It’s one of the most glamourous events of the year, and there were bridal inspirations abound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2017 Met Gala. This year’s theme was ‘Comme de Garçons’ in honour of 74-year-old Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, and Rihanna fully embraced the theme of bright colours and statement gowns. However, most famous faces opted for simpler neutral and pastel shade gowns, notably: Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Always a much-anticipated Met Gala regular, Rihanna stunned the crowd with layer upon layer of bold and bright floral print. Will we be seeing more layered styles in wedding dresses? It would certainly seem that Marchesa are taking the lead in this trend, with their Spring 2018 boasting luxurious layers of embroidery and lace:

Although some criticised the lack of bold choice and daring fashion, it hinted towards the season’s trends and provided further inspiration for those destined for weddings in the spring and summer. Ever one to break social convention, Kim Kardashian arrived at the Gala in a simple white off-the-shoulder dress with bow detailing by Vivienne Westwood, accompanied by open-toe flat sandals. We can certainly see Kim starting a trend for off the shoulder gowns, just like this stunningly simple ruffled sleeve dress by Martina Liana:

Despite going against the theme of Kawakubo’s extravagant art pieces, it’s no surprise that the common choices of gown for the Met Gala were softer, feminine colours such as Gwyneth Paltrow’s pastel pink Raf Simons number. They’re just in time for spring and a great inspiration for bridesmaids, who are rarely dressed in anything but delicate colours to accentuate the bride’s gown. With millennial pink showing no sign of slowing down in popularity, perhaps we’ll be seeing more pops of pink taking over the traditional lilacs in bridesmaids’ dresses – like this eye popping Monique Lhuillier number:

Here at Combermere Abbey, we just can’t wait to see how the fashions at the Met Gala might influence the styles of our couples and guests – we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled!

Get in touch with us today to see how we could help you create your perfect wedding at Combermere Abbey.

Here at Combermere Abbey’s weddings office, we just love facts and figures, and a new and up-to-date compendium of statistics about marriage and weddings in the UK has just landed – so we’re wasting no time in sharing them with you.

Firstly, marriage is getting more and more popular. It dipped a few years ago, but the latest figure is up by more than 5%. There were 301,254 weddings annually at the last count – up from around 270,000 six years ago. Historically, the year with by far the highest number of marriages was 1940, when well over half a million couples tied the knot before the husband went off to war.

There were almost 32,000 weddings in Greater London, but relative to the size of the population that wasn’t in fact very many. On a proportional basis the local authority area where marriage is most popular is Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland. Yes really. Argyll and Bute, slightly further north, came next. Our region, Cheshire East, was pretty high up, coming in at fourteenth.

Within the larger regions, Scotland topped the table, followed by the West Country. Despite the popularity of marriage round here, the region where there were fewest weddings was the North West of England.

All of 55% of weddings took place on a Saturday, with Friday next on 20%. Tuesday and Wednesday tied on 4% each as the least popular days (so click here to see our great midweek marriage offer for next year). August was the most popular month, with January the least favourite. On average the groom was 33.3 years old, and the bride 30.9. In all, 67% of weddings were civil ceremonies, 21% Church of England, 7% Roman Catholic, and 5% other faiths.

Curiously, one thing that isn’t mentioned in the statistics is how very popular Combermere Abbey is with brides and grooms-to-be (and their guests), nor how beautifully romantic a wedding at the Abbey is – nor indeed how very hard our weddings staff work to make sure that you have the perfect day. Perhaps the figures are just off the scale! Click here to go to the weddings section of our wedding and read all about it.