- 06.8.11
- Filed Under: Blogging, SMP
- 58 Comments
It’s a question that I get a lot, from vendors and brides who know that they have something special in the wedding that they are submitting, but they also know that we get around 400 weddings per week in our inboxes. Yes, that’s 400…though the real number falls anywhere between 250-500 depending on the season).
So how do you ensure that your wedding is not only seen, it’s also accepted? Here are ten best practices that will REALLY improve your chances…
1. PACKAGE your submission according to our guidelines. We have taken a ton of time building a submissions tool that really allows us to streamline things. It gives you a space for your images, a place to upload videos, an area for a description and a vendor credit spot. FILL THEM ALL OUT. If we have to chase down information, we generally put it on the back burner until we have time to devote to it. Which could take months.The good news is that blogs are generally similar in their guidelines, so if you do the work once and you’re wedding doesn’t make the cut, it will already be packaged up and ready to go for other blogs. Here is an example of a PERFECT submission…
Things to note…103 images, carefully curated. Location in the title. Intro from the vendor. Description from the bride. Complete vendor list. All of these things together and we were able to approve this for publication in less than a minute.
2. SELECT good images that tell the story of the day. Include up to about 100-150 images that really highlight the best parts of the day. We need images that show the bride, her fashions, the maids, the groom, the flowers, centerpieces, decor elements, favors, invitations, etc. WE DO NOT WANT too many images of the guests dancing or smoking cigars, no matter how beautiful they are. Those types of images really don’t resonate well with our readers.
3. DESCRIBE the day. The description should be from the bride if possible. If not, from the florist, planner or designer. Within the description we want you to include the inspiration behind the day, the special touches that made this wedding extra lovely, the sources where some of the great details were found, any DIY projects that were done. The more info we have, the better.
4. SHARE THE LOCATION. Include a city + state in the title of your submission. This allows us to ensure that we are covering all areas of the US. If we get a wedding from the Midwest, we are more likely to look at it in greater depth because we are lacking in those areas. If we get a wedding that took place in an area where we have a Local Blog, it will improve your chances of publication.
5. CHOOSE images carefully. Although we publish far more images than a magazine spread, we also carefully curate the types of images that we put up.We love images that fall in the same photographic style rather than a mix of styles. We also like images that fall in the same color story. It makes far more of an impact online if the images flow beautifully together. Check out the submission above and you can see how the images really fall into the same color and style so that crafting a beautiful feature will be SUPER easy.
6. EDITED PHOTOGRAPHS are really, really, REALLY important. We like images that are clean, simple and don’t have any particular art effect to them. We do not publish many black and whites unless it’s a feature on the photography. We do not publish images that are too busy or have too much going on in them. Although we totally get that there are many different types of photography styles, we also are inclined to fall more in love with photographs that are shot in a magazine style approach. I am going to have a photographer come on backstage soon and go into greater depth with this one.
7. BE NICE. And this is off the record of course. But we really like it when people are nice, approachable and easy to work with. There have been so many instances where a vendor was particularly rude to us after being declined, or after it has taken us a while to give them an answer. And although there is by no means a “nice” rule on SMP, we always remember the ones that are mean and it is taken into consideration when we see another of their weddings come through the door. Same goes for the people that we love…we remember those that are gracious, kind and fun to work with and are more inclined to reach out to them for content calls.
8. READ our blog and select the weddings that you want to submit carefully. It’s so obvious to us when a submittor doesn’t read our blog and sends in a wedding that is so far off the quality of the weddings that we publish. Or when they just slap together a bunch of weddings from the previous season and hope that one of them sticks. We want to know that you have carefully selected a wedding for publication on SMP because you know that it’s one our brides will resonate with.
9. THINK UNIQUE. We are desperate (singing from the rooftops desperate) for the following types of weddings…gorgeous ballrooms without a ton of dripping crystals and a focus on total style, modern affairs with simple but stellar details, brides of all colors, sizes and shapes that reflect our true readership, new approaches to old styles (ie…show me an awesome new way to approach a barn wedding), indoor affairs and weddings that really represent a particular city in their style (not in a theme way). We see so many weddings every day they are starting to all look the same. If there is a unique angle, it will definitely catch our attention.
10. ASK. Don’t be afraid to ask why a submission was declined. We are MORE than happy to share so that you can better understand what we are looking for next time. Although there are plenty of cases where we’re simply oversaturated with one type of wedding, more often than not there is a specific reason why your submission was declined. Just make sure you have a bit of a tough skin and are willing to really hear us out.
So there you have it. There is so much more that goes in to curating a blog like SMP and I’ll make it a point to go into greater detail in future posts. But this is a good first look at our best practices. Remember that we WANT you to get published. We WANT you to send in weddings that get a ton of coverage and attention on SMP. So the more you stick to these general rules, the better for everyone involved!
Have questions? Ask away, I’m here all day!!
Thank you for #9. I’m still a year away from getting married, but as a blogger myself, I’ve been thinking about asking my photographer to work with me on a submission when it’s all said and done. However, there’s a part of me that thinks we aren’t pretty enough for wedding blogs. Maybe there’s room for some not-so-perfect looking couples who have an interesting, unique wedding to share.
What a fabulous post…great tips! I will definitely use these when submitting my wedding next year.
Thank you thank you Abby!!! So great to know the little details on what you are looking for!
Thank you so much for taking the time to post these suggestions and insights! Hopefully this will increase the efficiency of both people submitting and reduce your workload with more appropriately submitted packages. We look forward to submitting many more weddings, but we’ll be sure to adhere to these kinds of guidelines closely!
-katie
Excellent tips! Thank you for sharing. Have been working on getting The French Bouquet’s gorgeous designs on SMP lately and now I have some helpful tips with which to work now. Yay!
Cheers,
Savannah
Dear Abby, can we just reply to the confirmation e-mail about denial? Thank you very much for being so open. At times I still do feel like I am in high school and afraid to ask questions thinking other students will laugh at me
Hopefully I can learn and improve more!
Yep! The email goes to myself (usually) or one of the editors so absolutely just reply. DONT be shy. It’s important to learn from a decline so that your next one get’s picked up. The world of blog publication is pretty new so everyone is still learning. Us included!
Thanks so much for taking time to provide these tips. I’m one who is hungry to see more diverse, indoor weddings on SMP (especially since most of my clients have that kind of wedding) and these insights are really helpful. I hope you guys rest your eyes often around there! So many beautiful submissions!
Thank you for this article! So helpful, especially as the season really comes into full swing. Good luck wading through everything!
First off, @JCL, don’t ever feel like you aren’t pretty enough to be published on a blog – just don’t even think that way!! You are going to be a gorgeous bride and no matter if your wedding is accepted to 1 or 100 blogs, as long as you and hubby say “I do” at the end of the day, that is all that matters!
Second, I love this post, Abby, thank you for putting it out there, it is perfect timing for a submission I am working on, and I appreciate the candidness and honesty of what goes on in the back-end of SMP!
Have a great day, ladies
Thank you so much for this insightful post! I read it over lunch as that’s when I check out SMP…perhaps something that caught my eye was that you mentioned the MidWest! I myslef, am sending some love from good Ol’ Ohio!
Thank you SO much for this! I’ve photographed over 100 weddings to date and have always wanted to submit my work. I was never really certain if my style fit in with SMP viewers for fear that it might be too “fun” or “edgy”? I hope to pick my best one and submit soon if you think I might fit in? Either way I’ve enjoyed the blog and the effort you put into it for a LONG time! I try to shoot for myself and for the couple and will hopefully find the perfect fit to be featured.
Craig
lusterstudios.com
Thank you SO much for this! I’ve photographed over 100 weddings to date and have always wanted to submit my work. I was never really certain if my style fit in with SMP viewers for fear that it might be too “fun” or “edgy”? I hope to pick my best one and submit soon if you think I might fit in? Either way I’ve enjoyed the blog and the effort you put into it for a LONG time! I try to shoot for myself and for the couple and will hopefully find the perfect fit to be featured.
Craig
lusterstudios.com
Great tips – my wedding is in 24 days at Garden of the Gods club and I think that it’d fit great with all of you. It’s a smaller wedding, many – many – many DIY parts of my wedding, and a lot of family pieces!! I come here every day to take screenshots for ideas! Thanks so much for helping me make my wedding perfect!
I will now be turning away brides unless they are having an epic ballroom wedding. Got your back, SMP.
daniel.
this is an awesome post…thanks so much for the info. it’ll be really helpful for future submissions.
Love it! Such great advice
You should do one on how to submit inspired shoots to blogs 
Abby, thank you so much for taking the time to list in-detail your needs! Will be sending a wedding to you soon
Hello – I am working on my submission and would like to save it and come back to it. Is that OK? I don’t see a “submit” button anywhere, so I am afraid when I hit SAVE it will send my incomplete submission. Thanks! Meghan
Where do I submit e-sessions?
Loved your detailed suggestions and will be sending something your way soon!
Thank you for these wonderful suggestions. Just wondering how long it generally takes to hear back from SMP regarding if the wedding will be published? Thanks for your response!
It kind of depends on when you submit. Some weeks it’s 2-4 days, others it’s 2-4 weeks. We try really hard to go through submissions within a week of receiving them.
Great! Thanks Abby. Also, just curious if we would hear back whether it will be published or not. I appreciate your info!
yep we always give you an answer one way or another.
Hi!
Just an extra question: we got married in France last April 23. I know that you do not cover our “zone” but I love your blog and got lots of inspiratino from it.
Is it worth it for me to fill all these steps, or I don’t have any chance to be casted because of our location??
Thanks for your answer and keep choosing these marvelous wedding pictures, they make everyone dream!
Hello!
Just wondering…..are people from outside of the States (e.g Photographers, Brides) allowed to submit? I’m from little old New Zealand but would love to share some of our gorgeous weddings with you! <3
Hi Abby,
I have a really unique situation – I photographed two Indian weddings and the events before/after the weddings recently. The weddings were of two twin sisters’ who shared several of the events and had two separate but beautiful weddings within a day of one another!
I know that a submission is supposed to include just one wedding, however, I feel like I have this “unique-case” scenario that would be best showcased together. What are your thoughts on how I should best approach this if I decide to submit to SMP?
Thanks so much for your consideration!
I have a question: do SMP accept engagement pictures for the submission in order to be published or they only request wedding pictures?
Thank you,
Julia
Hey Julia, we accept engagement photos too. Anything wedding related that we feel is SMP-worthy goes up on the blog.
Hi Julia,
Just wondering if content exclusivity includes the photographer’s own website/blog?
Thank you,
Tim
Do you accept submissions from Ireland? I have a quaint irish Castle wedding.
Thank you,
Sarah
Hi!
Just wanted to ask, how long is the average delay before you answer to submission ?
By the way, do you decline formally, or do we have to understand by ourselves if no answer is sent ?!
Thank you a lot!
Wow, this is the most helpful page I have seen from any blog or website about submitting a wedding. Thank YOU for taking the time out to help us get the best results to you. It’s a pleasure working with you!
Bonjour!
I have one question regarding exclusivity.
Since I work with international clients in other countries, I have opportunities to get my wedding featured on foreign-language blogs. Is that an issue for you? I feel like the exclusivity should be restricted to blogs in english, since the audience and market are different. Please let me know.
Many thanks for your reply.
mademoiselle fiona
Hey Tim…photographer’s own websites are fine…as long as no other blogger picks up the wedding and publishes without your knowledge. Which is something that happens a lot actually.
Hey Sarah…we accept submissions from anywhere! Ireland included!
Hey Federica…we try to answer within about 4 weeks time. Sometimes it is a bit longer, others much shorter mainly depending on how many we have in our queue. Right now we have around 400 to review so we’re a bit backlogged. Either way, you’ll definitely get a response.
Hi Fiona…we have a very strong international audience so ideally, we would have complete exclusivity. With that said, we’re happy to make exceptions if there really isn’t a conflict. So I’d have to say that we would review that on a case by case basis.
Hi there, I am getting ready to submit wedding photos, but they ended up getting out of order as I was resizing. You can certainly tell what was happening throughout the day, but would you prefer them in the order they were taken? Thanks!
Thanks so much for this post, its amazingly helpful. I am planning to submit something to you soon so will be making sure to follow your recommendations. I do like point 10 though, its always great to know reasons why something hasnt worked so you can learn for next time.
thanks, fiona
Thank you for this post! I just received my wedding photos from my October wedding and the first thing I wanted to do is submit to SMP. I still read it even after “I Do”:) Your tips are really helpful!
Hello Abby!
I’m a HUGE fan of SMP! I am getting ready to submit my engagement photos and I am trying to ensure that I follow all of the guidelines. About the color story, I took photos in 3 different locations and had 3 different outfits ( all appropriate to the location) but with different colors. Should I just select photos from 1 location? Thanks!
Just submitted my first wedding ever and I am very excited! I love SMP and it has been one of my dreams for my work to be featured! Cross your fingers!!!
Hi Abby,
I have a client that hired me for a wedding and two receptions. yes, two receptions a week after each other. They had an Americanized wedding and reception and a Chinese reception.. May i combine the two in my submission?
Thanks!
Hi Abby,
Wondering if you ever have caterers submit? We feel like the food is such an integral part of the wedding and work very closely with all our couples to create an amazing and unique day. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
We have partnered with Sterling Corp (Jared and Kay Jewelers and their .coms) and wanted to extend an exclusive, national consumer promotion to Abby and her team on this wonderful site.
Please contact Dan Scott, CMO, Scott Kay at
danscott@scottkay.com
for additional information.
Hello!
I’m a bride who having read and loved this blog (so much so that I still read it weekly, months after getting married!), would love to submit my wedding photos (the reception took place at a beautiful, war-damaged, ballroom in Berlin, Germany). A couple of questions:
1. As to the exclusivity rule: our photographer has published a few photos from the wedding on his website, does that exclude me from submitting?
2. A friend, also a great photographer, took some detail shots that I would love to include – can I submit images from two photographers?
Thanks for all the inspiration!
I just completed a collaboration with some local vendors for a very unique tablescape that I would like to submit. However, the minimum submission of 60 photos seems a little much for a project like this.
Are you just not interested in featuring unique tablescapes and would prefer actual weddings? Is that why the minimum images is set at 60?
Thanks.
Just wondering how long after you accept a wedding it takes to be posted!
I have a submission that has been featured. It is really too beautiful not to share..It was featured on a wedding section of a national non wedding publication’s website. If I place the information in the submission information will that help you weigh whether you would submit or does that exclude it all together because it has been previously published?
Hi, how many photos is ideal to submit for an engagement session? Thank you!
Hi Abby, thank you for sharing such helpful advice. The last wedding I photographed was so full of delicate DIY beauties that I would really love to submit an entry.
Do you ever consider a collection, i.e. Themed engagement shoot that flowed into the wedding? Or do you prefer the occasions separated for an entry?
Thanks again! SMP keeps me inspired.
Abby wrote a new post talking about how to create a great wedding submissions
5 Tips For Making Your Wedding Submission Even Better
http://backstage.stylemepretty.com/2012/03/5-tips-for-making-your-wedding-submission-even-better/
This is such a fantastic post! Thank you so much for taking the time to create this breakdown!
How do I post engagement picture submission? We just received our pictures back from an awesome shoot in the Boston Gardens and Beacon Hill.l…l
Hey Kerrianne,
You would just use the regular submission server.
http://submissions.stylemepretty.com
Upload photos, provide credits and a description. We love a good engagement photo shot.
Hi, I’ve been a long time reader of SMP and would like to submit our upcoming July 2nd wedding for a feature. I am just curious as to whether the “status” of vendors has any influence on the final decision? For example, does SMP usually only accept submissions from well-established wedding photographers? My brother-in-law is our photographer and he’s a young and incredibly talented nature and action photographer. But he hasn’t done a lot of weddings as of yet (he’s only 25 and starting out!). I’ve seen the weddings he has done and I think his style would fit in with SMP perfectly. Plus, I’m a bride of colour and my hubby-to-be and I are an interracial couple, which I feel is rarer in wedding blogs…so I’m hoping we’ll get picked