Blogging is a great way for Wedding Professionals to show off their expertise and draw in new clients. By posting a blog on your site, you can also increase your SEO by consistently adding new content.
Junebug Weddings is a beautiful website that lives by their credo of “empowering couples with inspiring wedding planning resources”. It features real weddings, styled shoots and helpful advice.
HuffPost Weddings
There’s an entire genre of wedding blogs devoted to showcasing the upscale weddings of real couples. In addition to the pretty pictures, these sites offer planning articles, celebrity trends, etiquette tips, and must-see honeymoon destinations. These blogs also feature vendor guides and reviews. Vendor guides are helpful, especially if you’re planning a wedding from afar, and most blog editors have strict vetting processes for those they include.
A growing number of wedding vendors are adding fine print to their contracts forbidding brides from posting negative online reviews. One bride reported that she received a certified letter from her photographer, warning her to keep quiet or face a $350,000 lawsuit. This isn’t an isolated incident, and many brides are feeling powerless to report their concerns.
Despite the fact that it’s a fun tradition, the bouquet and garter tosses are quickly losing popularity. Guests will appreciate your thoughtfulness, but they don’t want to spend the evening waiting around to say a quick hello or cheers, particularly when there are drinks, appetizers, and gorgeous surroundings for them to enjoy!
Style Me Pretty
Founded five years ago by Abby Larson, who had previously run her own wedding invitation company, Style Me Pretty has grown into the ultimate destination for brides looking to get inspired. She’s built a cult following of women who swoon over peony arrangements in mason jars, family-dining-style farm tables and DIY party favors. And the website continues to thrive with two million unique visitors a month.
As a photographer, I’ve been featured on the site (twice!) and it’s always an amazing way to reach new engaged couples. However, if you’re planning on submitting your wedding to SMP, there are some things you should keep in mind. First, always select a minimum of 100-150 images and prioritize detail-heavy photos. And, make sure to include multiple angles of the same details so that editors can easily spot different aspects of the wedding. SMP also prefers crisp, full-color photos, so avoiding any creative editing or filtering is a good idea.
When submitting a real wedding, be sure to include contact information for all of the vendors who made the day possible. This is a great opportunity to thank them and showcase your brand to new potential clients. And finally, don’t submit your wedding to other publications until six weeks after submitting to SMP. That’s a surefire way to ruin editorial relationships.
Ultimately, while it’s tempting to get your work published on high-profile wedding sites, I always recommend investing in your own website and growing your own traffic instead. It’s never a good idea to rely on third-party websites to drive clients to your business.
Rock n Roll Bride
Founder Kat Williams was inspired to launch this alternative wedding magazine after she became jaded by the limited offerings of the UK wedding industry. While planning her own big day, she discovered that if you weren’t straight, white, and able-bodied, there was very little to inspire you. Rock n Roll Bride celebrates individuality and encourages you to make your day your own. It promotes creativity, and is an alternative to the cookie cutter weddings you see in traditional bridal magazines.
The editorial team at Rock n Roll Bride features a wide variety of styles and ideas to help you find the perfect look for your big day. This ranges from quirky, DIY projects to full-blown wedding shoots and everything in between. You’ll find inspiration for everyone, from gothic to bohemian to rockabilly and more.
This magazine also has some of the most useful wedding tips and advice around. There’s a handy budget calculator to help you stay on track, and plenty of different sections for you to keep all your notes and ideas together. The magazine is a great place to get inspired, and it’s packed with gorgeous photos from real weddings and editorial shoots.
This is an excellent book for anyone looking to plan a more unique or bespoke wedding. The advice is practical and honest, and the photos will have you falling in love with this book right away. It’s a good idea to write down anything and everything that makes you and your partner the unique snowflakes that you are, so you can create a wedding that really reflects your interests and personalities. It’s also a good idea to set a budget before you start planning, so you don’t run out of money halfway through the process. You can also use the Rock n Roll Bride wedding planner to keep all your ideas and notes organised. It’s like a modern day FiloFax, and it has a year of week-to-view calendar pages, a budget calculator and oodles of different sections to help you stay on track.
A Practical Wedding
If you’re engaged, chances are the idea of planning a wedding has your heart racing. After all, your special day is supposed to be the happiest day of your life. But weddings can cost three times what they should and take five to ten times more effort than they reasonably should. And the reality is, everyone has opinions about what your wedding should look like.
Meg’s goal with A Practical Wedding is to help couples plan their dream wedding without going broke or crazy in the process. She covers everything from choosing a venue to writing your vows, all with stories from brides who’ve done it before. This is the book for couples who want to get married with grace and a sense of humor.
The tips in this book are great for any couple getting married, whether you’re a budget-conscious millennial or a traditionalist with money to burn. She includes plenty of helpful advice, from opening an account just for your wedding to avoid accidentally dipping into savings earmarked for something else to her suggestion that you save at least 3% of your budget for transportation (as many guests will need it). There are also some fun tips, such as playing older classic songs first to pack the dance floor and letting your caterer know you’ll be paying a service charge for bartenders and staff if your reception goes over time.
Another thing that makes this book stand out is its focus on inclusivity. For too long, wedding books have ignored LGBTQ+ and intercultural couples, but Meg has a full section on those kinds of weddings and the unique challenges they can bring. She also includes helpful advice for navigating family drama and dropping traditions that you don’t feel comfortable with.
Wedding planning is a stressful process, and if you’re not careful, you can quickly go out of your mind. These books will help you keep your cool and get to the point of what matters most: a celebration of your love story with your partner. And, as a bonus, they’ll save you from having to spend hours searching online for the nitty-gritty details of how to plan your wedding.