The 2026 wedding moodboard has got a glow-up. IV drips and comfort food are in. Hashtags and grand entries? Out These days, a wedding trend peaks and dies within a single shaadi season. Portmanteau hashtags? So 2023. Champagne towers? Too Pinterest. A bridal moment being painted live at the reception? Cute, but we saw that on Reels already. The question wedding planners dread now is not “Can you give us a discount?” but “Are these trends going to feel new, match our vibe and still pop on Instagram?”Influencers Alanna Panday and Ivor McCray had an IV-infusion bar at their mehendi. (REVIV INDIA)Here’s what’s in and what’s quietly making its way out of the Indian wedding circuit in 2026.Weddings now have hydration stations. There are also pet-inspired cocktails. (SHREEM EVENTS)In: IV drips, hydration bars, wellness rooms. B12, Vitamin D, magnesium, pick your fix. Somewhere between the sangeet high and the pheras there’s a chill zone that you’ll wander into out of curiosity, but stay for the boost to simply function the next day. “What began as soft resort-style touches – morning yoga, clean breakfasts, coconut- water stations and spa hampers – has expanded into something more structured”, says Damini Oberoi who runs Pune-based Q Events & Weddings. She also points out that wellness is the new status flex for hosts: That you every detail has been thought through, right down to how guests feel after three nights of celebration.Out: Wedding hashtags. “There was a time when every wedding needed one. #NehaGotNikhil #MitaliMetManav #TakenByTaneja. It helped guests upload photographs, find memories, and feel part of a larger digital moment,” says Monil Shah, CEO and founder of Kkings Events, Mumbai, “Now it just feels cringe. We’ve outgrown that era.”Unlike festivals or public events, weddings were never meant for mass discoverability. “Nobody is trying to sell tickets.” So instead of trying to make a shaadi go viral, it’s cooler to be more private, with “dedicated Instagram pages where the wedding name itself becomes the handle. It feels more curated, more personal.”The buffet now has comfort food options such as Maggi, and dishes inspired by the couple’s memories. (SHUTTERSTOCK)In: Food-first weddings. Sigh, wedding buffets. The great Indian endurance test; 27 live counters, eight cuisines fighting for attention and at least one confused guest ladling pasta next to the dal makhani on her plate because both were deemed excellent. “Now, couples are leaning into dishes that feel personal, familiar and emotionally resonant,” says Devanshi Patel, founder of Shreem Events in Mumbai. Comfort foods such as chole-kulcha and Maggi noodles are drawing more affection. There are “cocktails inspired by the couple’s favourite drinks, first dates or travel memories. Menus named after pets, inside jokes and family references are replacing generic labels.”Prerana Agarwal Saxena, founder of WedEase Planners and Theme Weavers Designs in Gurugram, says wedding celebrations are also blurring “the line between dining and entertainment”.For a Tomorrowland-inspired wedding in Kolkata, Saxena and her team suspended food installations from the ceiling, allowing guests to pluck and eat starters instead of relying on conventional service. “Because Tomorrowland is rooted in imagination, we wanted the dining experience to reflect that spirit,” she says.Out: OTT entries. Horses, chariots, hydraulic stages, smoke machines – all too much, says Shah. “Beyond the spectacle, many of those setups were simply accidents waiting to happen,” he adds. “Many couples today prefer being introduced more thoughtfully. Sometimes it’s an MC sharing a few details about them on stage. Sometimes it’s a sibling, friend or parent raising a toast before they walk in.” One groom Shah worked with wanted the MC to mention that he was an architect who had recently worked on a 68,000-square-foot project.”Ceremonies are more tightly curated so guests can actually enjoy each event . (SHUTTERSTOCK)In: Shorter ceremonies. “People want ceremonies that feel personal instead of performative. They want to know what the rituals mean, hear the vows properly, stay emotionally present instead of just surviving the schedule,” says Saxena. All the programming is tight. “There are cocktail evenings, after-parties, sit-down dinners, wellness mornings, recovery brunches and dance floors people actually want energy for. A ceremony running three hours late no longer feels charmingly traditional; it throws off the entire flow of the celebration.”Out: Matchy-matchy themes. No ladkiwale wardrobe, no pastel-coded family portrait. “When twenty people wear the same outfit, it can feel more like costume than personal style,” says Dipali Mathur, CEO at Kestone Utsav, Delhi. “Families are still dressing within a shared visual language — jewel tones, handloom textiles, contemporary drapes, but one cousin may arrive in a sharply tailored sharara, another in an heirloom Banarsi sari, someone else in a fluid sari gown layered with chunky vintage jewellery.” Because who wants to feel like they’re in uniform at a wedding, of all places?From HT Brunch, June 06, 2026 Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch See Less