A few years ago, it felt like ‘wedding hashtags’ were one of the hottest wedding trends. While it’s become more and more common to see a specific hashtag printed at the bottom of a wedding invite or called out in prominent ways at the reception, there are still many couples who don’t plan far enough in advance to create a wedding hashtag. Wedding planning tasks like these can easily get deprioritized and then eventually forgotten. But it actually doesn’t take a lot of work, and can be a creative activity to do with your partner.
If you’re on the fence and need some encouragement, we’ve compiled our top reasons for why you need a wedding hashtag. We hope these tips help you answer: “Should we have a wedding hashtag?”
According to the Newlywed Report from WeddingWire, 54% of couples created their own wedding hashtag. Because social media usage and levels of desired privacy varies one couple to the next, we understand why some couples don’t select a hashtag. But there’s quite a bit of good that can come from having one.
Why You Should Have a Wedding Hashtag
Here are a few reasons why you might say YES to this question: “Should we have a wedding hashtag?”
Have a hashtag for you: Having a hashtag specifically selected for your wedding will give you an easy way to quickly see photos and videos posted by your wedding guests. Think about this scenario---when you wake up on your honeymoon with your new spouse and relive all of the wedding memories, you can just pull up the hashtag for a quick search! Down the road, you can easily reference the hashtag again---instead of searching through your text message archive to find ones sent to you by loved ones.
Create a hashtag for your guests in attendance: Social media, in general, has a way of ‘connecting’ people to one another and to a larger story. The hashtag can not only help to amplify your theme or a unique aspect about your relationship, but it will help your guests to feel like they are a part of something special. This can be a very subtle way to begin to elevate your wedding from an event, to a shared experience.
Use a hashtag for your guests not in attendance: A hashtag allows you to automatically compile all your non-professional wedding photos (with very little effort). For those who weren’t able to attend, this could allow people to still feel like they were there. This is especially helpful as wedding sizes might continue to decrease in different phases of the global pandemic. Even though you may think that a photo posted is unflattering, or your aunt who used her iPad posted a video that is grainy, the overall perks of having your wedding content in one place will likely outweigh these concerns.
How to Select Your Wedding Hashtag
If you aren’t sure where to start, here are our tips for selecting a hashtag for your wedding. Keep in mind that a hashtag for your big day can come out of a few different themes. Some of the most common areas that can help get the creative juices flowing are finding ways to use a hashtag leveraging one of these three things (or a combination of them!)
1. Amplify part of your relationship or a certain aspect of your love story.
It’s quite common for couples to select a hashtag that leverages one or both names (first/last) or a specific date, like the year that you met or the day of your wedding. Whether or not these are the only things you use in a hashtag, they are easy add-ons to make sure that it’s unique to your wedding. There might even be an opportunity to use the names as a play on words...do your names sound like another word?
You can also use it to help to echo who you are, do you have a shared hobby? Is there a sport that you’re equally big fans of? Was there a unique place that you met? Or maybe there’s something distinctive about the way that you look or your culture (very tall-very short, bi-racial, or a different birthplace?) Perhaps you have unique careers that could tap into a play on words, like using the word ‘chemistry’ because it’s related to the fact that you’re both scientists.
2. Showcase your love for your state.
We are big fans of weddings that scream ‘state pride’ If you want to tie your hashtag to a Texan, Floridian, Californian (or fill-in-the-blank-state) theme, play around with words that remind you of the place.
One of our biggest tips for selecting a hashtag is to make it personal. Start with this question: “What is your favorite thing about (insert state name)” and “What reminds you of home?” This will start moving you down the right path of the significance that the state may play in your future lives together.
If you want to simplify it even more, a hashtag could simply be the combination of a few words. Here’s an example for Texas. Start with your state name, then a specific city like Houston, a city landmark like the Reunion Tower, or a symbol like the well-known flower bluebonnets. You could tie in the colors of the Texan flag, a local hobby (like the San Antonio or Fort Worth rodeo), or your favorite team. You could also use specific words that remind you of home such as cowgirl, cowboy, or country (if that’s up your alley!)
3. Highlight the festive spirit that comes with a wedding.
While it might seem obvious, don’t be afraid to get creative with words that are related to specific wedding activities or descriptions. This could be things like ‘get hitched’ ‘wed’ ‘vows’ ‘aisle’ ‘'love' 'chapel’ ‘cheers’ ‘happily ever after’ ‘I do’ etc. Or tie in your wedding theme, wedding colors, or wedding season, to help make it more unique. (If you do end up using multiple words, make sure that each word is capitalized so that it's clear!)
How to Use Your Hashtag, from “Yes” to “I do”
If you're still trying to answer the question "Should we have a wedding hashtag?", do any of the areas highlighted above feel right? Or would you want to combine something from a few of them? Start writing down the buzz words or phrases that came to mind with each of these categories in different columns on a piece of paper. Then you might see how to best combine them.
Have some fun with it and don’t be afraid to get creative. Once you’ve decided on a few options, type them into platforms like Instagram or Facebook to see what comes up. If there are multiple weddings that come up in the search (and could get confusing if yours is added to the mix) then try adding another word to it, like the wedding date.
If you’re going to have one, decide on it soon and then start posting it early. It’s best to begin to share this at wedding-related activities to get your guests in the habit of seeing or sharing it. Once you have both agree on the hashtag, here’s what you can do with it:
Add it to your personal social media posts related to your wedding planning process while you’re engaged.
Prominently display the hashtag on materials leading up to your wedding, like save-the-dates, invitations, or your wedding website.
Use it at wedding-related events, like the bridal shower or rehearsal dinner (if these are photos which you’d like to stay in your ‘social media wedding feed.’)
Be the FIRST to post it after the wedding ceremony! If social media plays a role in your relationship, we’ve found that some couples don’t like when their guests end up posting the very first photo or video of the big day. Have your photographer or a member of your bridal party snap a photo of you as newlyweds immediately following the ceremony. They can use your phone and then post it to your social media channels on your behalf so that you don’t get distracted from taking official photos. That way people who are not in attendance can get one of the first wedding updates from YOU---and not your cousin or childhood friend, theirs can be posted next!
Post it around your ceremony and reception space. It could be printed on your program, written on decorative mirrors, as a wedding topper, or on the bottom of custom wedding signs. This visibility will help make sure that your guests don’t make typos or mix up the words (because that defeats the purpose!) Here are some more tips from the Knot with Genius Ways to Display Your Wedding Hashtag At Your Venue.
Once you get your official photos and videos from your photographer and videographer, you can create your own album and use the hashtag again. This will help to add your high-quality wedding day memories to the batch that your guests helped to start.
We hope this helped give you more clarity to your answer to “Should we have a wedding hashtag?” As you can see, we’re pro-hashtags! Speaking of hashtags….are you following us on our social media channels? Follow Joy Photo and Video on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok.
[Photoshoot in the spotlight: Cilicia and Kevan in Dallas, Texas captured by Jillian.]
Choose Joy,
The Joy Team