The holidays are a popular time for engagements, so you know someone who put a ring on it recently! Weddings can now be so lavish and expensive that the happy couple may ask you to help pay for it. Many Millennials are now asking for donations to fund their wedding and honeymoon with Go Fund Me sites. Bridal Extravaganza Producer Laurette Veres says for Millennials it makes sense. "They have been raised on social media. Also - this generation just really has no boundaries. So this group thinks that everything is shareable." Veres says maybe they do this instead of asking you for pots and pans or towels. This COULD be interpreted as 'the new registry.' So - from that viewpoint it doesn't seem so strange. "I'd say even 5 or 6 years ago these social media platforms came out. And at first I thought it made sense. You could buy them a massage or you could buy them dinner one night on their honeymoon!" But now go fund me sites are asking you to fund their entire weddings!
Highlights of recent statistics about Millennial weddings:
- 15% of couples asked for donations to their wedding fund.
- While one in five couples asked for donations to a honeymoon fund.
- On the other end, 30% of wedding guests donated to wedding or honeymoon funds when asked.
- Less than 20% of the weddings were paid for exclusively by the bride's family.
- Nearly half said they paid for their wedding ceremony and reception themselves and split the costs evenly.
- According to The Knot, the national average cost of a wedding is about $34,000.