Latest wedding trend portends move to low-key lifestyle

By Robert Wheatley

I’m a former Los Angelino. Doesn’t mean anything really except to those who have lived there and witnessed first-hand the unique SoCal culture focused on fame, fortune and entertainment. Trend watchers keep their eyes on LA and in Orange County to signal cultural or social changes. The theory is new ideas tend to start there and in New York and then migrate. Not convinced that’s always true, but for sure LA is a bellwether mirror for shifts in tastes and lifestyles.

I lived in Beverly Hills — in one of the tonier areas north of Sunset Boulevard on Beverly Drive. And before you start assuming anything, I did not have any brush with fame or fortune. I lived in a small house in Franklin Canyon. Nearby however were movie stars and music moguls. Showy to be sure, LA is characterized by a lot of personal wealth that gets showcased in gigantic ornate mansions, exotic autos and over-the-top events like – weddings. Actually more like movie premiers with vows and a ceremony. Been to a few. Got married myself at the Bel Air Hotel, one of the prime locations for some of these outsized celebrations. No, mine was (very) low-key. But man-oh-man what a fabulous place to celebrate the nuptials.

So here in the land of glitz we find a seismic shift in the social milieu that has bearing on where we’re all headed, and probably for a long time to come. LA weddings, a can-you-top-this form of social currency, has gone into a remarkable downshift.

“With This Burger, I Thee Wed” — New York Times, June 17, 2009

Photo: New York Times

Laura Holson charts the changes in wedding gestalt that now favors Rice Krispie treats over caviar and lobster. What was once covered in the social pages as the next “costume epic” celebrated with crystal chandeliers and buckets of Dom Perignon, has retreated to mini-burgers with home baked peach cobbler served at a backyard barbecue, she reports.

Low key. Simple. Casual. Down-home. Top wedding planner to the stars-types forecast picnic style seating; platters passed from person to person, cupcakes and comfort food. Doesn’t mean cheap mind you, but the point is: now even in the rarified world of Hollywood glam Betty Crocker and jalapeno poppers have overtaken skyscraper sized wedding cakes and elaborate celebrity chef inspired all-stars like poached Halibut cheeks drizzled with cilantro, basil, chutney emulsion.

What’s it all mean?

Comfort food is king. Simple preparations. Recipes without fuss in any way. This condition offers a unique opportunity for food and beverage brands to celebrate the return to simpler food and occasions with a nod to fresh, natural ingredients. When rock stars and movie queens look to French fries and grilled cheese sandwiches for their soirees, you know that suddenly home-cooking the way we know it here in the hinterlands is now the aspiration menu.

So the next family gathering where you rustle up a platter of fried onion rings and a beer, take satisfaction that you and your favorite People magazine cover models have much more in common that ever before. You are actually, really partying like a rock star.

For food brands, this confirms what we suspected, simple food, simply prepared is where we should be living in our outreach strategies to home cooks and kitchen commanders.

Jell-O-shot anyone?