Your wedding day. The biggest (happiest, craziest, most expensive—insert your adjective here) day of your life. It’s you and your significant other, pledging to spend the rest of your lives together. But for many brides, it’s also become a goal to get their wedding featured in glossy bridal magazine, website or blog.
Lynn Easton of Easton Events says it’s a sign of the times. “We live in a world where every moment of every day is captured. Each morsel of food we put in our mouths is put on Instagram.”
But she also says that it’s a way for the happy couple to relive their special day long after the last guest leaves.
“It gives a wedding a whole new life. They can share that with everyone, and every bride who’s lucky enough to get their wedding published is always grinning from ear to ear when she sees it in print.”
But trying to get published for publishing’s sake can detract from the focus of the day. Weddings used to be somewhat cookie-cutter, with white tablecloths and party favors. Now, the bar’s been raised and most couples strive to make their event as personalized as possible.
That can mean upping the stress level. It’s easy enough to get swept up in making sure every detail is perfect. Add to that the pressure of planning a wedding with the hope of getting Internet famous, and it’s enough to drive some brides to the brink of crazy. It also might change some details of the day.
Easton says, “The tricky thing about the desire to be published is that you might have to do something that is more for a picture and less for the experience.”
Try focusing instead on the details that carry a personal signficance, like weaving your great-grandmother’s wedding gloves into your bouquet or using a piece of your mother-in-law’s veil as part of your own. Those are touches that will be meaningful to you, regardless of who’s flipping through The Knot.
If you’re still determined to vie for a glossy layout, it doesn’t require you to go overboard. Easton, whose work has been published everywhere from Martha Stewart Weddings to Vogue, cautions: “Some of the most published weddings are incredibly simple.”
Details are key, as are things that are unique, so make sure that your designs are as special as you are. Think about the layout, too—you’ll need both vertical and horizontal details that will work well in a published format. And don’t be afraid of reaching out to smaller publications that might not get as many submissions. Remember: At the end of the day, it’s your day, so do your best to stay focused on the reason you’re there.