Back in 2019, the backdrop that booked was easy to name: a wall of sequins, ideally gold. Sequins showed up on a third of every selection we tracked. That was the look, full stop.
Then it cracked. We pulled backdrop selections from Check Cherry bookings going back to 2019, and somewhere in the summer of 2023, a new style quietly slipped past sequins for the top spot and just kept pulling away. It is not sequin. It is not gold. It is not flashy at all. It is plain, clean white.
Here is what fell, what rose to take its place, and what it means for the backdrops you stock this year.
The fall of the sequin wall
In 2019, sequins ruled the style charts and gold ruled the colors. Both have roughly halved since.
| Style | 2019 | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 | 2026 (YTD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequin | 32.0% | 34.6% | 25.9% | 17.5% | 16.6% |
| Gold | 27.7% | 24.6% | 17.8% | 14.3% | 13.4% |
| White | 18.6% | 20.9% | 23.2% | 24.7% | 27.2% |
| Sparkle / Glam | 4.7% | 5.8% | 9.4% | 11.7% | 10.8% |
| Greenery / Floral | 4.9% | 6.8% | 8.1% | 7.8% | 9.2% |
| Marble | 1.2% | 1.1% | 2.2% | 2.7% | 2.4% |
| LED / Neon | 9.1% | 5.1% | 3.9% | 2.8% | 2.6% |
| Wood / Rustic | 5.0% | 4.4% | 3.4% | 3.3% | 3.1% |
| Black | 10.3% | 9.5% | 8.4% | 8.3% | 7.8% |
| Silver | 8.5% | 9.7% | 9.3% | 7.7% | 6.4% |
Sequin slid from 32% of selections to about 17%. Gold dropped from 28% to 13%. The defining look of the late 2010s now gets picked half as often. If a gold sequin wall is still your flagship, it is not dead. It is just no longer the automatic crowd-pleaser it used to be.
White won, and the glam booth is the reason
As sequins slid, clean white climbed: from 19% of selections in 2019 to 27% today. It is now the single most popular style, period. And the reason is not subtle. The glam booth went mainstream, and it brought white walls with it.
A glam booth shoots black-and-white, softly lit, skin-smoothed photos: the high-end, editorial "red carpet" look. That look is built on a clean white backdrop. So as glam booths spread, white walls spread too. The fingerprint is all over the data. The single most-booked backdrop on the entire platform is literally named "White for Glam Booth." Glam packages went from essentially nonexistent in 2019 (0.1% of bookings) to a standard offering by 2025 (around 3% by package name, closer to 8% once you count packages that describe the glam look). And even that undercounts it, because plenty of operators run the glam style on a backdrop they simply call "white."
Here is the twist that is easy to miss. Glam photos are black-and-white. So that bright white wall is not really a color choice at all. It is there to blow out into a clean, high-key background behind the subject. White is not winning because hosts fell in love with the color. It is winning because it is what the most popular booth format needs. Read that way, the whole sequins-to-white story is really a format story: the colorful party booth, with its fun sequin and gold walls, giving ground to the black-and-white glam booth and its bright white setup.
White has a second advantage too, and it is pure function. It photographs cleanly under any lighting, it does not fight anyone's outfit or color scheme, and it works for a wedding, a corporate mixer, or a birthday with zero changes. Glam booth or not, when a host has no idea what they want, white is the safe yes. And more of them are choosing it on purpose.
When a glam booth isn't the right fit
Rising does not mean universal. The glam booth is a premium, posed, black-and-white format, which makes it exactly wrong for plenty of events. Before you build everything around it, know where it does not belong:
- Color, props, and fun events. Kids' parties, b'nai mitzvahs, festivals, and casual celebrations want vibrant color prints, props, and a little chaos. Posed black-and-white kills that energy.
- Corporate and brand activations. Companies want branded overlays, logos, brand colors, and often lead capture. A glam booth carries none of that. A color or standard booth wins here.
- High-volume events. Glam is slower and usually attendant-run with on-the-spot retouching, so it serves fewer guests per hour. For a 300-person reception with a line out the door, a standard booth moves more people.
- Budget and market fit. Glam is a premium product: better camera, better lighting, an attendant, editing time. In price-sensitive markets or on tight budgets, it is an upsell that will not always land.
The takeaway is not "skip the glam booth." It is "match the booth to the event." Glam is a strong addition for the upscale and wedding market, not a replacement for everything else you offer.
Glam didn't die. It changed costume.
It is easy to read "sequins fell" as "the sparkly look fell." It didn't. It just moved.
As literal sequin selections dropped, the sparkle and glam cluster (think champagne sparkle and champagne glitter) more than doubled, from about 5% to 12%. People still want shimmer in their photos. They have just traded the heavy, reflective sequin panel for a softer champagne shimmer that reads as elegant instead of loud.
The editorial look is rising
Two styles that barely registered in 2019 are now real categories. Greenery and floral walls nearly doubled, from 5% to 9%. Marble doubled too, from about 1% to 3%. Small numbers, clear direction.
Both belong to the same shift: backdrops that look organic, editorial, and "designed" rather than novelty. This is the wedding and upscale-event market talking. Greenery walls suit garden and outdoor weddings. Marble reads modern and premium for corporate and milestone events. If you serve that market, these are the backdrops to add next.
Fads that faded
Not every 2019 trend aged well. Two cooled off noticeably:
- LED, neon, and inflatable walls fell from 9% to under 3%. The glowing-wall moment has largely passed.
- Wood and rustic / barn styles dropped from 5% to 3%. The rustic-wedding wave that peaked in the late 2010s has receded.
Neither is gone. They still suit specific themes, and a neon wall can be perfect for the right party. But they are niche picks now, not core inventory. If you are buying one backdrop to keep busy, it should not be one of these.
What's trending right now, and why it flips every winter
Zoom in by quarter and a rhythm appears: backdrop taste swings with the event calendar, every single year.
- Wedding season (spring and summer) belongs to white and greenery. Both peak in Q2 and Q3, when weddings fill the calendar, and this season is no exception. White is at an all-time high, around 27% of selections, and greenery and floral walls are holding strong near 9%.
- Holiday season (Q4) is when the glam comes back out. Every fourth quarter, as New Year's Eve parties and corporate galas take over, sequin and sparkle backdrops jump while white and greenery dip. Sequins are not gone. They are seasonal.
So the "sequins are out" headline is really "sequins moved to December." The practical read: if you work weddings, stock white and greenery for the spring and summer rush. If you book a lot of corporate and New Year's parties, keep your sequin and sparkle walls ready for Q4.
What people actually booked in 2025
Style trends are one thing. Here are the specific backdrops booked most often last year, by exact name:
- White
- Brilliant White
- Gold Sequin
- Champagne Sparkle
- Black
- Champagne Glitter
- Silver Sequin
- Silver Sparkle
- White Sequin
- White Marble
Look at the pattern. White and its close cousins lead. Gold Sequin is still in the mix (it is a classic, and classics linger), but it now shares the list with champagne sparkle, champagne glitter, and marble. The single style still dominates. The single look does not.
What to stock this year
If you are deciding where to put your money, the data points to a simple lineup:
Whatever mix you land on, the real win is making it effortless for clients to choose. Check Cherry's backdrop management lets you load your full lineup once and have clients pick their own backdrop, whether they are booking online or accepting a proposal, so the right one is locked in up front instead of sorted out by text the week of the event.
The headline from seven years of data: the sequin-and-gold party look gave way to clean white and the glam booth, while greenery and marble climbed and the old LED and rustic looks faded. But the deeper lesson is not "go all-in on white." Styles keep moving, and the operators who win are the ones who match the backdrop to the event in front of them. Stock for range, lead with what is rising, and you will say yes to more clients than the operator still leading with gold sequin.
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