Pinterest and The Knot are changing the way they deal with plantation wedding content after receiving criticism from a civil rights group

• Pinterest and The Knot Worldwide have bowed to pressure from a civil rights group, and are changing the way they promote plantation wedding venues.

• Many former slave-holding plantations have become wedding venues in recent years.

• The Knot will be instituting new rules when it comes to how wedding venues describe themselves on its website. No plantation venue will be allowed to describe itself as "elegant" or "charming."

• Pinterest users will still be able to search for plantation wedding inspiration photos on its website, but will get a warning that the content may violate the website's policies.

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Pinterest and The Knot Worldwide, two major wedding planning websites, are making changes to stop romanticizing plantations, many of which have taken on a new life as wedding venues.

Spokespeople for both websites told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that they are changing their policies, after receiving criticism from Color of Change, a civil rights group which has been advocating that wedding planning companies to stop promoting these venues altogether.

"If we were talking about concentration camps, it would be weird and disrespectful and egregious for folks to be seeking to have their weddings at these locations," the group's vice president, Arisha Hatch, told BuzzFeed News. "We're trying to elevate public awareness around the ways in which corporations can enable such disrespectful behavior."

Hatch said they decided to focus their efforts on sites like Pinterest and The Knot, the middlemen of the wedding industry, because they "have less of a stake in continuing to promote these" venues.

"While it won't end the practice entirely, [this campaign] will hopefully begin to shift how the broader public thinks about this sort of celebration," Hatch said.

The Knot is working with the group to change the language vendors can use to describe themselves on their websites, ensuring that plantations can't be labeled as "elegant" or "charming." The new rules will apply to all venues who list themselves on The Knot's websites.

And Pinterest — a photo inspiration website — is working to make sure that Google searches for plantation weddings don't turn up results from Pinterest. Users will still be able to look up plantation weddings on Pinterest, but they will get a warning explaining that the content may violate the website's policies.

Color of Change also called for other wedding websites like Zola, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Brides to stop promoting these venues, but Hatch said they didn't hear back from any of those companies.

Emily Forrest, a communications manager for Zola, told BuzzFeed News that they received a letter from the group but determined "it did not violate our non-discrimination policy."

"While we may not always agree with couples on all of their wedding details, we also respect their right to choose where and how they want to get married," Forrest said.

The report comes a year after a bride's story about a black bridesmaid's refusal to attend her plantation wedding sparked controversy on Reddit, with nearly all of the commenters backing the bridesmaid.

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