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In case you missed it, this year I became a member of the advisory board of the International Academy of Wedding & Event Planners. For years I’ve been a contributor to their annual wedding trend report, dishin’ the dirt on what couples in California are up to in the nuptials department. Now I get to go behind the scenes gathering insights that can help wedding and event planners around the globe – like this handy bit of helpful info that comes courtesy of Dealspotr, a social platform for marketing influencers. They conducted a study on how millennial weddings are changing, with technology being a large part of that shift. Here’s a summary that shows how today’s young couples are reinventing wedding traditions!

The Big Day

Millennials spend more on weddings than any previous generation, forking up, on average, $36,000 for their big day! Plus, with destination weddings in favor, guests today spend more than ever before to attend a wedding. It’s not uncommon for guests to spend $1,000 to watch their friends walk down the aisle. Why the willingness to shell out so much cash? Because weddings are no longer private affairs. Social media makes weddings highly visible. And, since they’re more public, they also tend to be more exciting and extravagant!

In fact, 37% of millennials now create a wedding hashtag so that people can tag and search for a wedding on social media. What’s more, 25% of millennials create Snapchat geofilters for their weddings, which can be purchased from a designer on Etsy, to further customize photographs and give them an “advertising” look. Fun, right? Speaking of fun, you know you can have that on a smaller scale too! Don’t forget to download our Super Secret Party Tips guide. It’s FREE and offers lots of clever suggestions for bashes big and small. Now… back to weddings!

Going To The Chapel? Nope, Not So Much

The typical wedding of yesteryear usually consisted of a church wedding followed by a hotel reception. But those days are over. 62% of millennials now have their wedding outside of a church, opting for a ceremony that is modern, trendy, and unique. Only 43% of couples today say that religion is important to them. Most prefer to have loved ones or a civil magistrate administer the ceremony. That’s not the only dramatic change in wedding traditions…

Do Me A Favor… No Favors

Remember those stupid colored almonds that were the ubiquitous wedding favor for decades?! If you’re a millennial you DON’T! You have no clue what I’m talking about! After those came decorative cork stoppers, then coasters, then earbuds, then little boxes of gourmet cookies. All of those are largely gone! Thank GAWD! (I say this only because I’m the one who had to arrange hundreds of said favors on plates and tables and as you might imagine it’s TE-DI-OUS!) Today, less than 50% of millennial couples want to provide wedding favors. Probably because the wedding alone provides so much spectacle, entertainment, and exciting photo ops for guests that anything else is anticlimactic.

Paper Invitations, Electronic Save-The-Dates

Maybe millennials are more environmentally aware than past generations and don’t want to kill as many trees. Maybe they just think save-the-dates are old-fashioned and lame. I’m still a proponent of them, especially if you’re having a destination wedding. But sending them electronically is a-ok by me! If you’re getting married close to home, save-the-dates are often an unnecessary expense since you can just post something to social media that’s fun and free!

Wedding Registries… Gone Like The Dinosaurs!

We’ve talked about this in other wedding posts. Today, only 35% of couples express interest in having a traditional wedding registry. That’s because most couples like to “test drive” their lives together by cohabitating before getting hitched. That means they already have a house full of stuff, like popcorn poppers and panini makers! Money, of course, is still a welcome gift. I mean (duh!) greenbacks are never gonna go out of style. Along this line, approximately 15% of couples say they like the idea of a honeymoon fund where guests can make a gift contribution that helps pay for a nice post-wedding vacation.

Bye-Bye Bachelor And Bachelorette Parties!

One of the other interesting statistics that came out of the Dealspotr study is that nearly half of couples no longer wish to have a bachelor or bachelorette party. While I was surprised by this at first (because who doesn’t love a party?!) it makes sense when you’re asking guests and members of your wedding party to spend $1,000+ to be a part of your big day. Having them spend $2,000 to include a debaucherous weekend away is too much!

Not Just A Video, A Film

Couples have been using videographers to film their weddings for decades now, but the shift for millennials has come with an increasing demand for artistry. Unlike videos that used to show a static camera recording the vows cut together with walking down the aisle and people dancing at the reception, couples today want videographers to produce short, cinematic films that tell a romantic story. To that end, it’s the reason why millennial couples place so much emphasis on location! Having an aesthetically stunning backdrop is critical. 47% cited wedding location as their number one wedding planning priority.

Wedding Traditions Change With The Times

Nothing stays the same forever. (Except hopefully love!) Traditions we held dear are always going to be reinvented by the next generation. And I love that! I cherish that every bride and groom brings his or her imagination to the celebration of love. If YOU have plans to get married next year, let’s chat! I can help you create a magical event that you and your guests will remember forever! For smaller celebrations where you can be the hostess-with-the-mostess, don’t forget to check out our Super Secret Party Tips Guide! It has tons of useful ideas for fetes of every shape and size.