Gen Z is ditching wedding traditions and embracing TikTok trends

By Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins

Graphic by Arif Qazi / Insider

First published in May 2023. Republished on Sep 3, 2023.

Ashley Klimper has been spending a couple hours a week on TikTok to help plan her wedding. 

She wanted to keep her costs under $10,000, so an event planner wasn't in her budget. That meant "wedding TikTok" — with its dancing groomsmen and videographers turned influencers — was the next best thing. 

"We can't afford all those special vendors but since they're giving away their secrets, I write them down," said the 25-year-old, who's getting married in June. "Really, everything's on TikTok."

In this tears-of-joy-drenched corner of the internet, business owners, planners, and fellow brides share their tips. Klimper found ideas for meticulous day-of schedules, entrance and recessional songs, signs she could design on Canva, and Jimmy Choo-inspired, DIY pearl-encrusted platform heels. What more could she need?

Not much, it seems. Though Klimper is getting married on rolling farmland, you won't find any burlap decor or Mason jars. "That's a big no-no," she said. "I hate rustic weddings."

Instead, she's aiming for an "elegant secret garden" vibe, she said. There are peonies and rosebushes on the property and she'll place vintage, floral-embroidered handkerchiefs on each seat for the ceremony.

Klimper hopes to make her wedding unique, with touches that bring her and her fiancé's personalities to life. "We're very fun and a little quirky," she said. 

Brides and grooms have always wanted to personalize their weddings, but now they're getting their inspiration from TikTok. To make their nuptials memorable, couples are going after viral — and sometimes cringey — moments like couples dapping at the altar or turning their first kiss into a skit, this generation's version of flash-mob dances down the aisle.

That quest for originality is proving difficult for the old guards of establishment weddings: The companies that sell pulled-from-a-catalog formalwear and traditional jewelry are falling behind in a TikTok world. David's Bridal — once the go-to for affordable bridal and bridesmaid dresses — filed for bankruptcy in April after struggling to appeal to modern brides. And Signet Jewelers, the country's largest jeweler, has seen ring sales slump alongside a drop in engagements.

Businesses that want to survive the social reboot of weddings will have to adapt or risk becoming — like leg-of-mutton sleeves — a faded nuptial fad.