Almost everyone has pictures of themselves with their grandmothers “helping” to cook, “work” in flower gardens, or pictures with their grandfathers “helping” to fix the car. The first “me” generation has passed on lessons learned to the present “me” generation. How do the lessons appear in your wedding invites with pictures?

Millennials are the largest generation in the United States. Baby boomers come in second. The media keeps drumming into our heads that millennials are self-oriented, obsessed with the tech they create, demand the best of everything and get it, and so forth. What are the differences between the two?

Connecting With Others

Since our grandparents only had rotary telephones with which to pass messages, they mainly did their socializing at church or at the market. Friendships lasted for life, but personal information was kept in the family. Scandals were rare.

Today’s “me” generation, on the other hand, connect online instead of face to face. Today’s youth get online and plan “meet-ups,” email lunch dates, and turn anything into a video their friends can view. They go to church and to weddings, posting the wedding invites with pictures on social media.

The Workplace

Baby boomers got a job, rose through the ranks to become supervisors, retired with a gold watch and a pension, and took up fishing in their sunset years. They owned their homes and cars, took yearly vacations, and saved to send their kids to college.

Instead of getting a job, millennials create the products that give other people jobs. Think Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Their work ethic is the same as their grandparents’, but the rest of the story is a little different. Millennials want their food prepared by chefs, their cars with the latest technology in them, and their vacations to exotic venues overseas.

Each generation wants the best their times have to offer. The only difference is that this is the 21st century, and the “best” is still to be desired by both generations.

Wedding Destinations

For the boomer generation, wedding destinations encompassed at a church or a backyard to which guests commuted. The church’s fellowship hall or the local VFW generally hosted the wedding reception. Flowers decorated both, music played, food was served, the bridal couple left for their honeymoon, and a good time was had by all.

Millennials have taken this version of socializing and revised the wedding destination into a vacation for everyone involved. Instead of wedding invites with pictures, millennials email the date and destination to their guest list. They are registered online at Macy’s. In some cases, travel package deals are included.

Final Thoughts

Millennial-bashing has unfortunately become a sport recently. What the bashers aren’t taking into account is human nature. Every individual in every generation since time began is a “me” person. Humanity doesn’t become aware of those around it until they’ve exhausted the ego phase of their existence. Some never do.

Every generation takes into its adulthood lessons learned at the knees of revered grandparents and parents. The basis of the lessons remain the same, year after year. The sepia-toned pictures from a bygone century embody the lessons learned down through the ages. Make a Mixbook picture book for your own successive generations from which to learn.