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Updated Oct 14, 2024These 2025 Wedding Reception Trends Will Ensure a Bangin' Bash
Ideas to make your guests say: "So my friends did this cool thing at their reception…" for months after your wedding.
Photos, From Left to Right: Aguiam Wedding Photography, Julia K, JLB Wedding, Jamie & Sarah, Renee Hollingshead,Design: Natalie Romine
The best part of a wedding reception is obviously basking in that just-married energy—and that's pretty tough to beat. Though, incorporating a few of these wedding reception trends for 2025 will elevate the party portion of your event and make it all the more memorable for both you and your guests. We chatted with some of the best-of-the-best wedding planners across the country to curate a hyperfocused list that details heavy-hitting and on-the-cusp reception trends alike (couples and other wedding pros, get your notebooks out).
Per our conversations, two threads emerged: First, couples will invest in creating a true experience for their guests beyond just a quick dinner and dance party. Interactive features that surpass the standard photobooth are gaining steam as well as unique performances and less-structured receptions overall that give everyone more time to connect. Second, marriers will seek to carve out more intimate, sentimental moments to bond with each other and savor their union privately. Look below to see the 2025 wedding trends that are taking off for receptions—and don't forget to get really excited for your own celebration as you scroll.
2025 Wedding Reception Trends
Ready to get the party started? Try one of these new wedding reception trends for 2025 to add a little extra something to your celebration.
- Private First or Last Dance
- Coffee Table Book and Photo Guestbooks
- Matchbook Wedding Favors
- Experiential Vendors for Guests
- Private Dinner for the Couple
- Skipping Traditional Trappings
- Hybrid Reception Music
- Group Photos With Guests
- Relaxed, European-Style Receptions
- Couples Joining Cocktail Hour
1. Private First or Last Dance
Prioritizing some moments of togetherness on the wedding day, like a private first or last dance, ensures that you'll actually have the chance to slow down and cherish what your wedding is truly about: your love. "Private first dances are coming into fashion after a couple does their room reveal," says Marley Bredehoeft, logistics director at 402 Events in Omaha, Nebraska. Private last dances, on the other hand, take place once your emcee calls guests outside to prepare for your send off, leaving you a minute or two to bask in the joy you created.
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"Private last dances are staying around—they're an intimate moment to cap off the busy, exciting and fulfilling day," says Liney Castle, planner at Twickenham House and Hall in Jefferson, North Carolina. "It's a moment for the couple to just breathe and soak in the day before exiting the reception and heading into the next part of their lives." Penny Haas, owner of Penny Haas Event Planning & Management in Nashville, adds: "It's poetic to think you can celebrate with your friends and family, bring them into the party and cap it off with alone time to really embrace the day."
2. Coffee Table Book and Photo Guestbooks
Audio and video guestbooks have been getting all of the love in recent years, but the current wedding reception trends for guestbooks skew more analog. One option: Guests can snap Polaroids and fasten them into a scrapbook, penning a sweet message alongside their shots. "The DIY photo guest book continues to increase in popularity, creating a fun and interactive experience with broad appeal for guests and a more colorful keepsake for the newlyweds," says Jane Handel, a wedding planner and founder of Jane Handels Weddings in NYC.
Alternatively, the couple could use a coffee table book (a special one purchased for the occasion or one plucked from their living room) as a unique guest book, letting guests scribble away on its pages. "For our more sustainable or minimalism-focused couples, we encourage them to bring a coffee table book from home they don't mind having guests sign," says Elise Handler, wedding planner and founder at Keen Events in Portland, Oregon. "It's something you already have and will incorporate into your home decor naturally, so you're more likely to reference it more often and enjoy it longer." Additionally these types of guest books make really cool wedding reception decorations.
3. Matchbook Wedding Favors
Yes, we've seen the "perfect match" punny matchboxes scattered on wedding favor tables for a few years now, but 2025 will decidedly usher in a resurgence of its vintage cousin: the matchbook. You've likely seen these popular wedding reception extras at the host stand at old-school restaurants (and alternatively, at really trendy restaurants that channel a retro vibe). They'll add a touch of classic, vintage flair to your wedding reception and they also double as trending wedding decorations.
4. Experiential Vendors for Guests
"Experiential opportunities at weddings are definitely at the forefront of our couple's minds," says Loni Peterson, owner of LP Creative Events in Arvada, Colorado. While an honorable mention goes to tarot card readers and aura photographers, live painters and tattoo artists will sweep the 2025 trending wedding reception vendors category. "I'm seeing live portrait artists being booked now more than ever for 2025 weddings," says Castle. "I have several live painters who are not just painting a picture of the couple, but also doing live watercolor portraits for guests to pose for and take home."
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Haas has seen both live painters and tattoo artists at weddings, and feels both help foster fun, spark conversation and create lasting memories—aka exactly what you'd want from a wedding reception. "Flash tattoos have become an event trend quickly," says the pro. "Tattoos are a storyteller, something to remember and a fun experience for friends." Bonus: These trending wedding reception activities can double as favors.
5. Private Dinner for the Couple
Bredehoeft notes that couples are increasingly interested in emphasizing the partnership-focused aspects of a wedding, and dinner for two is no exception. "I think many more couples are going to opt in for a private dinner for the two of them during cocktail hour, so that during dinner they can greet their guests doing 'table touches,'" she says about the wedding food trend. Haas also mentions that she encourages her couples to covertly enjoy a meal together during cocktail hour so that they're free to roam during dinnertime, which is more likely to happen as couples opt to take portraits earlier during their first look. Alternatively, couples could also choose to dine in a private room during dinner hour and simply greet guests afterwards.
6. Skipping Traditional Trappings
Handel says it best: "Traditions are options, not obligations." Many of our experts mention that they anticipate modern couples will continue to forgo traditional reception elements like the garter toss, bouquet toss and cake cutting in favor of increased unstructured time with guests. Omitting the garter and bouquet toss isn't a new thing (they're heavily based in heteronormative gender roles and sometimes, candidly, feel a little awkward). Plus, less marks to hit during the reception means more times on the dance floor with loved ones.
7. Hybrid Reception Music
It's tough to choose between live music and a DJ, but 2025 couples are opting for the best of both worlds. "We are seeing a lot of hybrid entertainment asks, which could mean a playlist for dinner and then the DJ accompanied by two-to-three musicians playing over mixed tracks," says Peterson. "This allows the dance floor to have lots of energy and an added layer with the live musicians without the cost of an 8- to 12-person band." You could also opt for something like a string quartet to serenade guests as they eat or to provide the tunes for the special dances of the evening before switching to a DJ to get the party rolling.
"An emerging trend is also using live music to physically direct guests from one part of the evening to the next, such as cocktail hour to reception or reception to the after party," says Bredehoeft. "Live jazz bands I think will be especially popular for this."
8. Group Photos With Guests
Group shots with the couple that go beyond just the wedding party and immediate family members are one of the latest wedding reception trends for 2025. These photos can happen as one big shot of everyone or the couple saying "cheese" with every group of guests individually in a funky, rapid-fire take on a receiving line. "If a couple hasn't hired their photographer to stay through the end of the night, we'll often encourage a 'photographers exit' and do a group photo or group circle for the photographer to capture before they depart and the guests continue to party," says Handler.
Castle coins the new "photo receiving line" as a "photo bomb." For this reception trend, the couple stands in the center of the dance floor and each guest lines up with the party they came with. When it's their turn in line, a group will approach the couple to take a quick snap, then return to their seats. "By the end of it, the couple has taken a picture with each guest and has had the opportunity to say a quick hello," says the expert.
9. Relaxed, European-Style Receptions
Unstructured, European-style receptions are one of the most unique wedding reception ideas for 2025. Handel anticipates we'll see more intentional, languid dinners that are celebrated as time to connect instead of treated as something to rush through to get to the dancing. "Dinner is celebrated as its own chapter, with conversation and multiple courses enjoyed together, followed by a transition to dancing (if the couple chooses to include dancing in their celebration)," says the pro. "Selecting this flow removes some of the compromises necessitated by the 'all things at once' style reception, allowing the couple more time to eat and engage with their guests, not to mention each other." This shift also comes on the heels of the wedding venue trend of locales that evoke the energy of a destination wedding venue.
10. Couples Joining Cocktail Hour
Couples are prioritizing time with the people most important to them, so that means enjoying their own party—starting at cocktail hour. "The majority of our couples opt for first look, so during cocktail hour, they usually don't have a whole lot more photos they need to get done," says Handler. "That usually leaves the last 15-30 minutes of cocktail hour open for our couples to go join as they want to maximize their time enjoying their favorite friends and family." Peterson adds: "With couples wanting to attend more of the cocktail hour, they're able to mingle with as many people as they can."
