Wedding trends may come and go with the seasons (brown and turquoise, anyone?), but there will always be couples looking to showcase something new. We spoke to local experts about the most exciting developments they're seeing in event cocktails, lighting, and floral design.

Stirred up

Once merely a prelude to the reception, cocktail hour has become an event in its own right. Some couples are styling cocktail hour as a separate party, with its own decor and colors.

The wedding after-party is another opportunity to create a casual space and to keep the festivities going (i.e., more cocktails).

Beka Rendell of Innovative Events and Paper in Philadelphia/Wynnewood recalled one memorable wedding she planned at the Westin Hotel, where the reception was in the ballroom.

"Later, everyone went into another room where there was lit-up lounge furniture, a DJ, and ice sculptures with shots," Rendell says.

Specialty cocktail bars are highly popular: "We did an amazing wedding with a champagne bar. People could mix and match juice and syrups," Rendell says. Mojitos, wine and cheese, or beer bars are other options.

Some of the most creative wedding cocktails come from Stephen Starr Events. Often, clients approach the company seeking drinks they've enjoyed at Starr restaurants such as the Continental or El Vez. Others work with staff mixologists to create personalized concoctions.

"Signature cocktails are huge," says Morgan Bedore, Starr events manager. At a recent Starr wedding at the F.U.E.L. Collection, guests sipped lychee cosmos, Caddy Shacks (St. Germain liqueur, prosecco, and club soda) and Romarins (Finlandia grapefruit vodka, rosemary, St. Germain, and grapefruit juice). Organic herbal cocktails are a big seller, with such ingredients as rosemary, lemon thyme, and cilantro, and local spirits such as Bluecoat gin.

Service, too, can be fancied-up, Bedore says. A recent wedding featured mini-martini shakers passed on trays with garnished glasses for a shaken-to-order effect.

Others have added monogrammed glasses or plexiglass trays inlaid with the invitation.

"In general, clients are coming in with more ideas - we have a lot of fun bringing them to life."

Light magic

While up-lit chuppahs and dance-floor monograms have become de rigueur in ballroom weddings, the latest lighting trends go further to create event atmosphere.

"Lighting adds a wow factor," says Brian Toner, president of Eventions Productions, an Aston- based company that designs lighting and multimedia displays for parties.

One such effect is light "wallpaper," which adds texture to plain walls or floors. Among thousands of available patterns are polka dots, abstracts, stars, and branches.

The look can get more sophisticated still with intelligent lighting, an automated system that changes patterns or colors over the course of the event - bathing the couple in a soft glow for their first dance, for instance, then switching to blinking lights when everyone else joins in.

Raw, industrial spaces might benefit from hanging crystal chandeliers or lanterns with pillar candles. For a recent wedding, Eventions hung 600 candles from the ceiling - battery-operated, of course, to adhere to city law. "Really," Toner says, "the possibilities are limitless."

Special arrangements

Wedding florals, too, have evolved to include their own special effects. Arrangements with monochromatic colors, lighted from beneath or within, make for an enticingly fresh look.

"For one wedding, we used a mirrored table surface that was lit beneath to create a reflection," says Donna O'Brien, owner of Beautiful Blooms in Northern Liberties. "I've also been wrapping printed vellum around containers and putting a light inside for a pretty translucence."

Another trend in wedding florals is what O'Brien calls the "dinner party" look, with eclectic silver or cut-glass containers, sometimes imported from clients' homes.

"Or you could use less-formal pieces like Mason jars and fill them with hydrangeas or peonies for a vintage, homespun feel."

Generally, she says, more couples are choosing to mix and match, opting for, say, three small arrangements on one table and five tall ones on another.

O'Brien says it's all in the details these days, with multiple floral arrangements on food stations and cake tables, small vases of flowers on passed cocktail trays, or individual flowers tucked into napkins. I

Elisa Ludwig is a freelance writer in Philadelphia.