This May Be The First Couple To Have An Official Wedding Hashtag

To say they created a monster doesn't really seem adequate.

For many couples, planning your wedding is a very exciting time. After all, many women and men have been waiting to plan this their whole lives!

Bri McDaniel / brimcdanielblog.com

But as fun as it is, wedding planning can also be really stressful.

There's the venue, the dress, the cake, the vows...and that doesn't even begin to cover it.

And ever since Pinterest has taken over, there is added pressure for everything to be perfect for the ’gram.

Emily Chidester Photography / Via emilychidester.com

Mismatched bridesmaids and a cute pose? This is totally going on my board.

And that includes the perfect wedding hashtag.

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The phenomenon of hashtagging weddings has exploded in recent years and is now ubiquitous. There are online hashtag generators, and you can even pay someone to be a "hashtag enforcer" to ensure no guest forgets the tag.

If you search "wedding hashtag" on Pinterest, there are thousands of pins ranging from creative hashtag signs to generators. Christine Schirmer, a spokesperson for Pinterest, told BuzzFeed News that there was a "more than 800% increase in pins" between July 2014 and July 2015.

For some couples, picking a hashtag is a breeze! But for other couples, their names don't blend together that well. Or they just aren't that creative. And this can be stressful.

Twitter

So we started to wonder, who came up with this phenomenon anyway?

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After putting an inquiry out on Twitter, BuzzFeed News received a tip from Adam Soclof, a former journalist who has a knack for "solving social media mysteries."

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Soclof told BuzzFeed News he had found a tweet that appeared to be the first wedding hashtag ever invented.

After re-creating his searches ourselves, we came up with the same result.

Meet Jon Bohlinger, a 29-year-old from Minnesota who was an early adopter of Twitter. Back in June 2008, he had the following exchange with his friend about his then-upcoming wedding.

Jon Bohlinger @jbohlinger

@pce I hadn't thought about hashtags. How about #BohWed ? @slolee is the dt, but I have a ton a Social Media Geeks attending.

03:43 AM - 13 Jun 2008

Bohlinger told BuzzFeed News that hashtags were a new thing, and it "just seemed like the thing to do" to create one for his wedding.

Eric Bohlinger

"I had a hashtag for the wedding so I could go back and retrospectively see tweets when I got back from our honeymoon," he said. "Honestly, I don't even know if anyone ended up using it."

The Bohlingers seem to be the first couple to choose a wedding hashtag and ask guests to use it. But other people had similar ideas.

arwenh @arwenh

@declan Wedding reception, I should have used a#DalmauWalshWedding2008 tag or something ;)

03:43 PM - 06 Jul 2008

A few wedding guests around the same time also came up with hashtags while discussing the wedding on Twitter.

Jenny Brown @jennybee

Listening to wedding vows being said by 2 really fab people to each other #steveandlo

04:33 PM - 31 May 2008

And by 2009, the trend really started to take off.

Twitter

Bohlinger said he was pretty amused to learn his hashtag may have been the first.

"I am honored to have launched such a pervasive and strange phenomenon," he said. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry for what I have wrought."

Bohlinger and his wife, Anna, have now been happily married for seven years, and have a daughter named Caroline.

He said his wedding was pretty fun, but it was only the beginning.

"Marrying Anna was just the best thing I could have done with my life," he said.

Author's note: Of course, my searches may have been inadequate, or some tweets may have been private. It is possible someone else had a wedding hashtag before the Bohlingers. If you think you are a contender for the earliest, email me (with evidence) at [e-mail].