Having your wedding published in a magazine or featured on an online blog is a great honor. And while I believe that all weddings have value and are worthy of publication, the truth is that only a few are published in places like Martha’s Weddings, Brides, and Style Me Pretty.

The truth of it is this: how to get your wedding published greatly depends on your wedding design, the uniqueness of that design, and how that cohesive that design is throughout your entire wedding.

I want all of my couples to have their weddings published because 1) I believe every wedding is worthy and 2) my couples’ weddings will inspire others in their own wedding planning.

In order to have a successful wedding submission, there are elements you need to think about early in your wedding planning journey.

How to get your wedding published

Hire a collaborative design team

Your design team usually will consist of your wedding planner/designer, florist, and photographer. While your photographer typically doesn’t have a say in the design of your wedding, I’m including them on the team because it’s their job to photograph every design and detail through the lens of telling a story.

Your wedding planner is the most important member of the design team. Though, I will say, not all wedding planners are designers. Yes, most will help you with the basic elements design such as linen colors and table settings, but a designer will help you with your entire vision and design of your wedding day to make sure it’s cohesive.

Designer planners will make you a mood board and they’ll use that to facilitate floral, stationery, and decor choices. A mood board is a very helpful tool to ensure cohesion throughout your wedding. Among many things, a mood board shows the wedding style you’re going for, possible font scripts that fit that vibe, colors, and ideas for floral and decor displays.

Your designer planner communicates this design vision with the other members of your design team and is in charge of putting it all together.

Here is a small list of some of my favorite local and non-local wedding planner designers:

1. Laine Palm Designs
2. A Modern Fête
3. Pink and Peony Weddings & Events
4. AMV Weddings
5. Poppati Events

Your design should be unique and push the envelope

A week ago, I talked with the editors of Martha’s Weddings and Brides about how to get weddings published. While both magazines have a different esthetic and brand, they agree on several things when it comes to getting a wedding published.

The first, is that the wedding’s design should push the envelope. That means your wedding’s design should be unique, preferably something they haven’t seen before, and/or have an interesting twist on something that’s “standard practice.”

What are some cool details that push the envelope? Cool place card displays; interesting attire; personalized details that tell part of your love story.

Before you run to Pinterest and see what others have done, talk with your wedding planner about elements that inspire you. Are you into fine art painting? Nature? Antiques? Talk about how you can incorporate your interests into your wedding design. And let your ideas run wild! Your design team will reign you in if necessary.

Think about which publication you are aiming for

After talking with Martha’s Weddings and Brides, it became that not all wedding publications want the exact same things in a wedding submission. Their brands are different and therefore they want to show different aspects of a wedding to their audiences.

For example, Brides is a fashion forward brand. They want to see elements of design, fashion, emotion, and a focus on the bride as brides are their main audience. Martha’s Weddings on the other hand, is geared more towards design, hosting, timelessness, and focuses the couple. Both want images that tell a story but they want to tell different aspects of that story.

Another amazing piece of information – that didn’t even cross my mind until my talk with my editor friends – is that your venue plays a roll in where you should submit a wedding. For example, Brides has a diversity pledge (a code of ethics, if you will) and will not publish a wedding that was hosted on a former plantation (LOVE THIS!).

Here is a short list of some of my favorite wedding blogs. Each has its own brand so if you have your own favorite, tell your photographer and planner which publication you’re most interested in submitting your wedding to:

National Publications:

1. Brides
2. Martha’s Weddings
3. Style Me Pretty
4. Wedding Chicks
5. 100 Layer Cake
6. Equally Wed
7. The Knot

Minnesota Publications:

1. Minnesota Bride
2. Lake Bride Magazine
3. The Knot: Minnesota

“What should I invest in if I want my wedding published?”

In many ways, this is the main question. According to Martha’s Wedding, if you want the best chance of getting your wedding published, you should invest in the following:

1. Great photography
2. Good, beautiful flowers
3. Details that are cohesive and used throughout your wedding

What happens once your wedding submission is accepted?

Once your wedding submission is accepted, you’ll be contacted either by the publication or your photographer and asked to fill out a questionnaire that asks for details about your wedding and love story. After you complete that questionnaire and send it back to the publication, we’ll receive a publication date when your wedding will be live on that publication’s site. Once your wedding has been published, we celebrate and share it with as many people as possible!

Have a question?

If you have more questions about publishing your wedding, please connect with me and I’ll do my best to answer them!

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