Brides are ditching wedding traditions…
Marriage is an institution steeped in tradition, from the throwing of the bouquet to the silver sixpence slipped into a shoe.
But young couples are increasingly forgoing time-honoured customs in favour of Instagram-friendly weddings that take inspiration from America, a new report has found. Brides and grooms are now likely to take inspiration from the US by hosting multiple events before the big day, including an engagement party and rehearsal dinner, and removing page boys and flower girls from the wedding party. Nearly half of modern brides and grooms admitted they felt under pressure to have a wedding that was perfectly-styled for social media. And 30 per cent revealed they paid out thousands of pounds more to achieve the perfect look for pictures to post on Instagram. ‘The wedding is no longer just about one event and there’s a growing desire to prolong the wedding celebrations; couple this with Instagram and Pinterest bringing access to trends ...
New wedding traditions
● Rehearsal dinner
● Engagement parties
● Cash gifts
● Mini moon and honeymoon
Ditched wedding traditions
● Pageboys and flower girls
● Tossing the bouquet
● Silver sixpences
● Carrying a lucky horsehoe
The honeymoon is the next most expensive feature, with couples spending £4,645 - and frequently delaying their time away to save up for extravagant trips to farflung countries. The most popular destination is now the Maldives, followed by Italy, America, Bali and then Mexico.
Other top honeymoons included the Caribbean, Mauritius, Thailand, Hawaii and Greece. Sarah Allard, editor of Hitched, said: ‘With Instagram becoming an increasing part of our day to day lives, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing our wedding planning couples - many of them millennials who have grown up with social media - looking to the platform to help inspire their day.
‘The wedding is no longer just about one event and there’s a growing desire to prolong the wedding celebrations; couple this with Instagram and Pinterest bringing access to trends from across the Pond and it’s clear to see why couples are choosing to spend more on engagement parties, hen and stag-dos than ever before.”
(EXCERPTS – DAILY MAIL)