Hashtags have been taking over social media since the invention of Twitter in 2006. They were originally invented as an easy, alternative way to find and talk about certain topics. Since then, they have evolved into a whole other monster. Now, thousands of hashtags flood our social media sites everyday. They're fun, we love them, but sometimes they can be downright ridiculous. Over the years, we have all had to endure countless Man Crush Mondays (#MCM), Women Crush Wednesdays (#WCW), Throwback Thursdays (#TBT) and Selfie Sundays (#SS). Now, there is a whole new hashtag trend flooding our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
By now, we are all aware of the "give your wedding a hashtag" craze that has been blowing up all over the major social media platforms. At first, this seemed to be a cute way for the newlywed couple to easily find and see the pictures that guests posted of the nuptials on social media. Now, like any social media trend, it has developed into a whole other animal. I do not want to put anyone on the spot, so I won't share some of the ridiculous hashtags I've seen within the past six months (*cough cough*, you know who you are). I don't want to condemn everyone that has jumped on the wedding hashtag bandwagon. I actually have seen some "normal" hashtags which were sweet, simple and appropriate. Some of them were similar to #BecomingA______ or #_______Wedding (fill in the blank with your last name of choice). Unfortunately, the "normal" ones are few and far between nowadays. Some of the pun-filled hashtags I've seen have truly made me shutter.
Why you would want your wedding memories to forever go down as being associated with such a corny "tagline" is beyond me. I have seen hashtags that were at least 5 words long. This is too much. Hashtags are not meant to be sentences! If I have to decipher when each word starts and ends, chances are the hashtag is way too long. This once clever trend has been beaten into the ground by the over use of terrible puns and failed rhyming attempts. I'm all for cheesy wedding traditions like penis-shaped cake at Bachelorette parties and doing the cha-cha slide at the reception, but let's not get too carried away.
Remember what our parents taught us, folks, the internet is forever. Do you really want to think back to your wedding day and be reminded of the cliche tagline you and your fiancé came up with after a few two many glasses of wine? I think not. Let's let hashtags rest and go back to existing for their original purpose: to help people keep up with what's trending around the world (or to easily find funny cat memes).
