How do you orchestrate a big day that’s for you—and not just the Instagram photos? It helps when the groom has never opened TikTok.
Photo illustration by Noemi Fabra
The first thing I see when I open TikTok is an influencer speaking directly to the camera: Five trends you have to include at your wedding. Followed almost immediately by a photo slideshow: Wedding trends I think are cringe. Then a request: Sound off in the comments. What’s one thing at a wedding that screams “tacky”? It’s whiplash in #bridetok form—one video telling you the newest trends you have to follow, lest you have a “boring” wedding, and another telling you to avoid the same ones, or else you’ll have a dated wedding that will look overly trendy five years down the line. But fortunately, there’s a third side to the conversation, too. For each social media influencer lecturing about the dos and don’ts of trends, there’s another saying to block out the noise altogether: that your wedding should feel like you, not like a photo op.
As I’ve been planning my own wedding for the past year, my social media has been an endless inundation of wedding content. Some are positive and helpful (I’ll never skip the ones about what to stock in your day-of emergency kit or how to best fluff your train), and others are judgmental (see above). I’ve been battling with myself and my social media feed to figure out what trends I’m inclined to incorporate into our wedding because I genuinely like them, versus the ones I feel obligated to adopt. More importantly, I’ve been struggling with how to make decisions that feel authentic to my fiancé and me—not just for the pursuit of Instagram-worthy photos.
Of all the champagne towers, the interactive seating chart installations, the newspaper-inspired programs, the fireworks, and the TikTok-ification of it all—with the price tags to match—which ones feel like us?
Makena and her fiancé, Alex Hill, were married in Maine—where the couple also got engaged in 2024—in December 2025. / Photo by Jenna Cavanaugh
Our big day will have come and gone by the time you read these pages, but here’s our plan. Matchbook favors, because I love to collect them, as do many of my friends. A “generations of love” memorial wall featuring photos of our parents and grandparents on their wedding days, because this was one of the trends that resonated with me the second I saw it on Pinterest (yes, social media did influence this one). Dance floor glowsticks, because it always helps to have something to do with your hands on the dance floor. Most importantly, DIYed table numbers—specifically ones that I’ve cross-stitched with the help of my grandmother, who taught me the craft a few years ago. They may not be the über-trendy acrylic or fabric table numbers gracing the receptions of TikTok, but they’re meaningful to me. And they do look pretty cute, too.
I won’t tell you the trends we’re not following because, well, that would make me the same as those who cringe at the best day of others’ lives on social media. What I will say is that every decision we’ve made has been guided by what we want—one of my best friends officiating our ceremony, a string quartet for cocktail hour, and candle-only centerpieces (the warm glow inside our barn wedding will be stunning). It also helps that my fiancé has never once opened TikTok. If I try to even explain a trend to him, the point gets lost.
Though we might not have the influencer-coded wedding that I’ve seen all over my social media feed, our wedding will be intentional and personal. But, of course, I’m still hoping for some great photos to share on Instagram.
First published in the print issue of Boston Weddings 2026 with the headline, “Off the Feed.”
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