London - The gold-embossed wedding invitation appears to be facing the last post.
One in five young couples now invite friends and family to join their celebrations via Facebook and other social media sites, a survey has found.
A further 12 percent of invites are issued by text message – and one in 20 is via email.
A survey of 2 000 couples either recently married or hoping to be wed showed that a number of wedding traditions are falling by the wayside.
Just 18 percent of weddings now involve a traditional church service and only a third of brides marry in a white dress. Instead, two out of five couples choose to hold their entire day in a hotel and the bride is just as likely to wear red or black as white.
People also appear to have lost their taste for fruit wedding cake, according to the research by the Laterooms hotel booking website. Only 18 percent now choose one, with chocolate and sponge more popular.
Even the gift list has ended up in the waste basket, with nearly half of couples asking for cash instead.
LateRooms.com spokesperson Andrea Tarpey said: “With the cost of the average wedding how exceeding £20 000, it’s key for couples to be able to personalise their day into exactly what they want, to make sure it’s truly the best day of their lives.”
Daily Mail