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For Sunna Yassin, wedding-planning expert and co-owner and principal of Bash Please, there's a shift happening in how couples are thinking about their weddings. "I think we're just seeing celebration over performance, for sure, and really, really seeing atmosphere over decoration," Yassin said.
One specific area that has noticeably changed is florals. "I do think flowers are definitely becoming more architectural," Yassin said. "Instead of filling every surface with blooms, designers are really working with shape, with scale, with movement, negative space."
In the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Yassin breaks down wedding-industry trends, how she got her start, and more. To read excerpts from the conversation, scroll below.
Before we get into all things wedding trends for 2027, let's take it back to the beginning. How did you get into wedding planning and grow your business to the scale it is today?
I started off in the hotel industry. I loved working in hotels. I worked for a bigger-brand hotel and was climbing that ladder. I loved everything about hotels. I loved the energy. I really loved the fact that they never closed. There was always something going on 24/7. I left that big-box brand and made my way to a luxury property here in San Francisco, doing events and doing catering.
I met a really great destination planner, who is still crushing it in the industry to date, and I got the opportunity to work with her and her team, and I learned so much, met a ton of people. It's actually where I met my now business partner, who, at that time, worked for a luxury caterer in the Bay Area, and that was the piece that I was really missing. I didn't know a ton about high-end catering and doing a gala or a huge charity event for 1000s of people. I needed that expertise to continue to grow in my career.
I actually joined her at the catering company. I think I was there for … maybe two or three years, and then Mollie [Jones Hennes], my business partner now, and I quickly realized—working with a lot of planners and a lot of designers and just a lot of vendors in the industry—that there was just something missing in the industry. At that time, we hadn't pinpointed what was missing, but we just knew there was a void. We got together and decided this was something that we really wanted to do.
Over time, we figured out our place in the industry, and I think our place was quickly defined by not doing anything that felt really overproduced but still working at a highly intentional, personal, luxury level. Hopefully, that point of view has stayed really consistent and really clear over the last decade of us working together on this.
Let's break down the shift that we're seeing that you talked about to one of our editors, Nikki Chwatt, who did a wedding-planning-trend story where you were an expert. You said couples are now prioritizing "intimacy over spectacle and depth over excess." Did we hit a peak in visibility, excess, that kind of thing? Is the comedown from that?
I think we did sort of hit a peak. At one point, luxury was associated with more. It was more flowers, more production, more everything. Today, at least, our couples are redefining that. I also think the word "luxury" is being tossed around at every turn. People are really taking a step back.
To us, I think luxury actually feels like just having enough confidence to actually edit and bring things down. We're just seeing celebration over performance, for sure, and really, really seeing atmosphere over decoration—just coming back to the emotional memory that people are experiencing over the weekend versus some sort of visual spectacle.
I want to also talk about florals. Obviously, that's a huge part of any wedding production, and it feels like we're starting to move away from the standard floral arrangements as centerpieces at the table. I'm curious what trends you're seeing.
It's one of those things that we come back to in the very beginning, and we ask people, "Is investing in floral really important to you?" Nine times out of 10, most people say yes, but we have to also sit down and think about where the floral makes the most sense. If what has a top priority is working with an amazing culinary team or an amazing chef and we're doing this huge family-style meal, we don't have room for flowers down the table, so we're shifting priorities from the go. I do think flowers are definitely becoming more architectural. Instead of filling every surface with blooms, designers are really working with shape, with scale, with movement, negative space.
Event design is your expertise, but you obviously see the wedding dresses. Have you seen what kind of styles people are gravitating to?
For 2027, it's the year of the fashion stylist. They are coming in hot, and they are incredible, and they have some great things up their sleeves. Gone are the days where a bride is walking into one bridal studio salon and picking their dress. They're building a team, and those teams are sourcing vintage. They're borrowing from ready-to-wear. They're mixing couture archival pieces, and they're thinking about their wardrobe the same way they think about their everyday style. It's less about them choosing a dress and more about curating a fashion story for the weekend. I think there's just something really special about wearing a piece that already has a story, and it feels personal.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.