Hot take alert! You wanna know what two words the wedding industry uses ALL THE TIME that get under my skin? Tasteful and Timeless. (insert puking face emoji). “But Jen,” you retort, “those are completely unoffensive words! What could you possibly have against them?”
Hear me out.
Let’s start with tasteful. The dictionary definition of tasteful is “having, exhibiting, or conforming to good taste.” But what is “good taste?” It’s quite, if not entirely, subjective, isn’t it? Sure, wedding decor consisting entirely of items from the Hobby Lobby wedding aisle is probably not in “good taste” (plus, don’t even get me started on their political views). And I understand that you probably don’t want to cause emotional scars for grandma and grandpa. But aren’t we all weird, quirky individuals with unique preferences? And if we’re all planning weddings to conform to some collective vision of “good taste,” won’t they all look and feel the same?
Instead, how about we plan weddings that showcase YOUR unique tastes and personalities. This day is about the two of you, after all. Let’s plan and design a wedding that your favorite people will walk into and say “this is SO them.” They love YOU, and they’ll love a party that looks and feels authentically you! Unlike the “tasteful” wedding that completely lacks personality that they’ll instantly forget.
Ok, but what about timeless? My opinion: a timeless wedding doesn’t exist. No matter how hard you try to avoid trends, you’re planning your wedding at a specific point in time, and fashion choices, hair styles, color palettes, floral designs, and photography styles all age and evolve. It would be nearly impossible to remove all signs of the time from your wedding day.
Yet a quick Google search for “timeless weddings” produces countless blogs and magazine articles with tips for planning a wedding that won’t age.
But why is this the goal? I love looking back at my parents’ wedding photos from 1977 – the bridesmaids in their floppy hats; the groomsmen in their light blue leisure suits, mustaches, and shoulder-length hair; and the “secret reception” with kegs of Budweiser and a local band on a flatbed trailer in the middle of a cornfield, which they had to hide from my Mom’s non-drinking parents.
You know what’s timeless? Things that you fucking love!
My hot take is that tasteful + timeless = forgettable. This doesn’t mean I think you should jump on every new wedding trend you see on TikTok. Not at all! What it does mean is that you should let your wedding be whatever you want it to be, inspired by whatever inspires the two of you RIGHT NOW!
Are you obsessed with Wednesday on Netflix? Let’s plan a gothic themed wedding at a creepy old mansion with an all black dress code. Do you dig the aesthetics of the 50s and 60s and love a Saturday spent browsing the racks at your local vintage shops? Let’s throw a house party in a mid-century modern VRBO with Mad Men aesthetics. Was your first date an EDM concert at Red Rocks? Let’s have a neon rave dance party with a kickass DJ.
When you resist the pressure to be tasteful and timeless, the options are limitless. Hitched AF loves learning your story and dreaming up creative ways to tell it on your wedding day. Inquire today and let’s have some fun!
