How The Wedding Industry Can Help Put An End To The International Child Marriage Crisis
Weddings and charitable donations go hand-in-hand - a donation to a charity that is close to your heart rather is often requested by couples in lieu of traditional wedding favours or gifts.
But there are also important charities out there that can benefit greatly from the support of the wedding industry and its business owners.
The Un-Wedding has been a proud supporter of VOW For Girls since 2022, donating a portion of the profits from our ticket sales from The Un-Wedding Show to help put an end to child marriage and we want to tell you more about this incredible charity so that you can support them too.
Who are VOW for Girls?
VOW for Girls is a growing global movement that works together with the wedding industry to raise funds and awareness. All funds go directly towards community-based efforts that help to end child marriage like providing education, job training and vital life skills. There are over 177 community-based organizations in six countries currently receiving grants, and 85% of those grantees are women-led organisations. You can read so much more about their work on their Instagram @vowforgirls
A wedding and the wedding industry is packed full of joy, creativity and couples expressing the most important thing to each other – LOVE. It’s crazy to think – but for so many of us, love is a privilege. According to UNICEF, 720 million women alive today were married as children, as compared to 156 million men - these unions are not rooted in love or choice. Child marriage includes any marriage or informal union where one person is under the age of 18. Over 12 million girls become child brides each year, that's 1 every 3 seconds!
How are girls impacted by child marriage?
Child marriage affects girls’ overall well-being, including their education, health, ability to earn money, personal safety, and legal rights. Child marriage happens because of rampant gender inequality — girls’ lives are not valued the same as boys’ lives. Within communities, the specific reasons child marriages happen vary but often include local social norms that continue the practice generation after generation and families struggling with poverty.
Are you a fellow wedding supplier? You can become a VOW pro!
As a business, we wanted to show our commitment to social responsibility and wanted to find a charity aligned with our ideals. Which is why we are so proud to be a VOW Pro. As you help your couples celebrate choosing each other, you can help millions of girls around the world choose love on their own terms. The VOW Pro network is specifically designed for wedding professionals and wedding-aligned businesses and is free to join. Wedding pros from 33 countries have joined VOW Pro to be part of the solution to end child marriage in our lifetime.
Take the #LoveIsOurBusiness pledge here and join the global network to support and celebrate girls choosing love on their own terms.
The Un-Wedding Shows!
Come and visit us and meet the uk’s coolest independent wedding suppliers! Tickets for our 2024 shows are now available. Click HERE to find out dates, locations, and suppliers – and of course a percentage of the profits from our ticket sales will be donated to VOW for Girls.
The fabulous Mariel Osborn made The Un-Wedding Show Manchester sparkle!