A booth attendant arranges bridal gowns at a wedding expo. JP/WENDRA AJISTYATAMA

The upcoming and much-anticipated royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton may have inspired many couples to tie the knot and celebrate their love in sacred but stylish ways.

Every couple certainly wants a perfect yet fabulous wedding for their big day, carefully planning their dream occasion — making it a night to remember.

Just like fashion trends, which change rapidly every season as designers and ateliers come up with their latest designs, the wedding industry, which includes a number of elements like venues, dresses, makeup, food, souvenirs, and invitations also recognizes such trends, which can be an insight for brides-to-be out there.

So what is the hottest trend in weddings? Prominent wedding organizer Tiara Josodirdjo said that modern couples nowadays already knew what they wanted for their wedding day.

“Back then, you could not have a full-white theme for your wedding because there was no such tradition in Indonesia. Parents were more into colorful weddings with bright colors which displays more grandeur,” Tiara told The Jakarta Post.

“As wedding organizers, we always ask the parents first whether they will allow us to follow a white theme.”

Many Indonesians, she added, used to associate white as a grieving color, while purple was often considered as the color of a widow.

“Now, parents tend to listen to couples’ needs and go after what they want,” she explained, suggesting couples prepare their wedding themes and decorations around a year, at the latest, prior to the wedding date.

Even though couples nowadays opt to have modern weddings due their simplicity and practicality, many people still aim at preparing a traditional wedding.

“The recent wedding that still used strong traditional styles was [noted actress] Dian Sastrowardoyo’s marriage, which used full Javanese elements,” Tiara said.

People still maintain local traditions, but in a lighter way than before. “There once was a South Sumatra’s Palembang couple, for instance, who wanted to have a Palembang wedding, but they did not want it to be too authentically traditional.”

As for the decorations, Tiara was in love with imitation crystal ornaments, hung like plants, spiraling from top to bottom.

The crystals were made of acrylic, plastic, and glass and were combined with garland mirrors cut into small pieces and put together with the crystals.

The combination looks magnificent and glowing under the bright lights as the mirrors reflect the lights onto the crystals. “It looks soft, but still vibrant,” Tiara said.

After securing an appropriate wedding venue and setting a theme, it’s time to make a list of guests you want to invite to your special day then order invitation cards.

Why do people still care about spending a lot of money for sophisticated wedding invitation cards when those invitations might end up on trash?

“An invitation card sends many messages. It gives others information and mirrors what the wedding will be like, so the guest may also decide what outfit that he or she will be wearing in the event,” said Belinda Martin of printing company Siem Offset.

“The nuance[of the nuptial] is basically represented through the invitation. You will get a first impression of the couple’s style.”

People might throw away the used cards, she added, but there are also some people out there who collect unique cards.

Can we simply e-mail the guests to simplify things and minimize the budget?

“You surely can do it, but couples still think it is important to invite their guests via invitation cards because it shows some prestige and makes a good impression,” she explained.

Besides, a nice card can draw your guest to come to your wedding, creating an inviting feel of expectation.

“When you get some invitations at once, there is a tendency that you will choose to attend the wedding with most attractive yet eye-catchy design,” she said.

The trendiest wedding invitation is pop-up card, which is cute, fun-looking yet collectible item.

Cards made from velvet, which give an elegant atmosphere, and letterpress cards are also favorable options these days.

The letterpress design is sunken deep into the surface of the paper, giving a distinguished look that is overwhelmingly soft to touch.

The card price for Belinda’s creations start from Rp 18,000 (US$2) per piece, while the average price ranges from Rp 25,000 to Rp 30,000 with a minimum order of 500 cards.

The charge for pop-up style cards starts from Rp 50,000, while a velvety card costs Rp 60,000.

You can either choose the available designs or even create your own cards. “It will be more expensive if you create your card because it takes us some time to make the design. We will charge around 15 to 20 percent of the normal price,” said Belinda.

So now you that you have an excellent card, what about the souvenirs as your expression of appreciation for your honored guests?

Jeanne Laila of RedRibbon Gift shared her thoughts on choosing suitable souvenirs for your wedding.

Key chains, candleholders, photo frames, and funky notebooks in the form of fruits are wedding souvenirs mostly favored by brides-to-be.

“There are couples who consider the functional aspect so they pick things like the aforementioned things,” said Jeanne, who sells her souvenirs for between Rp 5,000 and Rp 300,000 per piece.

“Others may put forward the fun side. It essentially depends on your budget.”

Jeanne, who started to run her business in 2007, pointed out that couples should order souvenirs three months in advance.

Besides some essentials aspects like decorations, invitations, and souvenirs, today, tiered contemporary wedding cakes have been favorites for couples who aim at having a complete modern wedding.

Cakes, mostly between three and five layers in height, are a representation and a reflection of the togetherness of bride and groom at a wedding reception.

“The highest cake is one with 12 tiers. The price depends on the tier and decoration. The cake costs around Rp 1 million,” said Yen Yen from Hova Cake.

Are the cakes edible? They are not, people. These cakes actually consist of spongy boxes in the inside covered with sugar icing on the outside, decorated with flowers, crystals, ribbons, statues, and other ornaments.

Another fact is you won’t even own the cakes once they are delivered at your door.

“Once you order a wedding cake, we will deliver it three hours before the reception and we will adorn the cake before we ‘serve’ it on the venue. We will later take it back after the party. Basically, you ‘rent’ the cake,” said Yen Yen.

So the thing about having a wedding cake for your wedding is you can together hold a cake knife and pose in front of the flashing cameras with your big happy smile, acting as if you cut the cake with your partner.

It might be a jaw-dropping thing knowing you need to spend millions of rupiahs for a giant cake that you can’t even carve. But brides-to-be might go for anything to create a perfect nuptial and once-in-a-lifetime moment and a wonderful memory.

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