In theory, wedding hashtags are awesome but when total strangers start congratulating you on your nuptial photos, shit can get weird. Unless, of course, you are Tinker Bell or, say, Kim and Kanye and your whole life's existence is based on strangers knowing your most intimate moments and clapping.
Over at the Daily Dot, writer EJ Dickson decries the spread of wedding hashtags as the latest Terrible Matrimonial Trend. There is a new one every week, but while I see the benefit of the hashtag wedding — you can reminisce in real time over your Instagram feed and pore over whether you really looked that sweaty (Yes, yes you did.) — here is a cautionary tale.
I was married on a remote island earlier this summer specifically because a) I’m fancy and b) I barely wanted people to come. I am a middle class journalist (read: not poor, but certainly not rich) and the last weirdo to have a private Instagram account though my Twitter is public and I share my photos there sometimes — comes with the job as a journalist. My Facebook has all kinds of privacy notifications hanging off of it because I post family photos and don't see why people I chat with about work stuff need to see images of me snuggling with my toothless nephew. He's adorable, but he doesn't know them and they don't need to know him.
I like to be part of the public conversation, but I don’t see why my wedding needs to be, you know? That said, when I hatched my wedding hashtag, I neglected to realize that this sign # meant that anyone could see photos of me posing with my great Aunt —who is awesome by the way, she’s over 90 years old with two Ph.D's and a gaggle of kids, silencing that ‘can women Have It All’ debate forever — but like, you don’t get to meet her. I don’t know you, neither does she and why do you care what we look like?
Still, a new survey on The Knot in conjunction with Mashable reveals that 55 percent of couples are hashtag'ing it up. So if you’re prepping a new lovey-dovey hashtag for your wedding day guests to be printed on the schedule, just remember that any Tom, Dick or Harry will be able to see you and your closest family members on one of the biggest days of your life. I mean, if you’re KimYe or a KimYe hopeful, fine. But if not, maybe reconsider the wedding hashtag idea and give the people you really want to see your day the password to your wedding photographer’s website. Just a thought.
ps. Note to self: Do not hashtag the birth of my future children.
Image via Instagram (because Kim's ain't private).