Tuesday Trends - Wedding Hashtags

Welcome to another glorious Tuesday!

We encountered some technical difficulties last week, but we’re back up and running and have a great trend for you this week!  We’re talking…wedding hashtags!

Now before you decide if this something you want to do for your big day let me break down exactly what a wedding hashtag is and why it deserves a second thought before being passed up.

So for those of you that aren’t already in the hashtag game Merriam-Webster defines it as;  a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet).

When you go to an event, whether it be a concert, or a fair, or a play it generally has a hashtag so when people are talking about it online (facebook, twitter etc.) they can add the custom hashtag to their post and when someone clicks on, or searches said tag, all of the posts that have the tag as well show up. It’s a really great way for people to come together and see different opinions on a certain topic or to see what else is going on around you at an event.

You may be asking how this has anything to do with your wedding. Valid question. Chances are most of your guests have some form of social media. Chances are that they are going to take some pictures on their phone throughout the night. Chances are you’ll never actually get to see any of those photos because they will get sucked into the abyss of phone galleries and photo clouds. Unless…you have a custom hashtag that your guests can use to tag the photos they upload to whatever form of media they prefer. Now when you search your tag you are going to get this awesome little collection of photos and posts from your guests. Neat right? Nothing can replace a good photographer but it can be really fun to see things from the guests point of view.  My personal favorite place to use hashtags is instagram. It’s a really easy way to see what cool things are happening wherever I am, and to share my experience with others.

If you do decide to use your own hashtag there are a few things you want to be sure to do;

1.)    Make sure it’s not already taken.

Oh so often I see hashtags being recycled, and that’s fine, but for a wedding you want to make sure that you have your own and that it’s unique, otherwise when you search your tag you’re going to have to sort through photos that aren’t yours.

2.)    Make your hashtag seen!

There are lots of cute ideas out there on how to display your hashtag so your guests know it exists! Make sure it’s seen and that people know to use it.

3.)    Don’t overcomplicate it.

If your tag is complicated and long people will not use it. Keeping it simple is the way to go.

Overall it’s just another way to personalize your big day and to make sure you’re not missing out on capturing a moment of the fun.  Even if you aren’t big on social media I can almost guarantee that some of your attendees are and that they will love that you have your own special tag. 

Photo from Marisa and Oliver's Wedding collection by Cyndi Hardy Photography

What's the Deal with Wedding Planners Anyways?

As wedding planners we get a lot of questions from people asking how one goes about getting into this line of work. A lot of the time someone has just finished helping to plan a wedding (a friend, mom, or even the bride herself) and found that they mostly enjoyed the experience and are wondering how to make it into a career. So here is what we have to say about breaking into the wedding planning field; if you are considering becoming a planner yourself or if you are just curious about how we got to where we are this is for you. 

Wedding planning is so fun, but is not a glamorous job whatsoever! If you have ever had a part in planning a wedding you probably learned that very quickly. Jeanne has a degree in Hotel Restaurant Management and worked for a caterer for over 10 years which is where she was able to learn the ins and outs of events. Having this experience has allowed her to see through the eyes of all of our vendors and helps her to better anticipate their needs. Even though we both have a degree, neither of us have any certificates in wedding planning. Now wedding certificates are fabulous and surely can help you to learn about the job your doing, however we don't feel that they are needed to be able to do our jobs. But then again Jeanne already had the experience in the wedding industry, and I spent time interning for her to learn the ropes. As of yet we have never had a bride ask if we are certified wedding planners, instead we show them what we can do through photos and knowledge.

There are a few organizations you can get experience with, but to be honest, we believe the best experience is to work in the wedding industry for a caterer, florist, rental company etc. to learn about it. It will make you a better planner all around.

To succeed in this job you need a certain type of personality. You need to thrive on challenges, and be able to handle 10 different things at once without loosing your cool. You have to be nice, but tough at the same time so that people don't walk all over you, and you have to learn how to say NO and mean it. You will want to do as much as you can to impress, but you will wear yourself out that way, there are ways to go above and beyond without killing yourself. One of the biggest favors you can do for yourself and your clients is to let your professional vendors do their job! Don't micro manage them, they are good at what they do and are there for a reason. Concentrate on what you do best! 

Before you make any decisions, read up on planning and what exactly it entails, or ask a professional planner what their average day looks like, you may be surprised to see how much work actually goes into wedding planning, hint; it's a lot more than headsets and high heels, but hey, we can't all be JLo.