What's the World Water Wedding?
For people around the world to commit to water for life, because water is life!
“Rivers are the arteries of our planet; they are lifelines in the truest sense.” Mark Angelo
Extinction Rebellion’s Dirty Water crew were inspired to create the World Water Wedding campaign by Meg Avon, a writer and campaigner from Bristol. Meg’s ‘wedding’ with the River Avon has sparked other campaigns and actions focused on celebrating and actively committing to water.
World Water Wedding asks you to nurture your relationship with your chosen water source for a day of wedding-style commitment ceremonies on Sun 22 Mar 2026 to coincide with World Water Day. For more detailed information including resources in a number of languages, select the text 2026: World Water Day | Water and Gender.
Marriage vows often include a commitment to love ‘for better or worse, in sickness and in health’. The World Water Wedding will both celebrate this miraculous basis of life and grieve the sickness facing many of our bodies of water.
Find Your Flow
The World Water Wedding can apply to any body of water, from the smallest puddle to the biggest ocean. There are many ways that you can be involved; from organising a joyous hand-fasting, commitment ceremony with friends, family and your local community to a quiet personal commitment that you document and share with others later; or, to mark the sad deterioration of your water source, you may want to hold a funeral-style ceremony. Whatever you choose to do, you can use your events to spark local action and build community to protect your water source.
The Earth is mostly made up of water; rain, glaciers, the polar icecaps, springs, mist and much more are all part of our global water cycle. Despite this, only 2.5% of it is freshwater, and less than 1% is easily accessible and safe for humans to use.
Ambition
The intention is for the campaign to build each year on Sun 22nd March - Water Water Day, to become a global day of ceremonies and actions. Encourage everyone around the world to commit to water for life. Linking international water dates to water-related activities helps bring media attention. For example, you could announce your intentions during World Water Week and change your social media status to ‘In a relationship’, get ‘engaged’ on World Rivers Day and then hold your ceremony on Water Water Day. This slow build helps increase awareness and amplify your big day!
Fundraising
XR UK and the Dirty Water Campaign need regular donations to keep our activism going, to provide creativity, resources, physical spaces, websites etc.
To help support this, find information, training, links / QR code and more HERE
Inspiration from Meg
In 2023 Meg Avon, inspired by the Conham Bathing Campaign in Bristol UK, organised a wedding ceremony to symbolise her commitment to the River Avon. The ceremony was a unique way to draw attention to the problem of sewage pollution in the River Avon and to advocate for cleaner water.
By ‘marrying’ the river, Meg aimed to create a sense of guardianship and inspire others to take action. The wedding was filmed as part of the documentary ‘Rave On for the Avon’ - watch the trailer above.
Meg Avon subsequently appeared on ‘This Morning’ to share her story.
Please upload all the events you plan for the World Water Wedding to the XR Map and Calendar. You can do this by filling in the Request XRUK Support form. You can also use the form to request any additional support you might need for your event.