You’ve seen the blogs and magazines: Are you wondering what you can do to get your wedding published, like the the ones that have inspired you? If you’ve worked hard to create an unforgettable experience for yourselves and your guests, it can be exciting to be a source of inspiration for other couples. Here is a detailed list of tips that can help you get your wedding featured in a magazine or blog, along with everything you need to know about why you’d want your wedding published and how to submit it.
Why Would You Want To Get Your Wedding Published In A Magazine Or Online Blog?
Having your wedding featured online or in a magazine can be a really rewarding adventure. There are a few reasons why you might want to have your wedding published.
- Inspire other couples
- Share your love story
- Pass along your advice
- Support your wedding vendors
1. Inspire other couples
You don’t have to be voted “biggest trendsetter” in your high school yearbook in order to throw a wedding that other couples will find inspirational. The time, thought, and effort you put into planning the day of your dreams could bring inspiration to others who might not know where to start. Think of what inspired your wedding: how cool would it be to play that role for another couple?! It’s a total flex.
2. Share your love story
Most online blogs and printed magazines want more than just photos of your details. They want to know what’s special about your love story – and so do their readers! If you have a unique story about how you met, how you got engaged, or what happened on your wedding day, it can be so fun to have that retold. You’ll also have a copy of the magazine (or can print out your blog post) to put in a memory box to look back on when your memory gets fuzzy. Your future kids ad grandkids will enjoy it, too!
3. Pass along your advice
Let’s face it: wedding planning can be overwhelming. You surely learned something along the way that you could pass along to other couples. Maybe you learned a valuable lesson while planning or on your actual wedding day. Is there something you’re SO GLAD you did that you can share with others? Lend a hand. Make someone’s day.
4. Support your wedding vendors
Hopefully you chose your wedding vendors because you love them. What better way to thank your wedding vendors than by having your wedding published online where thousands of couples can see who worked on your day? Like word-of-mouth and leaving reviews, referrals through publications help vendors book clients. If you love ’em, lift ’em up!
How To Plan An Inspirational Wedding That Will Get Published
If you’d love the experience of having your wedding published, you’ll want to keep these elements in mind when planning your day, as well as during your event.
- Focus on the décor details
- Incorporate personal touches
- Book a detail-oriented photographer
- Interact with each other and your loved ones
- Plan your best day ever – forget everything you’ve seen online
- Include as many vendors as possible
- Tell your photographer your love story
1. Focus on the décor details
Details matter. As easy as wedding planning would be if they didn’t, details do provide an atmosphere and experience for your guests. Here is a list of details you should consider that will not only make your wedding day a true reflection of you as a couple, but could also inspire other couples. Brides has a great article on this, too. (If your wedding day looks unique and feels like you, it’s more likely to get picked up by a publication!)
Wedding décor you might need:
- A welcome sign
- Aisle décor
- Ceremony chair décor
- Ceremony altar décor
- Bar florals and signage
- Guest book table
- A lounge space
- Dinner table florals, centerpieces, place cards, table numbers, and menus
- A seating chart
- Dance floor décor (like overhead florals or drapery)
And, while the following aren’t exactly wedding décor, they’re details that go into your wedding day that can absolutely provide inspiration:
- A good invitation suite
- A well-arranged bouquet
- Fabulous shoes for both partners
- A pocket square and/or boutonniere
- A personalized ring box or a decorative box in your wedding colors
- Unique dresses or suits for your wedding party
2. Incorporate personal touches to get your wedding published
Personal touches are the wedding day details that make your wedding feel like, well, yours. They’re the elements that others can’t exactly replicate, but that still inspire them to come up with their own personal touches.
Ideas for personal wedding day touches:
- Choose a venue that is sentimental to you (maybe a family property or an otherwise meaningful location)
- Have a fast-paced first dance
- Do your favorite, non-typical wedding day activity
- Sneak off to a fun spot, just the two of you, during your cocktail hour
- Have a first look with someone other than your significant other or parent
Meaningful elements we’ve seen from our couples:
- Bethany’s mom hand-made her veil, including the beading around the perimeter
- Chelsea and Kevin’s wedding party had their grand entrance to different show’s theme songs and acted them out
- Lauren and Marc had their first dance all alone in the woods
- Morgan wore her grandmother’s pearls and brought the journal she’d been using to write her and Robert’s love story
- Jess and Mike had a personal chef come to their home where they got married to cook for their family
- Corey and Kristin got married on their college campus
- Lauren and Connor made a number of environmentally conscious decisions to reflect their values
- Becca and Kayla incorporated candy into their day because of the story of how they met
3. Book a detail-oriented photographer
Not every photographer takes, or likes to take, detail photos. If you invest in beautiful details and décor, but don’t invest in a good photographer to capture it, all of that hard work will disappear at the end of the night.
Hiring the best photographer you can for your wedding means you’ll have stunning images to submit to publications, but more importantly, it means you’ll have good photos to look back on for they years to come. While you’re looking for a photographer, it’s also a good idea to look for a photographer team of two. If you hire a team, you’ll get more variety in your photographs, which publications love.
4. Interact with each other and your loved ones
This one should go without saying, but there can be a lot going on during your wedding day! You might be so distracted that you forget to slow down and enjoy the moment. On your wedding day, make sure you take the time to interact with your new life-partner, as well as your family and friends. You can give your forever-person the occasional kiss on the cheek, stroke on the back, or sentimental hug. Moments like this make for great candid photographs, and publications will love to see your love!
5. Plan your best day ever
Forget everything you know about weddings. If you want to get your wedding published, plan the day of your dreams. There is a reason the headline on our home page says “for the couple that prioritizes honest authenticity, whether they’re following a path or making their own.” It means, you do you. Follow the traditions you want to follow and forget the ones you don’t. From your wedding day entertainment to the colors you choose, they should be reflective of your personality and taste. If your wedding does that, blogs and magazines will absolutely have a reason to publish it. (And, obviously, you’re going to enjoy the day more, too.)
6. Include as many vendors as possible to get your wedding published
Publications love to highlight weddings with a good and hefty vendor list. Not only will including as many vendors as possible in your day mean you’ll have so much wonderful creative brainpower working on your details, but you’ll also get to feel good about supporting businesses. We recommend working with small-to-mid-sized vendors as much as possible to lift up your community! Don’t forget to let your photographer know who all of your vendors are, from the big details to the tiny ones, so they can share them when submitting your wedding (more on the submission process below).
7. Tell your photographer your love story
Everyone loves a good story. Whether you think your most unique story is about how you met, how you got engaged, what happened during your wedding planning, or what happened on your wedding day, make sure to share it with your photographer so they can include it in the copy they submit to publications! Your photographer might send you a questionnaire or interview you over the phone to get some of those details. If they send you something to fill out, be sure to do it promptly since publications can be time-sensitive.
How To Submit Your Wedding To Get Published
Now that you’ve had the inspirational wedding of your dreams, how do you actually go about getting it published? The answer here is pretty easy: your photographer will do it!
As the creator of the photographs, the photographer holds the copyright to the images. You, as the couple, were likely granted personal use rights, meaning you can share your photos with family and friends. Since magazines and online blogs are considered businesses, it may be against the terms of your contract for you to submit your photos on your own. If you have any questions on that, contact your photographer!
The great thing about having your photographer submit your wedding to publications for you, is that they probably already have experience doing so. That means they’ll know exactly which images to send in and what kind of details the publication will need to put together a story, increasing your likelihood of getting published.
Not all photographers submit their weddings to publications. They might not have time to submit all of the weddings they photograph, or maybe they choose not to (it can be a lot of extra work). If you want your wedding submitted to publications and your photographer has told you it’s not something they do, ask if they’d be okay with you sending the images in! They just might be. Getting published can be a great benefit for the whole vendor team.
Key Takeaways To Get Your Wedding Published
If you want to show your wedding off in a publication, stay true to yourself. Take a look at some of your favorite wedding blogs or magazines to see what kind of details and photographs they publish. Finding inspiration on the internet is a great starting point, but you’ll want to make it your own if you want to get featured! Thoughtfulness beyond just jumping on something you’ve seen in other wedding blogs will get you far. Planners, photographers, and event designers are great resources to talk to if you have any questions on how you can make the most of your budget and décor and we’re always available to help you find the right team! In the end, remember that the day is about the two of you. Your memories. Your future. The details are fun, but they’re not the whole point! Slow down and enjoy the moment.
