The usual constructions of classifying spaces for monoidal categories produce CW-complexes with many cells that, moreover, do not have any proper geometric meaning. However, geometric nerves of monoidal categories are very handy simplicial sets whose simplices have a pleasing geometric description: they are diagrams with the shape of the 2-skeleton of oriented standard simplices. The purpose of this paper is to prove that geometric realizations of geometric nerves are classifying spaces for monoidal categories.