How to Market to An Engaged Gen Z Without Chasing Trends
Wondering how to market and promote your wedding or event business to Gen Z couples who don’t care about trends? In this post, you’ll learn how to connect with Gen Z engaged couples by showcasing unique wedding styles and personalized aesthetics, sharing helpful information they’re actually searching for, and creating a marketing experience that matches how today’s couples plan their wedding from inspiration to vendor research.
If you’re struggling to connect with Gen Z engaged couples planning a wedding who seem to resist every trend, as a wedding or event business pro, you’re not imagining it. The next generation of engaged couples is different.
Photo Credit: Liz Banfield Weddings for Engage! Summits
If you’re a wedding planner, florist, invitation designer, DJ, videographer, cake baker, photographer or any creative wedding industry vendor trying to attract Gen Z clients, here’s what you need to know: they’re not looking for trendy. They’re looking for ideas, inspiration and the vendors to make that happen that’s true to them and their story.
Gen Z includes people born roughly between 1997 and 2012, which means many of today’s engaged couples fall into this group.
As a wedding vendor myself dealing with engaged couples day in and day out with over 20 years experience first at The Garter Girl, Let’s Get Rehearsed, and now at Garter Girl Creative, I’m breaking down what’s really happening with Gen Z and their relationship to personal taste, how it’s changing the way they plan weddings, and what wedding pros can do to show up in their search for inspiration, confidence and connection.
If you want to future-proof your wedding business marketing and bring in better leads, it’s time to rethink how you present yourself online. I’m going to help you understand what Gen Z actually wants, and how to give it to them in a way that feels authentic to you and irresistible to them.
Gen Z Doesn’t Want What’s Trending, They Want What’s Theirs
Here’s the truth: Gen Z is tired of being told what to like. They’ve grown up in an algorithm-driven world where every app is pushing trends, viral songs and must-have items. But now? They’re craving individuality. They’re reclaiming their own personal taste, and that includes how they plan their weddings.
Pinterest recently reported that Gen Z users are curating hyper-specific aesthetics based on mood and identity, not popularity. They don’t want what everyone else is doing. They want a wedding that feels like them. Whether it’s dark academia-inspired vows or a cool blue coastal cocktail hour, they’re mixing, matching and experimenting.
Especially for the high-end luxury weddings, they would be very unhappy to have their guests walk into their wedding and it looked and felt like what everyone already saw splashed all over social media. They are very aware that if something is in their algorithm, it’s in everyone’s algorithm. And when it comes to luxury weddings, what everyone else is doing is not good enough.
For wedding professionals, this means that trend-based marketing has limited power. If your blog posts, social media or Pinterest pins only talk about “what’s hot this season,” you’re missing the bigger picture. Gen Z doesn’t want a trend, they want a vibe.
Your Visuals Matter More Than Ever
Gen Z is a visual generation. They aren’t reading long captions or digging through dense blog post articles - at least not yet (see below for more on this). They’re swiping, pinning and saving based on what catches their eye and sparks a feeling.
Pinterest found that 69% of Gen Z say visual results are more helpful than text when deciding what to buy, and that absolutely applies to choosing a wedding vendor.
If you’re in the wedding industry maybe as a planner, designer, cake baker, entertainer, bridal shop owner and more, this is your sign to double down on visuals in your marketing. Not just pretty photos, but intentional, mood-driven imagery. Your Pinterest boards, blog images, social media posts, and website portfolio should each tell a story and speak to different aesthetics. That’s what gets saved. That’s what brings in new leads.
You don’t need to be a photographer to make visuals work for your wedding business. No matter your role or the type of wedding vendor you are from planner, florist, coordinator, designer, stationer, rental company or beyond, strong images that reflect a specific mood or aesthetic help tell the story of what you do.
Pro Tip: Think beyond fleeting trends. Organize your portfolio, blog posts or Pinterest boards around wedding themes and aesthetics like romantic garden, modern minimalism or bold and moody.
That kind of visual storytelling helps Gen Z couples picture themselves in your work, and that’s what inspires them to reach out.
Give Couples a Safe Place to Explore
Gen Z is not only visual, they’re vulnerable. Figuring out who you are and how you want to express yourself, especially through a wedding when you’re also trying to define your story as couple, is deeply personal. That kind of exploration doesn’t happen in loud, performative spaces like TikTok or Instagram Reels. It happens in quiet corners of the Internet, like Pinterest or your blog.
That’s why it’s so important that your marketing doesn’t only chase visibility and engagement numbers on social media. It should create a sense of safety. Your blog and Pinterest presence should be a place where couples feel free to dig deep and explore different options, try on new ideas and imagine themselves without being judged.
They also need a space to do their research on everything from budgeting to venue selection. As much as planning a wedding is about the visual and the mood board, it is about the practical. They still have to pay for this highly curated, deeply personal vibe they hope to curate on their wedding day and your content needs to give them the information for them to go deep and do the research they need to do to get themselves confident and educated.
This is one reason Pinterest remains such a powerful platform for wedding lead generation. It’s slower. It’s personal. It’s not about what’s trending, it’s about what feels right or at least interesting enough to click to see more. As a wedding pro, when your brand shows up in that context, it becomes part of their discovery process, not just another ad or viral video in their face.
Be a Guide, Not an Influencer
Gen Z doesn’t hate AI or technology, they’re using it all the time. But they’re tired of being told who to be. They’re using tools like AI search, Pinterest and chatbots to explore their options, do their research, compare styles and slowly decide what fits.
This means your wedding business marketing should aim to help them decide, not tell them what to do. (If you’re a seasoned wedding pro, you’ve likely mastered the art of “guiding” and telling your clients what to do without telling them what to do!)
Pro Tip: When you’re creating content, it’s all about making them feel in charge, but in a nonjudgemental supportive kind of way. Blog posts with helpful comparisons. Pinterest pins that show variations of a theme. Social media posts that inspire them about what could be possible for their wedding. Tips that help them choose what aligns with their values. That’s what earns trust, and eventually, a booking.
Let your content be about empowerment, not persuasion. Be the guide. Educate them. Let them do their research with their content. Offer inspiration. Support their decision-making. That’s the kind of marketing that works now.
Don’t Just Inspire, Inform. Give Couples the Content They’re Looking For
It’s true that engaged Gen Z couples are visual-first. They love photos and videos. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t doing their homework when it comes to their wedding. In fact, today’s engaged couples want to research everything. They’re used to having all the information at their fingertips when shopping for anything else, and wedding planning is no different.
The problem? For most wedding businesses, the information they’re looking for isn’t online.
Especially in the high-end and luxury space, couples are often misled and confused by generic information, vague service descriptions, overly aspirational photos, and no idea what to expect in the real world.
They’re wondering things like: how much does a wedding really cost? What do I need to know before picking a wedding date? What should I ask my vendors? And unless they get on a discovery call, those answers stay locked in your head.
But it doesn’t work like that anymore. If your only plan is to educate couples once they’ve reached out, you’re already behind. Your content, whether it’s your blog, your social media, your Pinterest pins, or even your service pages, needs to give couples enough information to start feeling confident. They need to see that you’re the expert and that you get what they’re going through.
No, you don’t have to write a novel or give away all your pricing. But you do need to give them something. A blog post that answers common questions. A visual guide to venue types. A quick explanation of how your process works. Review your existing content and ask yourself, “Is there enough here to help someone start? Would this make someone feel comfortable getting in touch?”
When you meet couples where they are in the research phase with helpful, thoughtful content you build trust before they ever send that first inquiry. And that’s how you stand out.
Focus on Alignment, Not Virality
The most successful wedding pros in the Gen Z era won’t be the most viral. They’ll be the most aligned. When a couple sees themselves in your brand, your aesthetic, your language, your values, they’re more likely to inquire, book and refer to you.
This is why it’s so important to be consistent in your style and clear in your messaging. Don’t dilute your brand trying to appeal to everyone. Focus on attracting the right couples who see your work and say, “Yes, that’s me.”
When your wedding business aligns with their identity, the relationship lasts longer. They stay loyal. They remember you. They rave about you. And that kind of word-of-mouth marketing is worth more than any trend.
What to Do Now: Marketing Tips for Reaching Gen Z Wedding Clients
If you’re feeling like you’ve been chasing trends or struggling to get engagement with younger couples, here’s what to stop and start doing:
Stop assuming everyone wants the same look, or a look that’s been done before
Stop leading with “trendy” or “viral” as the value
Stop trying to do what competitors are doing just because it seems to be working for them
Start creating content that guides, empowers and supports your ideal clients
Start thinking of your marketing as a space to connect with your brand, not just a place to promote
Start showing up in discovery-based platforms like Pinterest and search-optimized blog and AI content
You don’t have to change your entire business to appeal to Gen Z. You just need to shift how you show up.
Your Wedding Business Marketing Needs to Meet Gen Z Where They Are
Gen Z isn’t anti-wedding or anti-vendor. They’re just redefining what it means to plan a wedding in a way that reflects who they are. They’re building unique identities, searching visually, craving doing research, and avoiding anything that feels forced or generic.
For wedding professionals, that means your marketing strategy needs to change too. Ditch the trend talk. Double down on visuals. Create safe spaces for research and exploration. And above all, focus on helping couples express themselves by honoring their love story, not just doing it all for the ‘gram.
That’s how you get found. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you book the next generation of weddings.
Want to Make Pinterest Part of Your Strategy?
If you’re ready to attract more Gen Z couples and use Pinterest the way they do, to explore identity, discover ideas and build confidence, check out The Pin Pipeline. You’ll learn exactly how to use Pinterest for wedding business marketing that brings in better leads and builds long-term trust.