This Year’s Wedding Perfume Trends Are Particularly Daring
Here’s to creating unforgettable scent memories on your big day.
Fragrances are a form of time travel. A single spritz of D.S. and Durga’s I Don’t Know What transports me back to the dance floor at my wedding reception, where I twirled with my husband to “More Than A Woman” by the Bee Gees. While perfumes can’t physically bring you back to the past Marty McFly-style, there is science to back up the power of scent to capture precious memories.
“Scent is deeply linked to emotions and memories because of the way our brain is built,” says Berenice Watteau, a perfumer for DSM-Firmenich. How you perceive scent involves several brain regions, including the amygdala, which processes emotional experience and memory, and ultimately prompts visceral flashbacks.
Choosing a wedding perfume—the scent that will likely inspire memories of the day for the rest of your life—can be overwhelming, but I’d argue that doing so is as important as picking your wedding venue. In addition to preserving the moment, your scent can elevate the ambiance of your big day. And just like the fragrance category as a whole, wedding perfumes tend to go through trend cycles. That’s why I tapped in perfumers for 2025’s wedding fragrance trends—to share the notes and rituals they’re excited about for this season’s nuptials.
There are plenty of fragrance families (florals! musks!) that will never go out of style, but the experts I spoke to note that this year’s most popular wedding fragrances are bold in every sense of the word. Chiaki Nomura, a New York City-based perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances, says she’s seeing people gravitate toward fragrances that have higher intensity, while new launches from our favorite brands are also putting unexpected twists on classic wedding scents.
And if none of these trends resonate with you, that’s okay too. “Ultimately, your choice of fragrance intensity and style is highly personal,” says Carine Certain Boin, a New York City-based perfumer at Givaudan. The newlyweds at Allure US couldn’t agree more.
Meet the experts:
Berenice Watteau is a perfumer at DSM-Firmenich in New York City.
Chiaki Nomura is a New York City-based perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances.
Carine Certain Boin is a New York City-based perfumer at Givaudan.
Stephen Nilsen is New York City-based perfumer and Givaudan vice president of perfumery.
Floral fragrances
The concept of choosing a floral fragrance for a wedding is hardly groundbreaking, but it doesn’t eliminate the opportunity to pick something interesting. Actually, “wearing a more opulent floral can be a way to affirm the presence of the bride for the big day,” Watteau says.
Researchers at Spate, a trend-forecasting company in New York City, highlight the interest in Parfums de Marly when searching for a wedding fragrance. (At the time of reporting, #parfumsdemarly was the top-related branded hashtag alongside the hashtag #bridalperfume.) For an airier, more “delicate floral,” Watteau recommends Jo Malone’s Wild Bluebell, which smells like freshly clipped blooms, persimmons, and musk.
Jo Malone Wild Bluebell Cologne
Boin suggests dabbling in honeysuckle and magnolia fragrances. “They’re more modern florals that can be utilized when wanting to get away from traditional flowers like roses and muguet,” she says, adding that both “have a sparkling citrus kind of effect.”
Aerin’s Mediterranean Honeysuckle Eau de Parfum exemplifies Boin’s sentiments: This fragrance contains notes of honeysuckle (of course), grapefruit, and gardenia that will make you feel like you’re wading in sunshine. Aesop’s Aurner Eau de Parfum is a contemporary take on magnolia that leans more herbaceous than sweet. Chloé’s Atelier des Fleurs Magnolia Alba Eau de Parfum is a featherweight, sparkling magnolia. It’s romantic on its own—like a breeze blowing through a garden of white florals—or layered with another perfume.
Aerin Mediterranean Honeysuckle Eau de Parfum
Stephen Nilsen, a New York City-based perfumer and Givaudan’s vice president of perfumery, proposes a sentimental approach to picking a floral. He points to the wedding tradition of acquiring “something new, something borrowed, and something blue” for your big day. Your something borrowed could be a classic floral beloved by a parent or best friend, such as Marc Jacobs Daisy, or even Daisy Wild, a flanker that’s greener but pays homage to its cult-favorite, honeyed, fresh predecessor.
Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette
Marc Jacobs Daisy Wild Eau de Parfum
Dessert-inspired fragrances
Sweet, indulgent scents make an appearance every wedding season, but the ongoing Great Gourmand Boom has made it so you have a ton of compelling options. Says Nilsen, you can look to your dessert table for ideas: “Inspiration from wedding almonds might suggest Arquiste Almond Suede.” Your flower-trimmed red velvet wedding cake might prompt you to try Philosophy’s Fresh Cream Soft Velvet, which smells like sweet cream, chocolate, and lilies.
Skin scents
Craving something more intimate? (That’s understandable, especially if you have a lengthy guest list.) Browse skin scents, which Watteau describes as “usually musky, sensual, and sometimes woody.” While florals and gourmands have historically been popular for weddings, she continues, many are now gravitating toward perfumes that are “more subtle, but still influential.”
Boin says musk-forward scents, especially, have grown in popularity. “For brides and grooms looking to embrace a scent that feels both personal and timeless, musk offers a comforting feel, like a second skin,” she explains.
Watteau recommends Diptyque’s L’Eau Papier Eau (and team Allure co-signs). A Best of Beauty winner, this fragrance elevates your natural scent with musk, mimosa, and steamed-rice notes.
Diptyque L’Eau Papier Eau de Toilette
Essential oil-spiked fragrances
Fact: You’ll be filled with adrenaline on your wedding day. I hardly remember reading my vows because of how energized I was. Pro tips: Eat something (you spent time putting together your menu, after all), hug your partner (a lot), and try an essential oil-spiked perfume. “Essential oil fragrances can create a sense of calm while highlighting beautiful naturals,” says Nilsen, who recommends Bath & Body Works Eucalyptus Spearmint Essential Oil Mist, which, as its name suggests, contains eucalyptus and spearmint leaf oil. Another option is to indulge in fragrance through body wash, and Salt & Stone Bergamot and Hinoki Body Wash smells clean and can help ward away any stress.
Salt & Stone Bergamot & Hinoki Body Wash
A word of warning, though, if you’re going the perfume route: You’ll likely have to carry your fragrance in your (or your maid of honor’s) clutch. Explains Nilsen, “Essential oil fragrances are made from the extremely fleeting notes that are steam-distilled from plant materials, and as such, they do not last very long.”
He points out, though, that some brides may see this as a positive. “It can give you an opportunity to reapply fragrance,” leaving you refreshed “without the fragrance feeling overpowering,” he says.
