Have you found yourself suddenly being invited to more weddings than ever before? Did the whole of last summer consist of hen parties and weddings at the weekends? If so, you’re probably a Millennial and are having almost the same calendar of weddings-hen-parties-and-baby-showers as I am at the moment!
Millennials are those of us who were born between 1980 and 2000. As a result, many Millennials are entering the time of life when they choose to get married. But it’s worth pointing out that they’re not doing everything the same as the generation before them. In fact, their approach seems rather different. Here is what millennials are doing to switch up their wedding experience.
They’re sharing on social media
If you went to school or university with somebody, you probably didn’t find out they got married through the newspaper or because you actually went to the wedding. Instead, the first time you heard about it was probably through a social media website, usually Facebook. This is something new for Millennials, the generation who grew up consuming social media. Unlike generations before them, they have the means to publicly share every detail about their big day, from start to finish.
In fact, things are getting even more intrusive with applications like Periscope which allow couples to have their entire day live-streamed over the internet. People who aren’t even at the event can enjoy it from the comfort of their own homes, which is great if there’s an old aunt who can’t make it to the event because of health reasons.
They’re using technology
It used to be the case that you had to write out your own wedding invitations. But with the rise of the internet, there are now hundreds of different templates online to choose from. No longer do you have to go to a professional designer to publish your unique invitations: instead, couples can simply go online and pick a design that they like.
Millennials are also using technology to help organize their events. For instance, many are leveraging digital maps and apps to help guests know where they need to be at various times of the day. For many, the journey to and from the wedding is as important as the wedding itself, perhaps reflecting the fact that Millennials travel more than most generations. Millennials also care about the experience of the entire day, rather than just the event. They’re also thinking about their guests too, providing charging stations for their mobile phones so that they don’t run out of battery if the party goes on late into the evening.
They want their weddings to look gorgeous
The way weddings look has become more important, thanks to the rise of Pinterest and Instagram. Weddings that don’t look beautiful will never look good on photo-sharing platforms! Couples are therefore turning to technology to get inspiration for their own wedding day aesthetics. Couples today have the advantage that they are able to peruse hundreds of different wedding designs online and choose the setup that they like the most. In the past, they would have had to go to a wedding designer and look through all their plans to see whether there were any that they liked. This would not only have cost a lot of money, but it is unlikely they would have found something that was just right. With more choice on the internet, millennials have the luxury of choosing a wedding that is personalized to them.Interesting how weddings have changed over the years, isn’t it? My husband and I got married at a young age, and when we did it back in 2003 you didn’t have half of the choices you have today. Plus, there was actually no such thing as social media back then. Well, our wedding photos were actually taken on a 35mm film, not a digital camera, so it would have involved a lot of scanning to get those photos online, haha!
Let me me know if you’ve experienced any of these Millennial habits at any weddings you’ve been to recently by leaving me a comment below. Plus I’d love to hear about any new ideas or technology surrounding weddings that you’ve heard of so please do get in touch!
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