Cool Brides Assemble: These Are the 7 Wedding Dress Trends to Know for 2024

We'll shop for countless dresses in our lives—the sundress, the slip dress, the cocktail dress—but there's one dress that's arguably the most important one someone will ever decide on: the one you get married in. When it comes to bridal attire, there's so much to consider, from the bag to the shoes to the jewelry, but let's face it. No styling decisions can really be made before you land on the dress. Really, it's the main event of any bridal look.

With nontraditional bridal attire on the rise and more people choosing multiple outfit changes for their weddings, the options have never been greater. This is why it's hard to pinpoint wedding dress trends—it's such a personal choice with a million and one factors that go into the final decision. If we had to say which styles are popular this year, we'd highlight the numbers that bridal experts are buzzing about the most, and we have the insider intel on their top seven. During Bridal Fashion Week, designers showcased their collections for next season, and they're filled with plenty of fresh and forward ideas that make wedding dresses feel so 2024.

To uncover the most important wedding dress trends to know right now, we turned to two bridal experts whose work can be seen on some of the coolest fashion people of the moment: Christy Baird, owner and creative director of LOHO Bride, and bridal stylist Anny Choi. Baird launched her buzzy L.A. bridal boutique after attending nine weddings in one year and realizing that the cool girl felt underrepresented in the bridal process. All her friends echoed that the dress-shopping experience was frustrating, stale, pushy, and outdated. LOHO fills a much-needed gap in the industry with forward and imaginative pieces for the nontraditional bride. As for Choi, she pivoted into the bridal space after her tenure as a Vogue market editor and now works with clients all over the world with the goal of "ensuring the bride's personal style shines through and not chase specific trends." She says that many of her clients seek her out to source cool vintage pieces for them and create one-of-a-kind custom looks. "Many brides and couples that come to me also want to think outside of the box and will usually want to create looks that feel less traditionally bridal," she adds.

Ahead, Baird and Choi outline the seven major wedding dress trends to know, from baroque-inspired drop waists like the one from Alex Cooper's highly Instagrammable nuptials to the convertible two-piece sets you can actually wear again. Continue on to discover them all.

"Drop waist is here to stay," declares Choi. We've been seeing more and more of this silhouette, and it's officially crossed over into wedding attire. The spring 2025 bridal collections had a plethora of baroque-inspired drop-waist options to choose from. Her favorites include Lein's reiteration of a modern tulle drop waist in bridal ivory and Kyha's elegant duchess. It's a style that It brides are choosing this year too. Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper recently opted for a Danielle Frankel drop-waist style for her Mexico wedding. "The silhouette might surprise you at how flattering it is," Choi adds. While ready-to-wear dress trends tend to be fleeting, Baird ensures that we can expect to see these drop waists stick around for a while when it comes to wedding dresses.

Brides in 2024 are eschewing the classics for dresses that are more unexpected, and the trends of the year are a perfect nod to this new era in bridal style. One nontraditional trend Baird and Choi agreed on is the addition of something black. This can come in the form of black bow detailing like designers Mark Ingram and Alejandra Alonso Rojas are doing and unexpected ribbon at the neck or waistline. "Many brides have been incorporating something blue or bridal florals, but I think adding this touch of black is so chic, especially for city brides," notes Choi.

Bridal looks with beautiful, ornate detailing are eclipsing anything minimal right now, and for Baird, that means elements like lattice beading are top of mind. "Richard Quinn really brought this trend into vision at London Fashion Week, and we're happy that it showed up at Bridal Market as well," she muses.

"For those looking for something less traditional or perfect for surrounding looks, more and more brands are designing two-piece sets that are more versatile," Choi suggests. "Tops that can be styled with a ball skirt for the ceremony and then with a pair of trousers for the reception, for example. Danielle Frankel always has beautiful toned-down options to choose from. Tanner Fletcher also has playful suiting options."

We've officially entered the era of the second (and third and fourth) look for weddings. The after-party look is a perfect opportunity to flex a more fun-loving and party-ready styling muscle that a single wedding dress alone often doesn't allow for. Choi has noticed that both brides and brands continue to push boundaries with after-party looks. "There's the party-ready sequin pant look from Francesca Miranda, vintage-inspired finale looks from Richard Quinn sure to make a statement, and body-skimming corset options from Wiederhoeft," she explains.

"Who doesn't want to look like they're walking on a cloud, especially when these hems have given a nice moment for the heel?" Baird muses. Another bridal trend that has seeped over from the ready-to-wear collections are these cloudlike bubble hems that create dramatic and stunning silhouettes, whether in short or gown lengths.

"I don't think we saw a designer who didn't present a rosette of some sort, especially as repetitive detailing or oversize at the waist," Baird says, adding that she's here for it. "The mix of feminine and editorial is such a fun juxtaposition."