What wedding luxuries are in for 2024? This leading luxury wedding planner has the guide all engaged couples need

With a wedding planning portfolio of 27 years, Tara Fay certainly knows how to produce a special and luxurious wedding day for couples.

As Ireland’s first luxury and celebrity wedding planner – her clients have included names like Laura Whitmore, Rosanna Davison and Andrea Corr – Fay is the creative mind behind some of the most opulent weddings in Ireland.

From assisting couples to perfect the fundamentals – like the ceremony, venue and dining experience – to fine tuning the smaller details for an extra luxurious touch, Fay takes all of the guesswork out of the big day.

She is best placed, then, to be a key speaker at The Register, Irish Tatler’s immersive wedding planning experience on February 10 in Anantara The Marker Hotel in Dublin’s docklands.

Featuring 35+ of the best Irish wedding venues in one room, The Register is a unique opportunity to meet Ireland’s most sought-after wedding venues in one location.

At the event, Fay will be accompanied on the Wedding Insiders panel by Geraldine Jones, an aesthetician and founder of premium Irish skincare brand Skin Formulas, who will offer guests insights into pre-wedding skincare, and Gareth Mullins, the executive chef at Forbes Street at Anantara The Marker, who will offer advice on how to perfect the wedding day meal. This discussion will be chaired by Irish Tatler’s editor, Jessie Collins.

With two sessions to choose from – 11:30am to 2pm and 3pm to 5:30pm – tickets can be purchased HERE. One ticket costs €30 while €50 covers two tickets.

For a preview of what guests can expect from the expert panel discussion, Fay offers her insights on what the new wedding luxuries of 2024 are:

What new luxury wedding trends are worth taking note of?

Booking a wedding stylist is a feature that has become more mainstream in wedding planning of late, particularly when a bride and groom might be time-poor and want to streamline the wedding dress or suit search. Or, where a couple is looking for multiple outfits for the day or weekend’s events.

I have worked on weddings where a stylist has been used for the full bridal party and family – couples are embracing this element of planning and it’s such a worthwhile investment.

Another popular trend is that couples are now becoming more mindful of the guest experience, particularly if it’s a multi-day or destination wedding. Now, couples are eager to elevate the guest experience, and they want to ensure their guests don’t feel pressured to attend any of the ancillary events and that they provide enough information and transport.

Lastly, in terms of wedding design, colour and statement floral pieces are proving popular. We are seeing more couples understand the benefits of good lighting as well. There is no use in having incredible florals that are not well lit.

The same applies to tablescaping; where the table display might include multi-layered linens and different textures, the lighting needs to show these details off in the most complimentary way possible.

What will be the defining feature of luxury weddings in 2024?

As trite as it might sound, luxury weddings in 2024 are all about couples having their wedding the way they want it. So many couples start out wanting one thing, but bow to external pressures and change their mind.

Or, often they aren’t certain how to execute their vision and lose faith as a result. This is the benefit of a good planner; they should be able to see a couple’s vision and bring it to life. For 2024, couples should focus on making their dream wedding a reality, and not settling in the face of pushback or doubt.

It seems there is a considerable shift towards a ‘non-wedding wedding’. What are your thoughts on this?

Wedding trends can be cyclical and then suddenly they become a custom or tradition; the turn of the cycle now is that couples are talking a lot more about wanting a ‘non-wedding wedding’.

What they really mean is that they want a wedding, and a wedding party, without the ancillary elements. When I drill down with a couple, this usually means they want the ceremony, speeches, dancing, and often the cake cutting. These are the fundamentals, but the main takeaway is always for a couple to have their wedding their way.

What types of luxury wedding venues are proving popular of late?

Above everything else, couples are now seeking locations where they can spend meaningful time with their guests. It’s important to remember that guests are making significant time and travel commitments, yet they often don’t get to see or speak properly with the bride and groom because of the order of the day or the venue’s hosting abilities.

So a venue where everyone can stay, and there are some offers of optional activities where people can spend time making memories, is the perfect win-win. For example, a venue that can host an archery competition, a dance class, sports game, or cocktail class.

What new dining and food trends are couples seeking out now?

Nowadays, couples are dining out more and their palettes are more developed than even five to 10 years ago. They understand course accompaniments, such as adding in a pre-dessert, a cheese course, or an amuse-bouche to start.

Food trucks for late night food and day two events are popular as are cocktails, but the concept of ‘His and Hers’ Cocktails’ are going out of flavour.

Being aware of vegan and vegetarian guests is another key feature of dining at weddings now – such as offering them more than pasta, risotto or a salad.

What new design features are couples after – and which do you think are most important?

Couples don’t always know what they want, but they definitely know what they don’t want. They’ll either come to me with multiple Pinterest pages or just one image. It's my job to drill down and understand what they like about an image or a scene and replicate it.

Amongst the new design features being embraced again are colour (which is lovely to see) and more textured linens and tablescaping materials.

Sometimes people think they have to use the linen and tabletop supplied by a venue – however the easiest way to elevate a dining experience and decor is by changing out the table sizes, chairs, linens, lighting and tabletop.

What do you look forward to most as a wedding planner in 2024?

I look forward to working with couples that bring forward new ideas – they don’t even know they have them, or they don’t know how they might be realised, and yet when their vision is brought to life on the day they are so thrilled – that’s my adrenaline.

One final tip?

Couples are more aware of documenting their wedding celebrations now and sharing it with guests afterwards. I recommend setting up photo sharing access for all of the guests to upload and retrieve the imagery after the wedding.

For more information on Irish Tatler’s immersive wedding planning event, visit theregister.ie and keep your eyes peeled on Irish Tatler’s Instagram for more updates.