A new decade brings new wedding traditions and The Knot 2019 Real Weddings Study of over 25,000 couples across the United States shows that modern couples are focused on individuality.

The legalization of same-sex marriage has been positive on wedding traditions as a whole; since the beginning, LGBTQ+ couples have been queering traditionally gendered, heteronormative aspects of weddings. The Knot’s latest Real Weddings Study reveals that nearly 4 in 10 couples (37 percent) embrace wedding parties not broken up by gender (bridesmaids and groomsmen). More couples are wearing nontraditional wedding attire, including 3 percent of men wearing wedding dresses. Couples also care about racial and cultural inclusivity, and 4 in 10 couples incorporate religious or cultural elements into their weddings.

As David Minerva Clover wrote for Equally Wed last year, LGBTQ+ weddings make weddings better—for everyone. “The normalization of gay folks getting hitched has helped to move along the conversation about what weddings are, and what they need to be,” he wrote. “Queer people have impacted the definition of marriage, at least by wearing down the idea that a marriage, or a wedding, is defined by two completely separate roles that have very little in common. Challenging that notion and introducing the concept of a wedding is about two people regardless of their sex and gender has done something. It has created a space for everyone—even cishet people—who aren’t comfortable with that gender division to skip it.”

The visibility of LGBTQ+ weddings and nontraditional marriers has led to the rise of Instagram hashtags like #nontraditionalwedding and #alternativeweddingdress, and burgeoning trends like wearing a wedding cape. Double proposals are still a predominantly LGBTQ+ trend, for now, as Equally Wed editorial director and cofounder told O, The Oprah Magazine, but we hope to see more couples embracing this tradition as well. Weddings and engagements are about the people who are getting married, not antiquated gender roles or traditional rules. Let’s queer the next decade of wedding trends together.

Header photo by Ps Cobia Photography from this article on Equally Wed.