We’re all well aware that the coronavirus has ruined many wedding and engagement plans in the past year. But as we are in peak proposal season – November through February according to The Knot magazine – national entities are seeing that love really isn’t cancelled and, actually, proposals and wedding planning are happening at higher rates than normal. All of these and additional findings were released in The Knot’s 2020 Jewelry and Engagement Study.
With a subject pool of 5,000 engaged couple’s, The Knot found a few key elements to pandemic proposals. The three main findings included average proposal planning time shortened in 2020, along with COVID accelerating the reliance on digital shopping for engagement rings and newly engaged couples are eager to get to the actual “I Dos.”
Due to COVID-19, The Knot found that proposers went from spending up to 6 months on planning the perfect ask, to spending an average of just four weeks before popping the question. The main reason behind this speedy planning process was due to the ever-changing landscape that the coronavirus pandemic brings with it, sometimes changing phases and rules each week. Many had to scrap original plans due to COVID restrictions, including date, location and even time of the proposal. More than half of those surveyed said, too, that the coronavirus changed family and friend involvement in proposals, however, many said the pandemic didn’t affect the proposal location all too much.
Additionally, there was a big increase in online purchases. The reliance on technology is nothing new to life today, with many couples even meeting online and through dating apps, so the move to ordering a ring through the computer wasn’t a huge surprise to us while reading the findings report. In those surveyed, 33 percent reported they bought the engagement ring online, with 11 percent saying they even found their jeweler through social media. A few additional findings included round cut diamonds being the most popular at 43 percent of those surveyed reporting choosing the style, as well as white gold being the most popular ring setting at 48 percent.
Lastly, the report found that newly engaged couples are eager to say, “I Do,” quickly after the question is popped. With the pandemic, couples have spent more time together connecting and growing as a unit, many living together pre-engagement and pre-pandemic. With all of this extra time spent together, couples went into engagements already on the same page about weddings and life after marriage, 72 percent of those surveyed saying they took at least one wedding planning step before the actual proposal happened. The report also found that couples engaged between April and November of 2020 have already set their wedding dates and 7 in 10 couples opting for a 2021 date.
Did you say, “Yes!” during 2020? Let us know how your engagement compares to those surveyed for The Knot’s report.
Click here to get additional findings and to read the full Jewelry and Engagement Study.
