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I am officially decreeing myself done with the word “tacky.” It's a word thrown around a lot in the wedding world — even the non-traditional wedding world!
People are worried their centerpieces will look tacky. People decree honeymoon registries tacky. There's muttering over etiquette: “I want to do things this way … but is that tacky?” brides whisper in terror. Tacky: the dark evil that sneaks into your bedroom and eats your face at night.
I'm here to tell you that, YES: everything you want to do for your wedding is tacky. All of it. The red dress is tacky. The handmade paper flowers are tacky. Your custom-designed invitations? TACKY.
Because you see, “tacky” is in the eye of the beholder and there is always, always going to be someone who sees things differently than you.
Your handwritten wedding vows? Tacky!
Using old mugs as favors? Tacky!
Your ribbon veil? Tacky!
Your father reading a poem he wrote instead of Corinthians? Tacky!
There is no end to the tackiness. It is ALL tacky, according to someone. Someone will tell you it's tacky to get married in your backyard. Someone will tell you it's tacky not to decorate your chairs with large bows and organza. Someone will tell you it's tacky to have portapotties at your wedding. Someone somewhere thinks sequined wedding shoes and button bouquets and Wai-Ching dresses are all tacky.
…This website? TACKY!
I'm exhausted by the tacky debate. I'm sick of people asking if some component of their wedding is tacky. (Sure it is! …to someone. Do you care? Is that why you're doing it?) I'm sick of commenters decreeing certain wedding thangs as tacky. (Sure it is! …to you. Do I care? Are you invited to my wedding?) Tacky: the dark monster that creeps in at night … tacky is the manifestation of your fears that people won't approve of your wedding.
Moving forward, I'm decreeing a moratorium on the word. When it's ALL tacky, none of it's tacky and we can finally stop talking about it.
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The word tacky has lost all meaning having read it so many times… guess that’s kinda the point!
I had actually given up on the T word a while ago. intbride.blogspot.com/2008/04/tacky.html
It just seems like third grade playground antics to me.
THANK YOU! Ariel, i know i’ve said this before, but you are my frakking hero!!! My mom LOVES throwing that word around if she doesn’t like a decision i’m making about my wedding. It’s ridiculous and judgemental, and really, who the frak cares if i use labels instead of calligraphy on the invitations? A year from now, nobody will remember.
Uh-oh. Labels are somehow …. inappropriate? Lol.
haha all good. i hand wrote the addresses (and i do NOT have good handwriting). lots of ppl are saying things in my wedding are tacky but i decided at the beginning of all this to ignore. all girls in the wedding party, myself included, are wearing flip flops 😀 i dont wear heels most other days, why start when nobody can even see my feet?
That was, like, a Tack Manifesto.
Desaray: yep! I even tagged this post “manifesto.”
YES YES YES YES YES!
I hate how people use this word – which has such a silly ring to it – in a mean-spirited way to demoralize others and pass judgment.
However, I love the use of it all over your wedding photo. It cracked me up!
This is EXACTLY the kind of post I needed to read. *sigh* I don’t know what else I (or anyone) can do to really engrain that into my mind.
You’re the best, Ariel!
Seriously. Ariel, you are a hero 🙂
I’m not even 10% done planning my wedding and I hear that word… bleck.
Word!