Useful Information

The Dos and Don’ts of Wedding Hashtag Etiquette

A survey conducted by TheKnot.com and Mashable in July 2014 found that more than 55 percent of couples used a personalised hashtag for their wedding. There’s little doubt that weddings and wedding planning are becoming increasingly digitised, and most Facebook and Instagram users can attest to this – how often have we come across engagement ring photos or a snap of newly-engaged couples within hours, if not minutes, of saying ‘yes’? Or pictures of the bride getting ready with her girls just hours before the wedding? The list goes on, and what all these wedding snaps have in common is that they come together under a unique, personalised hashtag, created by the couple, for the couple.

The greatest appeal of using a personalised hashtag is that it’s the best way to round up photos of your entire wedding experience, and a couple can basically relive their day by simply scrolling through their feed of guests’ photos. It also feeds the appetites of social media users who yearn for information (such as those who were denied a wedding invitation), or attention, namely the bride and groom.

The rules of wedding etiquette are frequently being re-written as instant-sharing via social media becomes part of wedding planning. In the case of the wedding hashtag, what follows after the couple settles on one is whether or not to ask their guests to use it, and alerting guests with a hashtag prompt at a wedding is a modern-day etiquette puzzle.

On one hand, advertising your wedding hashtag at any chance you get risks coming across as overbearing and attention-seeking. It may also rub guests the wrong way, especially those who are not as social media-savvy as you. If you’d like for it to take off among guests somewhat organically, start by posting something with the hashtag yourself and wait for it to catch on.

On the other hand, there are couples, wedding planners and organisers who are all for publicising the hashtag and ensuring guests find out about it, and use it. Couples have taken to including it at the entrance of the venue (you know like, welcome, please use #thishashtag when taking photos of our wedding), on the invitations, save-the-date cards, napkins and even on the ceremony programme.

If you’re a private couple and want an unplugged wedding, there’s no reason for you not to tell your guests politely to leave their phones in their bags or pockets. Communicate your wishes and concerns about posting on social media through a heartfelt statement on the wedding programme or through a tongue-in-cheek sign at the ceremony or venue entrance. Just try to avoid a cliché appeal and go for something clever.

Whether you’re all for it or against it, there are a few hashtag etiquette rules that you, as a guest, should keep in mind before you start tagging your photos:

• Never, ever post a picture of the bride on social media before the wedding – if her better half finds out how she looks before walking down the aisle from Instagram, you’re dead meat.
• Put your phone down during the ceremony – if there’s one moment the couple would want to keep a little sacred, it’s this one.
• Do not block the view of those behind you in an attempt to get a photo of the couple. You’re not the wedding photographer and everyone wants to be able to see what’s going on.
• The official wedding photographer’s photos are far more important than yours, so give the guy or girl some room and let them get on with their job.
• Have a little respect for the couple on their wedding day – nobody likes appearing terrible in photos, so if they’ve had a little too much to drink or are a little worse for wear, don’t just upload everything onto a social media channel without filtering the good from the bad.