For nearly a decade, trend pieces have been published with some regularity on the rise of male engagement rings. Nonetheless, by and large, they’ve yet to break into the mainstream. Despite high profile celebrities like Ed Sheeran and Prince Harry adopting the progressive practice, a 2020 study showed that only 5% of men are choosing to wear engagement rings, nodding to stagnant gender norms within cis-heterosexual wedding culture.
Providing an offering of bread is a timeless gesture, a ritual of hospitality going back thousands of years. It's easy to spot a common version of this even today when you sit down at a restaurant and receive a basket of bread at the table.
Despite significant strides forward in contemporary wedding culture, the prevailing narrative remains that it should be one of the “biggest days” of a couple’s life. One of the downsides to this narrative, beyond the immense financial cost, is that it often yields a punishing carbon footprint. In 2017, Stanford Magazine reported that the average *non-*destination wedding of 200 guests produces about 56 tons of carbon emissions — about three times the average American’s annual footprint. With more and more couples today choosing to have destination weddings, that figure has only increased to accommodate round trip domestic or international flights, car rentals, and buses to and from venues.
There's plenty of reasons why people get married. A wedding ceremony can go many different directions to highlight purpose and make the moment memorable.
It’s always the same in the movies. He gets down on one knee, usually in some public spot in front of a lake or fountain, and opens a ring box — revealing the most spectacular diamond she’s ever seen.