A wedding hashtag wall is a great way to make your wedding more engaging for everyone involved. Often times, no one ever sees the pictures friends and family take, especially if they forget to tag the couple on social media.
Of course, it can take weeks to get your professional wedding photos and then you have to take time sharing them social media.
Why not share photos and social media posts in real-time during your wedding reception? Better yet, display them on a wall for everyone to enjoy. Building your own wedding hashtag wall might just be the easiest part of planning your wedding.
Why build a wedding hashtag wall?
With so much to do to plan the wedding of your dreams, you might be wondering whether a wedding
- Make your wedding more fun and memorable
- Later see funny moments with friends and family you would have otherwise missed
- Take the pressure off of yourself to be everywhere at once
- Save on photography costs by only using a professional photographer for the ceremony and
What is a wedding hashtag wall?
A wedding hashtag wall is a group of social media photos taken by wedding guests that all use the same hashtag. The most common platform for these is Instagram, but Twitter posts can be used as well.
You can display these posts on a computer or TV screen live at the wedding, and then also share a link after the wedding so that guest can later see the photos.
Top tips for building a wedding hashtag wall
Building a wedding hashtag wall is a fun undertaking! Here are our top tips:
Pick an easy to remember wedding hashtag
Your first step is to pick a wedding hashtag. After all, without your hashtag, it's impossible to aggregate posts to your wedding hashtag wall. Now, this might seem stressful as you discover other couples already using every hashtag you come up with, but don't worry.
The first step is to choose which social media platforms you want to use. You'll need to check for your wedding hashtag on all platforms to ensure you're using something unique. Otherwise, you risk your wall being filled with posts from someone else's wedding.
If your mind is blank, that's not a problem. After all, you already have a lot going on with picking a venue, deciding on seating arrangements and picking the perfect cake.
Let a wedding hashtag generator handle the work for you. Since wedding hashtag walls are becoming so popular, generators have cropped up to help you pick something fun and unique. Of course, you can still always go with something on your own too.
Some great wedding hashtag generator options include:
- Shutterfly - This one gives you numerous options based on your names, wedding date and nicknames. It also lets you check each hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Wedding Wire - Works similar to Shutterfly with just a few more details thrown in.
- Random Word Generator - Offers wedding hashtags in addition to numerous other types of generators. Choose from three different types of hashtags, including Fun, Traditional and Offbeat.
- eWedding - A great option if you're already using their wedding website creation tools.
Now that you've got that part down, the hardest part is behind you.
Tell guests about the hashtag
You've got the hashtag for your wedding hashtag wall, but you've got to spread the word. Get just as excited about sharing your hashtag as you did your engagement.
A few great ways to do this include:
- Adding it to your wedding website
- Sharing it on social media
- Adding it to your invitations
- Including it with gift registry details
- Using it on any pre-wedding posts, such as posts about wedding planning
Naturally, people are going to forget. So, make sure it's posted at your wedding too. Wherever you choose to place your wedding hashtag wall, add the hashtag above and below it in a large, elegant font that's easy to read. You can also add it to your table settings so everyone remembers.
Encourage posting before the wedding
If you want your wedding wall already populated with photos when you unveil it, encourage people to start using it before the wedding itself. For example, your wedding party might posts pictures from the rehearsal dinner or a funny blooper at the rehearsal itself.
As the couple, you could also post things about your engagement, wedding planning process, wedding shower and more. As soon as you unveil your wedding hashtag wall, guests get to see your journey to the big day. It's a great way to start your reception and see the transition from engaged to finally wed.
Choose where you'll display the photos
While it's called a wedding hashtag wall, this doesn't have to mean a literal wall. For most couples, it's a large projector screen or a flat screen TV or monitor.
You can have one or more "walls" set up, depending on the size of your venue and the number of rooms guests will be using. The ideal location is a central place where most guests will congregate. Placing it behind the wedding party's table or behind the dance floor typically works well.
Typically, you don't want your wedding wall going during the ceremony. However, if you have enough pre-wedding posts available, have a smaller wedding hashtag wall set up for guests to enjoy before the ceremony starts. Turn off the monitor before the wedding party starts to come in.
This is a great way to get some photos of guests arriving and sharing their excitement for your big moment.
Implement a social media aggregator
All social media aggregator tools aren't created equal. In fact, some are only made for the web. While this is great for implementing on your wedding website, these might not look as good on a wedding hashtag wall.
For instance, Curator.io has a feature called Curator for Events. A quick piece of code is all you need to go from a website social feed to a hashtag wall for your wedding or other events.
This makes it quick and easy to implement. Ideally, choose a social media aggregator that works for event walls and websites. This way, you can display your posts on your wedding website in real-time for loved ones who can't attend the wedding.
You can use any Instagram hashtag to pull posts, so it is best to make a unique hashtag that other weddings won't be using.
Think of your wedding hashtag wall as a customisable Instagram. You can stick with that type of design or go with a different format. Depending on the social media aggregator tool you use, you'll have the option to choose different templates, customise background colours, choose scrolling speeds and opt for different refresh rates.