How to Get Your Wedding Published in a Magazine or Blog

Calling all newlyweds and engaged couples! 

 

Get your real wedding accepted for publication in wedding magazines, newspapers, and wedding blogs with these useful tips.

 

 

 

Hoping to get your real wedding published in a wedding magazine or online wedding blog?

 

We get it. Weddings are public declarations, and we live in the social media age where some of you want the whole world to know how awesome your wedding ceremony is. We’re here to help!

 

First word of advice, start planning early, and work closely with your wedding officiant and other vendors for the best chance of success. 

 

This detailed guide provides the 7 steps to get you closer to seeing your dream wedding in print! 

 

1. Choose your dream publications 

 

Knowing where you want to submit your wedding before the wedding day will increase your chances of getting published. You should start making your dream list months before the wedding date. 

 

Why? Because you’ll have a much better idea of the materials they’re looking for in a good submission, and can make sure none of these details are overlooked on the day of the ceremony. Which leads us to…

 

 

Head to your favorite wedding publications to learn their unique guidelines

 

2. Learn the submission guidelines

 

Every publication has unique submission requirements and guidelines. Familiarize yourself with each to make sure you can give them what they want, and use common guidelines to create wedding day ‘best practices’ as you work with your wedding officiant and photographers to plan your celebration.

 

Examples of unique submission guidelines:

 

• Couples are advised to send in a detailed account of their love story and wedding plan six weeks before the scheduled ceremony to have a wedding featured in the New York Times as part of their “mini-vows” series. 

 

• Newlyweds aren’t allowed to submit their weddings to The Knot independently, and must team up with a wedding vendor – such as their wedding officiant or wedding photographer – to upload their photos to Two Bright Lights, where they’ll tag the photographer and wait for permission to publish. 

 

• And to submit a wedding to The Budget Savvy Bride, couples must provide a full breakdown of their budget and expenses. 

 

 

As you can see, it’s important to begin planning for publication several months before the wedding date. 

 

3. Work closely with your officiant from the start

 

Wedding officiants and engaged couples should work together closely from the start to plan a wedding they want to get published.

 

Officiants can suggest creative additions to a simple ceremony, work closely with the wedding photographer to make sure each step of a unity ceremony or ring exchange is photographed perfectly, and help a couple avoid embarrassing mistakes or accidents that might take away from the event. 

 

In addition, some weddings must be submitted in detail by the couple before the big day, or with the help of an officiant or vendor following the ceremony (as required by The Knot). 

 

 

 

Wedding 'themes' can be simple or flashy -- choose one that suits your style 

 

4. Choose a theme

 

You need a theme. We don’t mean a theme like Star Wars or Zombie Apocalypse (although those are great too!), we mean something more along the lines of ‘fairytale wedding’ or ‘cottagecore chic’, or maybe ‘vintage,’ or ‘rustic,’ or ‘modern,’ or ‘romantic beach dream.’ This theme serves as a guiding light for your big day.

 

The most successful real wedding submissions will have a cohesive and captivating theme and concept guiding each part of the ceremony and the overall look and feel of the wedding.

 

Which brings us to…

 

5. Pay attention to the details

 

Each element of your wedding day should complement the others. This doesn’t mean a ‘matchy-matchy’ feel, just a complementary one. 

 

For example, you don’t need a strict dress code, but the wedding officiant and guests should all be wearing similar clothing in terms of formality, season, and color, so that photos will capture a cohesive feel or vibe. This philosophy goes for the decor and venue, too.

 

Make sure the small details of your day are interesting, creative, coordinated, and really capture your personality.  

 

 

Small details create a beautiful big picture 

 

6. Hire a professional photographer 

 

Great photos are ESSENTIAL to getting your real wedding accepted for publication. In fact some publications, like Style Me Pretty, are image-based sites that are dependent on clean, fun, and fresh images. 

 

Event photography is much more challenging than taking cool travel photos or studio portraits – you want to choose someone with an eye for movement, emotion, conversation, composition, variable lighting conditions, and timing. That’s why we recommend going with a pro. Plus, some publications will require that you hire a professional photographer. 

 

Pros already know the ropes, and they’ll have all the right equipment needed to document your day. They’ll be familiar with the lingo, and photo requirements can be specific! For example, Green Wedding Shoes requires that a minimum of 50 photos (and a max of 250) be submitted for consideration, and all photos must be at least 2200px wide. 

 

No matter who photographs your wedding, you’ll need their explicit permission to submit their photos anywhere for publication. 

 

 

Get those gorgeous shots! 

 

7. Share elements from each part of the wedding

 

Most publications want to see your entire wedding day, not just the ceremony or reception. Work with your planner, officiant, photographer, florist, and other vendors to ensure there will be photos from the set up, getting ready, the ceremony (you want lots of ceremony photos!), the first look and first kiss, the receiving line, leaving the venue, the first dance, the food, the reception toasts, the afterparty. 

 

The entire spectacular day! 

 

 

Above: An incredible ceremony officiated by AMM Minister Joseph Rechichi, 

via NYT, image credit Lev Kuperman Photography

 

 

Need inspiration?

Check out these published weddings

officiated by AMM Ministers : 

 

 

• Matters of the Heart Precede Love and Marriage in Florida
  Featured in the New York Times, Officiated by Bonnie Sanchez

 

 

• Love on Roller Skates: A Coastal, Retro-Inspired Elopement at Cape Kiwanda

Featured in Green Wedding Shoes, Officiated by Jimmie Berguin (Officiant Jimmie)

 

• The First Spark Flew in the Fifth Grade

Featured in the New York Times, Officiated by Joshua Goodridge

 

• The Vibe Was Electric and That Was Before the Coffee Buzz
  Featured in the New York Times, Officiated by Bonnie Sanchez

 

 

• Love Letters Sustained Their Cross-Country Relationship
  Featured in the New York Times, Officiated by Ryan Malaeb

 

 

 

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