Your wedding day is a huge deal, and many couples desire to share it with the world! Particularly because I’ve been published many times before, couples often ask me if their wedding will also be published! While I make every effort to photograph the wedding beautifully, beautiful photographs only go so far in getting a wedding published. If you’re a couple who’s hoping to see their wedding in a magazine or on their favorite blog, this article will outline all my best tips for making it happen!

What are publications looking for?

Before we dive in to any of the specifics about your wedding day, the first thing to consider is what exactly a wedding publication is looking for in a potential wedding feature. And I’ve found that most people have no idea! Common guesses? A bunch of amazing portraits of the couple, really beautiful people, a really expensive reception, the list goes on. The truth is that publications are looking for things that will inspire other couples – their primary readers. So what, exactly, are these inspirational things? DETAILS.

Details – unique details, to be specific – are the key to getting published. Publications generally ask for 100-150 photos from a wedding to consider for publication. Of these photos, they ask that 80% be detail-focused! That means 80% of the photos submitted are not really focused on the couple, but the details that made the wedding unique! I remember, early on in my career, hearing this from a successful, published photographer and being shocked. I assumed that beautiful portraits of the couple with a stunning background would have to be the most important! And while a handful of stunning portraits are important to a publication, they aren’t the essential aspect of what makes a wedding publishable.

You may be wondering what details, specifically, are important. The short answer is all of them. And the more, the merrier! A unique color palette, lots of floral installations, wedding invitations & paper goods, signage, ceremony set-up and decor, venue selection, interesting featured cocktails & desserts, bridesmaids & groomsmen apparel, your wedding shoes, the list goes on! Publications love to see a lot of unique, inspiring details because it gives their readers something fresh and new. Readers and viewers of wedding publications are mostly engaged couples, so the publication wants to be the go-to source for the newest, freshest ideas! Make your wedding unique with tons of personal details to give it the best chance of being on the front page of your favorite magazine or blog!

Personal touches on a wedding day don’t stop at the visual details. Wedding publications also love personal stories! How did you meet? Why did you choose your venue and date? Why did certain personal details mean so much to you on your wedding day? Telling your story is a great way to add personality to a submission and wedding publications will love it!

Working with your photographer

Usually, photographers & wedding planners will submit their couple’s wedding to publications for you. I make it a goal to get every wedding I shoot published! In order to make this a reality, it’s important for us to be on the same page and work together. There are a few specific things that couples can do for their photographer that make it so much more likely that their wedding will end up on their favorite publication!

First, your photographer needs time to photograph all those details I mentioned previously. As we work through your timeline planning, you may be tempted to cut out time for these detail photos in favor of starting your reception earlier or having me stay longer at the end of the evening. Don’t do this! Make sure to leave me plenty of time to shoot your bridal details before the ceremony, your ceremony details, and your reception details before guests are let in to the space! If this is a time concern, ask your planner or venue about getting the ceremony or reception space set up early so that I can photograph it long before guests arrive or cocktail hour begins. 

You’ll also want to provide your photographer with a full list of vendors who worked on your wedding day – down to the designer of your wedding dress, calligrapher, and shoe brand. The more vendors, the better! I send all of my couples a separate form where they can fill out this information, so be sure to take the time to remember all the people who made your day special when you complete this form!

As always, I highly recommend hiring a wedding planner for your wedding day! The majority of weddings I photograph with a full service planner are published because planners know how to bring the details together and also how to prepare them to be photographed.

Finally, it’s worth noting that every publication is different. Submission guidelines, style preferences, and publication schedules will vary depending on the publication itself. If you’re interested in doing all the work to submit to a publication on your own, be sure to let your photographer & wedding planner know (so they don’t submit to other publications) and carefully review submission guidelines.