What is an Un-Wedding?
Un-Wedding definition
Written by Melissa Woods
Wow! I can’t believe it’s taken me 7 years to write this blog. It should have been my first post but anyway, better late than never! And anyway, it serves as a nice start to the New year, a way to reintroduce myself and the purpose of The Un-Wedding to all of you lovely new engaged AF-ers!
Congratulations btw… The fun starts now!
I knew full well that calling my business a disruptive name like ‘The Un-Wedding’ would raise a few eyebrows and lend itself to many a divorce gag which is why I came up with this handy little definition back in the day, y’know… for the people at the back.
The definition of an Un-Wedding.
‘A marriage ceremony and awesome celebration that cares less about following outdated traditions and more about reflecting who the couple really are.’
- Melissa Woods, Founder of The Un-Wedding
Yes, that was me, I wrote that. It’s not just some random meme that I plucked from the internet and decided to start a business/movement from. I say that because I see it shared quite often as though it is some random meme that many people relate to which is kind of flattering but I guess but, they are my words, the words I carefully selected to describe the purpose of my business when ‘The Un-Wedding’ launched in 2015.
Melissa Woods, Founder of The Un-Wedding
How The Un-Wedding started.
A lot has changed in the last 7 years since The Un-Wedding was born. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I started my business off the back of being both a frustrated bride-to-be in 2011 who found it hard to find non-traditional wedding inspiration and suppliers and then a frustrated wedding supplier who found it hard to find any suitable platforms to market my modern wedding business. Everything was so geared towards the traditional white wedding or weddings that were super-alternative, there was no in-between, no space for me… or other people like me. So, I decided to create the space.
The Un-Wedding’s first mission was to inspire, encourage and empower couples to break the mold of traditional weddings by showcasing real un-weddings and styled shoots on our blog. A year later I decided to introduce an online wedding supplier directory so that couples would find it easier to source the right suppliers to make their non-traditional wedding a reality. The Book Of Love directory and its incredible list of the UK’s most unique, independent wedding suppliers soon became the heartbeat of The Un-Wedding platform. In 2019 we decided to bring it all to life by launching, The Un-Weding Show, a live showcase of our careful curation of suppliers, and a chance for couples to get up close and personal with them.
Can you have an Un-Wedding and still follow traditions?
Once upon a time, I would have encouraged couples to break traditions in order to have a true Un-Wedding but as the years go by the meaning of an ‘Un-Wedding’ has evolved into something that means so many different things to so many people, and that’s the glory of it. You can still have an Un-Wedding AND follow traditions if that’s what YOU want! The idea of an Un-Wedding is to stop doing things just because ‘it’s tradition’ if that tradition means nothing to you personally.
What can you do to have an Un-Wedding?
It’s pretty simple.
Stop doing things that make you feel uncomfortable or that aren’t aligned with who you really are. If you wouldn’t wear a dress and stilettos IRL and feel way more at home in a sparkly jumpsuit and platforms, do that instead.
Look for inspiration everywhere and personalise the hell out of everything! That’s what’s going to make your wedding, YOUR wedding, as opposed to just another wedding.
Use the Book Of Love directory to find the best selection of the UK’s coolest independent wedding suppliers and be sure to pick up your tickets for The Un-Wedding Show’s latest events!
An alternative bride and groom standing in front of an art peace in Sheffield by Bubba 2000. Photo by Nicki Shea.