Wedding trends were all over the map in 1970 as weddings started becoming more individualized. Upscale outdoor venues started becoming popular as couples moved out of their parent's back yards and into an open-air location.
Headpieces started to emerge in lieu of the traditional veil. Stevie Wonder comes into the wedding song bonanza with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”--his first of several popular wedding songs. The average age of a newly wedded couple was 22.
Bianca Jagger kicked off a new wedding trend when she wore a sleek Yves St Laurent suit and an enormous, veiled hat instead of traditional bridal regalia. As befitting a future rock-and-roll wife, she chose to forgo a shirt. Mick wore a casual suit with Chuck Taylors.
“Colour My World” by supergroup Chicago was many newlywed couples' first dance of married life.
Weddings in 1972 continued the hat versus veil trend and saw bouquets become more colorful with the addition of orchids or other hothouse flowers. With a landmark case ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that unmarried couples had the right to purchase contraception, leading to the question--do we need to get married at all?
And Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” was making its way around receptions.
The most popular wedding song of 1973 was Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” while weddings looked to the Royal Family for trends as Princess Anne married Mark Phillips.
She was surrounded by a veil that seemed to defy gravity at times, and retailing giant J. C. Penney’s wasted no time getting her dress to market, complete with poufy sleeves and illusion lace.
A large wedding in 1974 would set you back about $2,000, which equates to $12,000 today--a modest sum in some circles. Also in the mid-seventies, black brides still had issues finding cake toppers that represented them, so many took white couples and hand-painted them for inclusion on their cakes.
Joe Cocker’s gravelly voice took the wedding circuit by storm with “You Are So Beautiful”. If your dress wasn’t high collared and big sleeved, you were hopelessly outdated.
Natalie Cole’s “This Will Be” became a popular jam for the wedding circuit. Pastel-colored tuxedos entered the public domain as acceptable for grooms and groomsmen, often outshining the bridesmaids.
However, if your marriage went south, women could now apply for credit cards solo, thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. Huzzah for women’s rights!
“Always and Forever” by Heatwave summed up the hope for many brides and grooms while fashion was still all over the place. 1976 saw brides embrace a fresh-faced, lightly made-up look for their wedding while florals in headpieces began to emerge.
What did remain were the awful, posed wedding photos--not unlike corny prom photos. As it was the bicentennial, many weddings were patriotic-themed.
Flower crowns, large hats and headpieces were in, and florists were loving the extra business. Eric Clapton’s swoon-worthy “Wonderful Tonight” enthralled couples in their first dance.
More brides opted for their hair down versus the traditional updos as pop culture wove its way into the wedding circuit, influenced in part by Charlie’s Angels.
Ah, the year of disco enters the wedding realm, and Studio 54 pretty much took over bridal fashion while the Commodores claimed that brides were “Three Times a Lady”.
With the popularity of the disco craze, the white suit materialized as the standard for grooms, and the fad of couples taking dance lessons together before tying the knot emerged. Women’s dresses could be anything--loose, slinky, revealing.
At the end of the decade, wedding dresses like those worn in the movie Rocky emerged with Alfred Angelo leading the pack. Dresses were long, flowing, and lacy with a more exposed bodice and fitted waist.
The veil was making a comeback, and tall-tiered cakes were on the rise. Attendees grooved to the sounds of Peaches and Herb’s “Reunited” (an awful song for a wedding).
The sweet sound of Ambrosia’s “The Biggest Part of Me” lured bridal parties to the dance floor, which needed to be large to include the emergence of shoulder pads in wedding dresses.
Lacy full-length sleeves, long trains, and even longer veils became the standard that would carry through most of the '80s. The sweetheart neckline, both covered and uncovered, became one of the biggest trends in fashion history as expenses for weddings kicked into a higher gear.
There’s really only one event you need to know about 1981 that set the bar for every future wedding around the world. Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in a spectacular Emmanuel dress with a 25-foot train and puffy sleeves made out of heavy ivory taffeta, topped with a tiara and illusion veil.
Brides now had a new standard to look up to as well as millions of girls who would one day become brides. Diana Ross and Lionel Richie took “Endless Love” to the top of the charts, and we all believed in and wanted fairytales.
An Officer and a Gentleman gave us the smash hit “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, and romance was in high fashion during 1982. Men upgraded their fashion to wear fancier tuxedos with satin lapels and trim, and the traditional morning suit was back for another showing.
Bridal dresses continued to include dramatic elements, the more complex the better, and bridesmaids were dressed in matching dresses to compliment the bride.
Ceremonies in churches with receptions in local hotel ballrooms became the norm along with lots of curly hair in updos. Bouquets grew to enormous sizes thanks to the cascading bouquet, and balloons became standard fare for decoration along with a towering cake.
Thank goodness the handheld video camera emerged in time to catch the happy couple dancing to “Stuck on You” by Lionel Richie. The average age of a newly wedded couple had crept up to 23 by 1983.
Looking for a few new trends? 1984 has you covered. Dresses and headwear continued to creep into weddings, where a headdress might tower a foot above a bride’s head. Rock and roll music was making its way into the first dance with Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is”.
It was a banner year for hairspray companies as hair took center stage and became large for both the bride and groom. The mullet creeped its way into bridal albums everywhere.
By 1985, bridal flowers were out of control with statuesque displays of carnations, carnations, and more carnations--in addition to cascading bouquets that weighed over three pounds. The idea of the ‘throwaway’ bouquet came into play as slinging one of those larger arrangements required the arm of a quarterback.
Whitney let us in on “Greatest Love of All” while Madonna married Sean Penn in Malibu, cementing the trend of wedding stalking for paparazzi as celeb couples tried to marry covertly.
Thank goodness for Peter Gabriel’s release of “In Your Eyes” as over-the-top cosmetics were in full force, accentuating eyes with colored eyeliner and shadow to match your bridesmaids.
Weddings were becoming big business, and scads of designers ensured a dress in every fall and spring collection as bridal gowns moved from the catwalk to the bridal path. Florists, videographers, photographers, and planners were quickly becoming the norm as you needed a legion of assistance to pull off the dream wedding.
The balloon arch had a moment in 1987, and they were usually bright colors and not just limited to the traditional white variety. Color was happening in weddings in a big way--in bridesmaids' dresses, in neon, in jewel tones, and on cakes. The higher the cake, the bigger the wedding.
In this decade of excess, it was a full show, and the perfect song emerged from Dirty Dancing with Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley with “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, ensuring that nobody was put into a corner.
Wedding cakes jumped the shark in 1988, where they included bridges, towers, turrets, and extensions. They also started incorporating fresh flowers. And while Anita Baker was giving us “Giving You the Best That I Got”, a troubling future was emerging for couples with the forecast of divorce being twice as likely if you wed in 1988.
No matter the bad news, weddings were still in full force, and the trend of photographing a bride sitting on the ground surrounded by her bridesmaids’ flowers was still a keepsake.
Van Morrison gave us a love song with “Have I Told You Lately” as couples continued the excesses of the 80s--although a few trends were waning. Shoulder pads as big as a football player were easing up, and gowns started to be paired down to a few embellishments instead of all of them.
Matching imprinted napkins, stationery, matchbooks, and wedding programs were keeping the printing industry busy, and the video camera was growing with more features. There was also a landmark for marriage equality in Denmark in 1989, where couples of the same gender were granted legal status.
An incredible moment happened in 1990--Vera Wang entered the wedding dress design industry, and future brides are so incredibly happy about that moment. Extreme thrilled us with “More Than Words” as couples swayed to a new music frontier.
The '90s started to look more minimalistic as brides looked for “cloned dresses” so that they matched their 8 bridesmaids. Destination weddings started to emerge, increasing the cost of a wedding by as much as 50%.
While wedding dresses were starting to simplify, the BAB (big *ss bow) was a trend that was hanging on, thanks in part to the remake of Father of the Bride. Vanessa Williams reminded us to “Save the Best for Last”, although it was used for a first dance.
At this point in society, divorce was trending at 50% of all marriages, and the average age of the couple rose to 25. And in what would be deemed a weird destination wedding, Steve Jobs wed Laurene Powell in the hotel from The Shining.
By the early 1990s, the film industry was engrossed in the wedding genre, with Father of the Bride, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Wedding Singer, Runaway Bride, and the favorite Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Significant growth in the wedding industry continued as wedding floral designers emerged along with wedding producers. And while bridal fashion was taking a moment to figure out itself, only one voice reigned supreme--Whitney Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” set the standard of what a wedding song should be.
In an interesting twist on a popular wedding song, Rod Stewart took a moment to cover Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately”, and couples were enthralled again with the tune. The future POTUS threw a spectacular $60,000 wedding buffet in his second marriage to Marla Maples where O.J. Simpson gave the toast.
Non-traditional destination weddings were all the rage as couples tied the knot in pretty weird places, like on a roller coaster at Busch Gardens, and bridesmaids were wearing **gasp** black dresses instead of party tones.
1994 saw another dance floor staple as Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey covered “Endless Love”, while guests gorged on fancy dinners and large, regular tiered cakes.
Wedding bouquets became smaller but more upscale and usually featured sweetheart roses with a pop of color. And the surprise of all celeb weddings, the King of Pop married the King of Rock n Roll’s daughter. Bridal headgear turned to veiled headbands, and the princess cut diamond became all the rage for engagement rings.
If you wore a choker necklace, off-the-shoulder dress, or included metallic colors in your wedding theme, then you were married in the mid-nineties. Seal sang “Kiss From a Rose”.
While clean concepts in dresses were emerging, unconventional relationships were as well--teenagers in love, young pregnant couples, and couples on their second, third, or fourth marriage. One trend that took hold in 1995 was the launch of Club Wedd, an online bridal registry- which today is commonplace.
JFK Jr. married his lovely Carolyn Bessette in a secret wedding, where the bride wore a simple Narciso Rodriguez sheath and carried a bouquet of hand-tied flowers that set the floral world ablaze.
The average age of a couple had crept up to 26, and Celine Dion gave us “Because You Loved Me” for couples to sway to. Elopements took a huge trend upwards and were not the backroom function of days gone by. They became sleek and sophisticated.
By 1997, bouquets in holders were so 1995, and the floral industry was constantly reinventing itself with sturdier flowers to hold up to the rigor of the day. Calla lilies, hydrangeas, and orchids tied with ribbon were the fad, and simple table décor became the norm.
Weddings started looking a little more chic with the removal of the balloons and return to candlelight and mirrors, but prices continued to soar. Edwin McCain charmed couples with “I’ll Be”.
You wouldn’t immediately think of Aerosmith putting out a wedding song, but that’s exactly what they did in 1998 with “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” as brides wore pared-down dresses accessorized by jewels and flowers. At this point, bridesmaids wore EXACTLY the same thing--matchy-matchy down to nails, lipstick, and footwear.
And South Carolina became the second to last state to lift the ban on interracial marriage, paving the way for happy couples to finally marry at last. South Carolina also became a wedding destination with Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Hilton Head leading the charge.
At the end of the decade, “Amazed” by Lonestar hit the top of the wedding song charts, disposable cameras at weddings for the guests to get involved was starting to wane, and weddings would take a huge leap forward in the new millennium.
The wedding industry was here to stay and only getting started in personalizing the big day--and moving away from time-honored traditions. And in a match made in Heaven, Posh Spice married London’s David Beckham, ratcheting up the celebrity wedding a notch.
The millennium would see the emergence of the strapless dress and straight cut bodices versus the sweetheart cut of old. A boutique wedding market was emerging as the ceremony was moving out of houses of worship and into country clubs. Tropical flower usage increased as wedding cakes were still the norm (the cupcake tower trend wouldn’t emerge for a few more years).
Fashion embraced everything from denim, to streetwear to Vera Wang, and bling was favored over appliques. And the sweet sound of 98 Degrees “My Everything” held it all together.
Bonus: If you’ve stayed this long and counted, then you’ll come up with Lionel Richie as the most prolific “wedding singer” of these 30 years with Whitney Houston, Joe Cocker, and Stevie Wonder coming in second.
