2025 Wedding Trends with Meghan Ely: Bold Ideas & Fresh Inspiration

Speaker 1 0:00

to the very first episode of: 2025

Speaker 2 1:00

Yeah, keep raising I know. What are we gonna do? Underwater podcast, yeah, let's do it. That's next. Can you hold your breath like five seconds? Okay,

Speaker 1 1:12

all right, so Megan, yes, if, in case, you've been living under a rock, can you tell us a little bit about Megan Ely and who you are, absolutely so

Speaker 2 1:21

I'm Megan Ely. I am a wedding publicist. I'm the owner of ofd consulting, and so what we do is, for the last, well, 15 plus years now, we have been in the wedding industry, representing all sorts of wonderful people, but we're also trend watchers, and we have to be based on what we do, pitching featured all of that. I'd also like to take a moment to quash any rumors that I am not related to you. He introduces me a lot, and that comes up, so I felt like in the first question, we should just go ahead and make sure everyone's clarified on that. So not bread blood related, but, you know, or any kind of related Yeah. So, yeah.

Speaker 1 2:00

All right. So, Megan, we're here today to talk about trends. You're fresh. You and Terrica, you know, we couldn't get Tariqah, so we had

Speaker 2 2:07

to get the second best. Yeah, we did second varsity, also known as,

Speaker 1 2:11

you know, you and Tariq are fresh off the wedding MBA stage, talking about trends for next year. So before we dive in, look like, can you educate us? What is a trend? Yeah,

Speaker 2 2:21

I'm glad you asked that, because I do like to get academic when it comes to what an actual trend is. And there's just 100 people who get 100 different answers. But what I tell people at the end of the day is, the trend is the direction we're all moving together. Essentially, that's the direction we're going. Someone once said, I really love this. It was something, it's like the next tune you're about to hum. That's what it is. I love that. I love that. And so that's essentially, it's the direction we're all going together, collectively.

Speaker 1 2:48

Well, all right, I like that. It's the journey. It's this. All right, so what's the difference between a trend, a fad, and

Speaker 2 2:58

the region. I mean, right now: 2025

Speaker 1 4:05

who decides the trends? Do you decide the trend? No. Eric,

Speaker 2 4:09

siderably. Iron made in about: 2010

Unknown Speaker 5:31

were looking for you. Yeah, all right. So what kind of themes you you're seeing in trends?

Speaker 2 5:37

ink the last couple of years,: 2023

Unknown Speaker 6:37

when will the poofy wedding dresses? I mean, 80s come back?

Speaker 2 6:41

Any day now. Any day now, now, I don't know. Well, the cakes last year were very 80s, and I was just like any signaling from the sleeves and the fountains. I was really hoping for a comeback on those fountains and the cakes. I mean, you were in your like, early 40s at the time. And

Unknown Speaker 7:01

for the record, she is older than

Speaker 2 7:04

not at all. But anyways, yeah, so it's really better, but it's, I don't know when those are coming back to, it's all Edwardian and drop waste right now. So we're very far away from big puffy sleeves right now. I'm sorry to say,

Speaker 1 7:16

nds. Okay, for you know, it's: 2025

Speaker 2 7:32

so many things. Okay, color. When I say color, I know a lot of years we come here and we're like, I was gonna read color. Well, what kind of No. These are colors I've just never seen put together, like bright, bold, you know, moody, it just these colors and not afraid. Well, that's one of them. Okay, you're getting ahead of yourself, sorry. But no, if we're looking at overall theme, it's, it's so much color, and it's in abundant and people aren't just speaking to colors for their wedding. It is like color Central, and I love it, and things that I just hadn't seen paired before. But to your point, it's going to be this upscale neon. I mean, Neon is in a way that I've never seen in 15 years of watching the trend. So I love seeing that people have had a lot of fun fashion, all those things. We're seeing different prints, really mixing together. It used to be, let's make some different colors. Now it's like these prints. It's unbelievable. We're seeing all sorts of things where it's the table scapes, especially with that wild florals. I mean, the florals are fascinating to me because it was Meghan Markle. Let's talk about royals for a second. It was in abundance, right? The flowers were having this renaissance. It went, remember, you were not watching this prince, Harry. They get married, get this big arch, right? All these flowers, everybody went for that arch for years. And you're like, I've got this arch. You're like, me. You're like, amazing. I've seen it 50 times, but I'm happy for you and your arch. And so you had these couples who had these flowers in abundance, but they were still like, they had a form and shape to it, right? And then it kind of got brought down last few years, last few years, it was quite luxury. So it was fewer flowers, but, but flowers out would pay off my student loans. You know what? I mean? It was just like, Oh, these are gorgeous. And like, I know they're super bougie, but like other people at quiet luxury. So now abundance is back in full force, but they don't take shape. You're just seeing it's, it's just kind of wild and all over the place with it. And I love seeing that. My favorite Caterpillar seating, okay, tell me you're like, Tell me more. I drew a picture earlier. Take it so Caterpillar scene, you take the rounds. And I think what you and I were talking it was probably, was it the 72 or the 60 age? What did

Speaker 1 9:35

you we were trying to figure it out. But it probably would be better space wise, if you did it with 60. Okay, so you get not a rental person, yeah. So

Speaker 2 9:43

rounds of 60 to 72, inches and so what they do, instead of spreading them out, oring about people getting between, they're shaped like a caterpillar, which, from my catering background, I look down like you can fit like three people at a table, four people. But what I love about this look to it where they're all. All touching each other and make a couple of different things. One is, I've seen people do it where it's literally, I'll have one of each linen. Like, what like one of every linen you have, and that's the mixing of patterns and colors, colors, yeah. But in addition to that, there are more and more people who are doing these smaller weddings. Like, yes, are people having big batches after COVID? They are, but it's a lot more okay to have smaller ones, but you're still have these big spaces that people are renting. This fills the room. Yeah, I was

: 10:26

just thinking the same thing and more, if you had a more of a rectangle space, you can, you know, like, really go a lot of

: 10:31

fun with that. So have a lot of fun with it. Yeah, absolutely umbrellas. But, like, anyway, I haven't seen before, really beautiful umbrellas, right? Because over the years, people, you know, they'll latch on to something. And so years past it was, I mean, I'm aging myself. It's like the champagne wall. And it was a million versions of it, right? So now it's like, well, let's take umbrellas and just go really posh, really different with them. It's a lot of umbrellas great for outdoors, right? Yeah, for the sun, things like that. So I love umbrellas that we carry as well. I mean, amazing. But okay, if the bridesmaids aren't already carrying, or, I should say, the wedding party carrying baskets of flowers, because that is something that we're seeing more. We're seeing a ton of different wedding party members carrying baskets of flowers. So if they don't basket in one hand, where's the basket? Yeah, that's just what they're doing, hide

Unknown Speaker: 11:17

their hide their champagne in there. When I was a bridesmaid,

: 11:21

I was super I had no vision for a long time, and I was looking, I took my glasses and I hid them inside my bouquet so I could walk to I was a little kid walk down the aisle without glasses, and I almost fell over. So, yeah, I would have loved to basket like, what before my LASIK, pre lasig. I would have loved that. So, so we are seeing more that, um, with bands. We're seeing big backdrops behind them that are just really, I mean, just elaborate, yeah, very elaborate when it comes to that, um, are they bold or, like, oh yeah, metallics, things like that. I mean, you've got to be careful from a logical standpoint, yeah. When it comes to food and beverage, okay, also with drinks, which is very interesting is, yes, we've got people who have very customized bar. I mean, you know, you know, signature cocktails are just, we've seen them forever. I mean, I have seen them forever. You know, 20 years I've been in business. But we're seeing more specialized bars. It's like, these are only going to be this kind of the main Julius or the Martin, or whatever it's going to be. So that's always nice. But what we're also seeing is, and I think tick tock has a lot to do with this, if I may say, when it comes to this, is we're seeing that maybe some people have a dry wedding, and that's a personal choice, but there's more of a commitment to the non drinkers in the room, which I appreciate you know, whether someone sober. So we're curious. And it's not just sodas and fruit juice. I've seen people on Tiktok say, Hey, I'm not a child. I don't just want to be offered apple juice. And so we are seeing custom, yeah, it's just for you. It's like, yeah, like, it's feel more grown up. So with that, people are bringing in mixologists, which I love, and it can be for cocktails or mocktails. So you know, it's something for everybody, which I love, and it's more inclusive to all the people with their preferences and so and so forth. So I'm, I'm big on that, so, so really happy to see that. You know, in addition, what we're seeing is, and I want to talk about video, video and photography for a second, what we're seeing is, again, a little chaotic, but it's kind of fun. So save the dates couples are actually doing save the date videos. And it's been very fun, like, it's very tongue in cheek, very casual sunglasses. It doesn't make as much sense, and, let's say, so cute, but they're very short form. Like, ready, we're ready for Instagram. They're ready for tick tock. They're maybe not necessarily sending out a save the date, which is kind of complicated, because, yeah, what if you see it, and then you're not invited? I mean, that would be, yeah, that's, that's not my problem, though. That's,

Unknown Speaker: 13:38

that's their problem. Well, that's going to be a trend that they're gonna have to, yeah, what are

: 13:41

you gonna do with that? Well, I saw the video. Oh, that's what it is, what it is, right? But people are having a lot of

: 13:46

fun, and are you seeing them like they're expressing their personality? Yeah,

: 13:51

it's all about personality. Years and years. It's all about it's the keeping up and making it personally. And now it's like, I want you guys to leave here knowing us better as a couple, even if you already felt you knew us, and really going to get to know us, which I love. Now, we talked about my gut reaction on stuff. Can I give you my gut reaction? Yes, share Okay, and let me be the first to say I'm always wrong. No, I'm just kidding.

: 14:15

I can say whatever I want. Okay. Now, you started all the trends in Ireland, so let's Yeah. I know. I am an

: 14:20

Ireland trend center from 2010 2011 No, you know what happens is, sometimes we see things and it's just like, Huh? That's interesting, and that kind of fits with what we've seen in years past. And I'm not sitting here saying it's gonna go viral, but it's very interesting. So you know how I mentioned nostalgia, right? And people doing nostalgic throwback, whether it was like summer camps or the 90s or whatever they want. That kind of brings comfort to them. Okay, bear with me. I'm I'm ready. Hong Kong style, wedding photography, really, yeah. Okay, let me. Let me share so in from my understanding, in Hong Kong in the 80s, in particular, couples would do this photography where. Where they would wear, I mean, they're full outfits. They look gorgeous. Well, they the big sleeves, right? They look gorgeous. And they're in, like, 80s way. And so what they would do is they would go out and, okay, we've done our photos. Now you're going to take us out to, like, I don't know, insert restaurant, fast food restaurant here, right? And they take photos of them, like, eating french fries, like it was just very casual and tongue in cheek. And like, what are they doing out in the wild, in their outfit, not in the ballroom, grocery shopping, like, where's the like, what is happening? Where's your first dance? And so what we're seeing is more couples out of Hong Kong are recreating it. And it's not just the style, it's the clothes, it's the photography style. I mean, you would look at a photo from today and think it's from the 80s, you would have no idea. And so I love seeing that. It kind of goes with the tongue in cheek, save the day. And it's, it goes with the nostalgia and all of that stuff. And now there are actual photographers in Hong Kong who specialize in this. And I thought, if there is something that, especially because we're kind of talking about trends, you know, we want to think it's global, but really trends in America here, that's something I could see couples latching on to get a get a couple of, like, well known people to do it, and then it's kind of like that direct flash we saw for a bunch of years. People

Unknown Speaker: 16:06

have smaller now with social media. Yeah, I think things are going to travel faster than they used to. Yeah, absolutely.

: 16:13

I think it goes faster and faster. I think a lot of regions aren't as limited, like even in Richmond, Virginia, you know, people would think, well, we're buying on the trends. When I was buying, it used to be, when I first started, 20 years ago, it was 10 years. That's how long it could take, five to 10 years, because all you had was, you had these great like print publication shout out to the not back in the day, that was the magazine that we had, or brides or bridal kite, but now we have a little bit more of a connection to people, and can be a lot sooner. Yeah, things

: 16:39

go it's not cycle and we're not Yeah, cycle anymore, yeah, absolutely amazing. All right. All right. So what about guest experience like? Because I feel like the weddings have been all about, you know, you want your guests leaving. You know, that was the best wedding ever, you know kind of thing. So what can you like, any trends that are, you know, specific to guests? Yeah,

: 17:03

absolutely. Well, first of all, I would say more talking about trends and shifts. I will say as a shift as a whole, the focus on the guest experience like that, that, that is that has not changed every year. It's kind of like, well, where are we darting to and focusing on it? Because I think people fully recognize it is a commitment, especially destination, especially if you got kids like to actually get there. And so we're not going anywhere when it comes to that commitment to guest experience, which I love. So let me just say that. So when it comes to what we're seeing this year again, it's like, what are we focusing on? So it's the check in area, believe it, or like when you check in for the actual so you've done the ceremony. Everyone. Cry blah blah blah, go into the reception. Cry, blah blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, in series here. And then what happens is they go and they have to get their their seating, because most a lot of people are still doing like, you know, does your table blah blah? So it's fun to see what people are doing from a creativity standpoint. So you walk in and there are actually like a concierge service. And you're walking in, it's like a because, you know, before it used to be, you find the person. Used to be, you find the person with the, you know, it's the clipboard, and you go to, but now it's like, full table set, like, actual built, built ins. Of like, this is people sitting behind doing that feels like you're almost checking into a hotel. Yeah, I've seen one where it looks like a barista and you walk up and you've got to pick your coffee cup with, like, the table number, which is like, wine bottles, yeah, wine bottles make sense of the time of the location here. Yeah. I've seen it more recently with some of our weddings where, you know, it's like a cinema, and you're going in and you're like, you're in a movie, and we give you a ticket with your name on it, yeah? So, like, that's why one that I saw two more recently, and it was very involved. But it goes with another detail I want to talk about, that we're seeing a trend handmade details, which we'll get into in a second, but they walk up and they have all these mini, like, handmade, like glaze, little pots for, well, for flowers, you know, little vases. So I love that, you know, it's that you're walking and having that and that that brings me to, if I may, extend over to handmade details. So we've seen a lot of handmade details over the years. You know, with the rise in popularity of Etsy. It doesn't necessarily mean that you learned to crochet and you crocheted. You're like, I don't know, I learned to

: 19:05

crochet. My grandmother taught me. Okay, I could do it. I would have to, like, relearn it, but, yeah, okay, well, outside,

: 19:14

shout out to your grandma that and so. But what we're seeing is more and more people incorporating that. And I saw we did a brights feature. It was really great. It was with this Olympian, actually cool and his wife, and they had so many like, brighter things. And what was cool was the handmade details were all over from loved ones. And I'm gonna paraphrase, because I'm not gonna get this quote right, but it's something like, she loved walking into the room and seeing all these things handmade with love from the from those people, friends and family. And I love that. I like I just think it's so tremendous, special for them. And I just think that's really wonderful, you know. And this isn't as much guest experience, but like stationary invitation, that's the first foray into the actual wings the introduction. It sets the tone. And we're so lucky. You know, Chrissy rice. So we work with my mental design. They're amazing. And I went to them, I'm like, give it to me straight. What are you seeing for 2025 and there's some really cool things that they're seeing, just beautiful details, embellishments, uh, delicate ribbons, things like that. In addition, though, what I thought was was was pretty neat, was we're seeing more couples who, because she does hand painting, well, their team, their hand paint. And so it's having the couple superimposed on, like, just little, beautiful painted detail, the couple, there was one they showed me where they were in Italy, and you put the little couple and said, it's, it is very elegant when you see it. And the couples painted on, like, in a little bit, it's just wonderful. So we're seeing a lot of that too. Wow, that actually some, yeah, he's very lovely, very personalized.

: 20:43

Yeah. All right. So now, as we move into 2025, what kind of fashion are we seeing? For trend? It's

: 20:49

fun. The fashion is fun. Fashion is always, well, it can be, it's, it's interesting. So everyone's doing something a little bit different for for anyone in a gown, it, we're seeing Edwardian style, which is nice. It's a bit of a departure away from the Bridger tint, like it's, it's really great. I love seeing that drop waist really huge. So it's kind of fun to see as well. So I really do like those things. So for the wedding party, we're seeing matching at a new level. I'm still trying to decide with this one. But, you know, yes, I like when people mix up personally. But like, yes, we see all the same dresses, but now it's like everyone has matching ribbon in their hair. I mean, it is. I mean, for better, for worse, I'm just here to report it. We are seeing matching at kind of the ultra level, right? Wow, yeah. So we're seeing that too. The coolest thing I'm seeing are embellished suits. So anyone who wants to wear a suit, right? That, and I showed you some pictures of what that looks like, embellished, embroidered, lots of embroidery. And so there's these amazing companies out there where you can order a suit. And in a year's past, as you know, people have done cool like liners or like on their cuffs. Now this is like, full on embroidery of their interest. I mean, we saw women, we saw what it was like mushrooms and people's pets on the back and things like that. And it's just one of the coolest things I've seen. So the fashion is absolutely bold this year, and frankly, I'm here for it. I love seeing that. Now,

: 22:07

you said the matchy, but we're also having lots of color. So like, how are they doing the matchy? Matchy with lots of colors, it's one or the other a lot at

: 22:14

the time. You know what I mean? Like, because you have some people with the color, and it's like, everyone has different dresses, and they coordinate, really, but when I say the matching, I mean, everyone's got like, a 12 outfit, and then matching ribbons in their hair, like, so there's you're gonna do one of the other probably, like, I would say the matching is the least chaotic of the trends this year. Wow. Yeah. So if you want to go real buttoned up, then you put you're gonna go ahead and have everyone just match within an inch of their lives. Yeah,

: 22:40

I can see that. That's amazing. Yeah, all right, so what's the most wild trend that you're seeing? Yeah, way out there. We see a lot

: 22:48

of things throughout the year. So my team and I will really, it's my team. They go through, they see 10s of 1000s of photos, and so they'll pick things up right away, which is great. There was when they showed me, and I'm like, What is this? So we're seeing more. Let me just say, let me start with, like, the normal part of it, okay, vegetation, fruit with pearls in it, which is kind of like pearls were big last year. So people are inserting pearls and and they see vegetation, I shoot you offline, like stuff like this. It was tomatoes. It was very cool. So all of that is, like, cool. And, yeah. But then there was a, we know what a Croco Bucha is. It's that French style for the uninitiate. It's that French style cake and but it was brussel sprouts, yeah. And it was, it was featured in the anti bride. And I was like, that is the wildest thing I've seen this year. Like, I love, I love, because when you think it's like, I will put citrus. I mean, I'm sure you've seen produce on the table, right? Citrus.

: 23:41

Can I tell you what's hilarious about that is you'll reach over and you'll see someone eating the decoration. Well, no, they're just sitting on their table and they're waiting for their food to come, and they'll grab it sprayed

: 23:53

with something. So yeah, I don't think anyone's gonna be noshing on no Rob. Rob. Oh yeah, Rob, Brussels sprouts. Sign me up best, right? Yeah, no, no, I love Brussels, but anyways, but that's what I've seen. So I will that come to life. I don't know, but of all the things that my team showed me this year, I was like, Okay, that is the wildest of of the bunch, literally. So it

Unknown Speaker: 24:16

seems like our couples for 2025 are going to really be pushing the envelope.

: 24:19

Yes, that's great way to put it. Okay, pushing the envelope they are saying it's in. You look at it and you're like, That's wild. You're like, oh, but that does kind of come together and make sense. Like, once you take a moment and pause, you're like, Oh, the caterpillar tables. We probably should have done that, like, 10 years ago. You know why we weren't doing that? Because we had so many, like, farm tables, so there was no room in our

Unknown Speaker: 24:40

life around tables back then. And don't forget the mason jars. Oh, and

: 24:44

the mason jars mine. Yeah, that Burla, I don't know we were talking about this. It was like, wait, because trends do come back, right? Well, one of the things that we see coming back in our paper flowers. And we were talking. About this. And I said paper flowers are interesting because I've been around the last time. Like, if you look at paper flowers, she's older. Yeah, you've been around 13 to 15 years ago, we saw a lot of paper flowers, but now the technology has improved the material, so it's very fun to see how it's evolved over the years. So who knows? Maybe the mason jar will be just it will blow my mind the next time it's I

Unknown Speaker: 25:21

highly doubt it, yeah, very anti music. And don't forget the Lego flower. So that's the other, Oh, yeah.

: 25:28

Well, that would be lovely, especially if a couple, like, made all of it like, that's really special. I love that. Yeah, I love that. Really like,

: 25:33

so, any trends that we missed, anything that you're thinking of, I mean,

: 25:37

I think we've covered. I mean, once you get to the brussels sprouts. I don't think you can go anywhere else. Okay, that's fair. That's a good one. It's a strong note to end on. There

: 25:45

you go. All right, so what do all of us wedding pros do with all this information? Like, where do we go? I don't want people New Years, New Years. I got resolutions, and we're working out more than we ever have. Yeah,

: 25:58

broken. But now here's the thing. I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed by this, that that's the first thing please. Like, what's going to happen is, and I find that trends are just very divisive. Some people, they're so excited to hear this. Other people are like, I transcend the trends. I don't follow the trends. I'm I am the runway. Create them. I am the runway. And it's like, okay, that that's amazing, but we still have to understand the direction people are going. So what I tell people is this, listen, you don't have to love all this stuff. You could sit there and shake your angry frisk saying, oh my gosh, I didn't want that to come back. Well, it's fine. What I would say is this, I think we need to acknowledge them and stay on top of them and just recognize that these are things that might come up if there's anything related to what it is that you do in particular, understand what they're asking for and understand what the blowback might be. You know, it's like when we had food trucks are still pretty popular, but when that really hit the rush, I would hope that caterers were at least, you know, recognizing that and we're prepared to have a conversation about them, right? Paper Flowers are going to come up with florists? Are you prepared to have a conversation about that? So prepare yourself for whatever impacts you from there, if you're someone who does style shoots, which, that's a whole other conversation, you know, ask yourself, is there anything that we should consider embracing so and so forth? And then finally, content. That's the big thing too. Is I hear a lot of people because we are right now, it's a off season for a lot of the US, right? I don't have any content on you went through all my photos. Well, okay, why don't you do a series on your blog about your favorite trends that you're seeing for the year? You know, that's the thing is, how can you build is, how can you build that into your content? Maybe fill in some gaps

: 27:25

as well? Okay, and then we have, you know, all these trends. And, you know, do we get overwhelmed with them or

: 27:32

No, I think you hand select the ones that you maybe like and want to inspire. And I think the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway, is hand select the ones that are most impactful for what you do, for lighting, for music, entertainment, catering, and just make sure you're aware of them. And think, Am I ready to have a conversation about them when the time comes? And

: 27:51

what you know, I'm a wedding vendor that has an idea that you think might start a trend, like, do a do a style shoot? Or, what are we gonna do a style shoot? Bring it

: 28:00

up to your couples. I mean, the best thing you can best thing you can do is in the best people out there with the big ideas, is they bring them forth to the couples who can really benefit from them and and turn it to a reality,

: 28:11

yeah. And then I think the biggest thing of this is that, you know, like, how long does it take you to put together all this, you know, you know. So, I mean, it was amazing. I

Unknown Speaker: 28:20

know the answer to this, but, I mean, I know the answer to this, but I think it's amazing to let people know. Like, yeah,

: 28:26

absolutely. So we do our talk every November, right? We go and do that. Shout out, wedding aviation and with thanks for the opportunity and family. And so from there, what we'll do is like, get back in the office, and my team will set up an air table that is the next year's trends. And so what we'll do is, throughout the year, we will go through and start pulling what we're catching, you're seeing, and it could just be a little bit of an observation, and maybe revisit it. But then we really get heavy into it the summer. So we're talking about four months, four months of agonizing. We toss it all on there. We agonize. We source photos, which becomes complicated, because you want to make sure you're crediting. You get everything with the right everything with the right photos. You lay it out, you run through it, then you revisit it, and it just goes on and on until you really land on it and say, Okay, this is it. And once you've got all these photos collected, that's when you take like, three steps back and say, What's the theme here? You know what I mean? So it really, I mean it is. It's all year, but really, it's about a four month process when we really, and it's many of us who put it together. And, of course, shout out to Terrica, who gets to review everything and say, yes, no, what outfit Am I gonna wear? Things like that.

Unknown Speaker: 29:30

She's the varsity quarterback. Yeah, she is. Yes, I

Unknown Speaker: 29:33

am like the water girl

: 29:36

with the PowerPoint. There you go. So just I'm newer, as into the, you know, pretend I'm newer. I'm old. I was gonna say I have to really, like, Yeah, about that, yeah, you have to really pretend. But I'm new. I like, Where can I go to, like, start looking for, you know, information trends, like, Where can I like throughout the year? Is there Instagrams, tiktoks? Is there? All of the

: 29:59

above. I mean, to a degree. First of all, there are places that have trend reports, and so you can always look at, look into those and see, you know, attending the conferences. I mean, I'll be honest, like all the conferences will have some version of special events, trends, wedding trends, and media following the major media outlets, as well as your favorite ones that are maybe niche and so and so forth. Like, there's some really great and of course, let me just say to anyone famous or of no getting married in the year, that's where they're watching, watching the Royals. I'm just gonna say, I don't want to jinx anything.

: 30:27

Don't jinx it. Okay. You could say there is someone

: 30:31

who is very, very, very, very famous Time Person of the Year who at some point may go into her engagement era with a football cutie patootie football player. I hear he plays some sort of sport as a podcast. Yeah, it has a podcast. And I genuinely think that if, if that comes to fruition with him or somebody else, I do think all eyes will be on if she

: 30:53

decides the wedding industry, if they do that, like, like, it's there, it

: 30:57

will be no different than when Prince Harry and mega right? Let me tell you real quick Thanksgiving. What was it? 2017 ish, I made the mistake of taking the four day weekend. It was first time I ever did it. And I woke up 5am Monday to catch up on work. And it said, Prince Harry engage. And I went, son of a nutcracker, which is, I do not son of a bitch. No, I do not think Nutcracker, just son of a nutcracker. And I knew it was gonna be my life for four, four, yeah, four months, and it was, and that's what's gonna happen, because it's gonna go mainstream and and I kind of hope they elope if they decide to go in that direction, because I just think it would, I think it's gonna be a circus. It would be very hard not to be a circus, but it would keep me very busy and in business, so it

: 31:41

would divide, yeah, I it couldn't quite possibly be the biggest wedding we've had in US history. I mean, you got to think about you, like, going back. I mean,

: 31:49

nothing's better, bigger than Princess Diana's. But that well, UK based, yeah, but think about America, like, yeah. But aren't we? Aren't we all? But a modern of a modern, no, no, no, I drink modern. That. It's going to be the biggest, it would be the biggest US wedding that we've seen in our, well, my lifetime, and then add significant number of decades and whatever, even your lifetime. Yeah, okay,

: 32:11

fair enough. All right. So thank you, yeah, thanks for having Thanks for calling me out, yeah. And thanks, yeah, thanks for being my very first guest in studio. So thanks brand new. Shout out for that. And also, we'll give August a little shout out. Thank you for being the pushing the buttons behind the scenes. But also, all right, how do I get a hold of you?

: 32:31

Ofd consulting.com, is always the best way Instagram you can find me to FD consulting. Don't find me at Tiktok. I just watch cat videos like I'm of no substance over there.

: 32:41

So that's how I should be. Yeah, yeah, find me over there. No, moving forward, I should be contacting you that way. Not the

: 32:48

No, just ofd consulting is fine, that signal, okay, whatever. All

: 32:52

right. Well, I usually ask everyone what their favorite part of a wedding is. So I think to end with, we're gonna, I'm gonna ask you what your favorite trend you're seeing. Well, put you on the

: 33:04

spot. Put me on the spot. I had an answer for the other one. So,

Unknown Speaker: 33:08

well, hey, you give me that answer. Well, give me that answer. I

: 33:11

was gonna make a joke because I no longer do weddings. I really, well, I loved when they cut the cake because it meant I could we, which is probably why I'm not in weddings anymore. So I would say, No, I actually love the father daughter dance. If I wanted to be more like I thought that was always very sweet, if there was one. And my favorite turn for the year lowered. I mean, I just love those Caterpillar tables. I think, I think

Unknown Speaker: 33:34

I know it's funny. I thought you were gonna say that. Well, here's

: 33:36

the thing. It's to me, it's chaotic because I'm looking at that thing, there's like, one table. I hate the idea of serving that table, but I was like, but not my problem, right? Like, I still get a pretty picture, so I love it. Go for it. No, I think

: 33:49

it'll be a lot of fun. Drive me bananas, but not well, and I think adding the color to it and being bold, yeah, I think that'll be a fun backup embroidered suits. I think those are fabulous. Okay, I want, like, it's a bonus. I like that. Very nice. I go all the way out here, so you might as well make it worth our money. All right. Well, folks, thank you. Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for sticking with us. And I hope you go out and set your own trends for 2025 as we go through it, and tell me about them so I can, well, yeah, ofd consulting, let her know so you can be part of the 2025 wedding. MBA, with JV quarterback, Megan. I have not

: 34:27

been asked back yet. Okay, spoil, we just assume. Shout out. Shannon Underwood,

: 34:31

thank you, Chad. You guys are the stars of the show. Let's be real. All right, and then don't forget to LIKE subscribe. If you have any questions, reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks, folks. Bye to our listeners. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business Podcast brought to you by wedding IQ, I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. Please get in touch with me if you have a topic you would like for me to cover, or if you are in the area of your business. You would like you're struggling with, let us know. We'd be happy to help. I encourage you to check out our other episodes on Apple Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you're a fan, we'd love to hear from you, and we'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. It helps others find our podcast so they can learn from our guests too. Thanks again for listening.