OCTOBER 2026 | A funny thing happens when you start planning a wedding: suddenly, everyone has an opinion.
There are the things you’re ‘supposed’ to do, the things your family expects, the things TikTok tells you everyone else is doing - and somewhere amongst it all, you have to work out what you actually want.
Which is perhaps why so much of this issue is about doing things your way.
This month, Katie O’Malley explores what happens when the traditional wedding rulebook simply doesn’t fit your family, and speaks to brides who have navigated divorced parents, stepparents, seating plans and speeches without letting decades-old family politics take over the day. Families are complicated - and pretending otherwise for the sake of a wedding photograph probably isn’t the answer.
Elsewhere, Rebecca Cope investigates why a new generation of brides is suddenly embracing some very old-fashioned superstitions. From burying sausages to paying Etsy witches to guarantee sunshine, it turns out that when you combine wedding anxiety with TikTok, almost anything can make a comeback.
Fashion-wise, our team is making the case for leopard print at weddings, celebrating the enduring brilliance of the column gown and spotlighting the embellished shoes that deserve far more than a fleeting appearance beneath your dress. Over in beauty, Olivia Dean's makeup artist Celia Burton opens up her beauty bag, while we investigate what actually works when it comes to glossier hair, and building stronger, more sculpted arms before your wedding day.
And because life doesn't begin and end with weddings, we’ve discovered the coolest things to see and do in October (spoiler: it’s a cultural month ahead), along with the new hotel launches worth knowing before everyone else does.
Perhaps that's really the point of this issue. Weddings are full of traditions, expectations and other people's ideas of what makes a good one. Keep the bits you love. Ignore the bits you don't. Bury a sausage if it makes you feel better.
See you next month,
Jess & Rosie x
