Back in the days ‘before social media’, research showed that the winter months were the most popular for getting engaged, particularly Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
However, boat rental website Click&Boat has looked at its booking data over the last three years and found that a significant number of summer bookings have been for engagements, driven by the need for the perfect setting for a wedding proposal, a trend in turn driven by social media sharing that is turning tradition on its head.
Globally, engagement boat bookings have increased year-on-year for the company and are now 100+ during the summer months. These proposal bookings have more than doubled between 2016 and 2018, with the UK and Europe really leading this trend.
In particular, those who’ve grown up with social media (the millennial generation) have shared with the site dubbed the ‘Airbnb of the seas’ that they were looking to hire a yacht as they wanted to have the most awe-inspiring setting for their engagement. To put it simply, they would rather propose somewhere that looks great in photos than on a cold, grey winter day.
Not only are digital natives changing the month of their engagements, they are creating new marriage proposal holiday hotspots too. Looking at booking patterns for engagements in the previous three years, Click&Boat predicts these will be the top five summer destinations for engagements for Brits heading abroad this year.
Engagements 2.0 – 2018 Top 5 Summer Proposal Destinations
- Greek Islands – particularly Santorini and Rhodes
- Croatia – Vis and Korcula make for pretty spectacular proposal spots
- Italy – Venice, Rome and Sardinia lead the trend here
- France – Paris, Nice and St Tropez
- Spain – Ibiza is the engagement love island of the Balearics
If that special person does say ‘I do’, then of course there is an added consideration – how to make the stag/hen party, wedding or honeymoon destination just as special?
