Dwindling are the days of tuxedos, crystal stemware, and shimmering chandeliers that once dominated the look of the $119B wedding industry.
The new aesthetic for weddings is “rustic chic” — AKA getting married in a barn. Sorry, no cows allowed.
According to a survey from The Knot, 15% of couples chose a barn, farm, or ranch for their wedding reception in 2017, up from just 2% in 2009.
Designer barns? Or a shed without rats?
Good news for the people who love to blame millennials for everything, according to the Atlantic, the average age of marriage hovers around 28 these days, meaning they’ve played a big role in the barn boom.
And it’s hurting those who made their livelihood off the venues of yesteryear.
Studies show the number of couples choosing to celebrate in banquet halls dropped from 27% in 2009 to 17% in 2017, while similarly, hotel weddings dropped from 18% to 12%.
Bottom line: Cheaper and casual is in, and fancy is out.
Funny thing is, barns aren’t exactly cheaper.
One would assume backwoods wedding aesthetics would cut down on nuptial overhead. But in reality, Barns aren’t the hunks of termite infested junk they used to be.
Or at least not the ones people are getting married in.
Since the trend began taking off in 2011, faux barns built strictly for weddings have popped up all across the country, helping to push the average wedding cost up from $27k in 2011 to $33k in 2017.