• by Tony Silber , January 28, 2022

After two years of wearying social change and a global pandemic, mental health and wellness are more important than ever.

With that in mind, the wedding-planning media brand The Knot last week announced the launch of The Knot Wellness, which seeks to provide support and guidance around the most important wellness topics facing millennials and Gen Z as they transition to the next stages in their lives.

The yearlong wellness initiative serves as a destination for all — single, engaged and married — and helps navigate conversations and lifestyles across relationship, financial and mental-health topics. It’s partly based on research involving more than 600 females in a relationship, or engaged or married, that found the top two issues respondents care most about are mental health and body image/self-esteem. 

In addition, relationship health (59%), mental health (52%) and financial well-being (44%) were cited by married respondents as the most important topics for the wedding industry to address.

“For 25 years, we’ve had the honor of being a leading wedding-planning authority for millions of engaged couples,” said Kiara Kempski, The Knot vice president of consumer marketing. “While this period in a couple’s life is joyous, it can also be a time of stress. And couples are still navigating the pandemic.”

The initiative comes in the middle of a wedding boom, Kempski said, with this year anticipated to have the most weddings in recent history — an estimated 2.6 million in the U.S. alone. “It was necessary for The Knot to prioritize and normalize conversations around mental health, financial literacy and relationship care before, during and after the wedding.”

The wellness initiative launched last week as The Knot’s quarterly print magazine became available on newsstands. It features the Olympic gold medalist and American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin on the cover. She discusses her upcoming wedding to the former NFL player Andre Levrone, Jr., as well as how her faith and profession helps to keep her mentally balanced.

The issue also includes articles focused on wellness, such as Beauty as Self Care, Planning Pitfalls That Drain You and A Wellness Registry, plus a powerful essay on turning tragedy to triumph.

“With our spring issue serving as the launchpad of The Knot Wellness initiative, it was vital we featured a notable person as our cover star who routinely practices and prioritizes health and wellness across the board,” said Lauren Kay, The Knot executive editor. “Sydney McLaughlin is a powerful example of a to-be-wed who places the importance of her own mental and relationship health at the top of her list, while balancing the demands of her training and career. We’re honored to share Sydney’s story, advice and best practices, plus wellness content throughout the issue focused on supporting couples through every step of their journey.”