2025 wedding insights and emerging trends for the year ahead. I hope this has given you the wedding inspiration you are looking for and given you some fresh thoughtful or unique ideas to add to your special day.
If you found this post helpful and are keen to secure With Love – Brisbane Wedding Decorators ceremony decor service for your special day, we would love to hear from you. Contact us now and let’s get your ceremony decor planned.
We wouldn’t be the wedding experts we are if we weren’t also among the leading and most highly rated Wedding Celebrants in Australia. If you are looking for an experienced Celebrant that specialises in happy, enjoyable seamless ceremonies made easy with our unique stress-free ceremony planning processes, we would love to hear from you.
Head to Jamie + Cara – Brisbane City Celebrants to find out more and to enquire about availability for your special day.
Happy wedding planning! With Love, Jamie + Cara