Goodbye Tiered Cakes and Hanging Candles: Seven Wedding Trends Being Retired This Autumn and Winter

Wedding trends age faster than the marriages themselves. What was compulsory on every table two seasons ago is quietly disappearing from planners' offers this autumn and winter. Here are seven things couples on their way to the altar are sending into retirement - and what's replacing them.

1. Yellow decor. Yellow loses top spot the moment summer ends. Browns, oranges, burgundies and purples are back on the tables, and instead of flowers you increasingly see seasonal fruit: chestnuts, walnuts, apples and pomegranates. Yellow stays reserved for outdoor summer weddings.

2. String lights for the crazy hour. The part of the party the Spanish call the "crazy hour" - when the music gets loud and the ties come loose - is no longer lit with decorative strings of fairy lights. Couples are investing in serious stage lighting: spotlights, disco balls, follow spots and big fairground-style bulbs.

3. Ball-shaped bouquets. Tightly packed bouquets of a single flower are giving way to loose, cascading arrangements with lots of greenery and movement, or to exotic combinations with flowers in acidic, bold shades.

4. Tiered cakes. Perhaps the biggest change. Multi-tier cakes are being replaced by huge, round single-tier cakes almost the size of a table, usually white and covered in seasonal fruit. Some are decorated live in front of the guests, and the variations include "naked" cakes with no outer icing, red velvet and tiramisu. Will the tiered cake give up its throne in Macedonia too, or will it still count as the yardstick of a serious wedding?

5. Hanging candles. Candles floating above the tables are making way for a theatrical look: dramatic, sculptural candles and lavish palace-style candelabras, for the focal points of the hall and the banquet tables.

6. Preserved flowers. Now a narrow niche. Fresh seasonal flowers dominate again, and preserved ones usually end up as keepsake gifts for the closest family members.

7. Detachable skirts. Wedding dresses with an overskirt the bride takes off for the party are losing popularity. Instead, people want skirts with texture - ruffles, contrasts between different fabrics, embroidery and appliqué. The most sought-after are flowing fabrics and embroidered bodices.

Macedonian weddings are serious business - with families, negotiations and bills. Perhaps that's exactly why it's worth knowing what the rest of the world is already leaving behind, before you sign a quote for something that will look dated on the day itself.