For many wedding suppliers, having their work featured not only feels rewarding but also serves as an excellent way to promote their services and build their reputation within the industry.
Submitting your wedding for publication can be time-consuming, overwhelming, and frustrating, especially if it doesn’t end up being featured.
With that in mind, it’s important to take the time to submit your wedding, but also ensure you’re not wasting your efforts. Follow this guide to increase your chances of having your wedding published.
How to Submit Wedding Photos to Publications
Our guide provides key steps to help you get your work published.
Find the right publisher for your wedding
Every wedding is unique, and with varying photography styles, it’s important to submit your wedding to the right sites and magazines. Instead of making a blanket submission to all sites, carefully consider which blogs would best suit the style and theme of your wedding, rather than focusing on which ones you would simply like it to appear on.
A fun, relaxed DIY wedding will be better suited to some wedding blogs than a luxury fine art photography wedding.
Choosing the right site and publisher is crucial and the first step. Consider which sites would be the perfect fit for your wedding and the audience they cater to.
Tell a story
When submitting your work, provide a full range of photos for review. Don’t just include a handful of standout shots; instead, submit a story of the day. If they ask for 10-15 photos, ensure these cover the entire event, from getting ready to the first dance.
It’s important that the publisher can see and get an overall feel for the wedding, including its style and the emotion of the day. This allows them to determine if it fits their publication and gives you the best chance of being featured.
Don’t forget the details. While the overall story is key, include shots of the table décor, flowers, unique arches, and other little things that make the wedding unique and special.
Follow the guidelines
You’ve picked the perfect site for your wedding, and you’ve got the photos ready to go—now what? Most major wedding publishers, whether online or offline, will have specific submission guidelines. Be sure to follow these guidelines closely and don’t ignore them!
Ignoring these guidelines is a quick way to be rejected, and the editor may swiftly move on to the next submission.
Guidelines might cover image size, the number of photos, supplier lists, information about the wedding day, or quotes from the couple.
Take time to read and follow these guidelines as they can vary between publishers.
Key points to follow
- No water marks on photos
- Give as much information as you can
- Submit the supplier list, names and website addresses
If you have had your work featured on their site before, let them know and share a link. This will provide them with a broader context and help refresh their memory of your previous work.
Don’t just duplicate
Once you’ve submitted your wedding, avoid duplicating everything you’ve sent to other blogs. A blanket approach of submitting the same wedding to all platforms is not good practice or etiquette.
It’s not fair to an editor if you have to inform them that you’re withdrawing the wedding because it is being featured on another blog.
What about styled shoots?
Some blogs feature styled shoots, while others do not. If you have a styled shoot to share, ensure the publisher accepts such content and consider how it would fit on their website, as well as the types of styled shoots they have published in the past.
Why was it still not published?
Even after submitting everything perfectly and presenting a stunning wedding, it might still not get published. This could be due to factors beyond your control, such as the site or magazine experiencing an influx of submissions and not having the capacity to include it in their schedule.
Another common reason could be that many submissions feature a similar style of wedding. The publisher might already have similar weddings lined up for publication, or they may have recently featured weddings of the same style. If several submissions share the same style, this could be why yours was not selected.
Don’t be put off
Finally, don’t be disheartened and don’t give up. If your submission isn’t selected, don’t worry—it may not be right for them now, but they might reach out to you in the future.
No one likes to be turned down, but it’s important to be kind and build a relationship with the editor. There may be ways to improve your submissions in the future or specific things the editor is looking for that you might have coming up or have just shot. Work with them and be understanding.