 Image: Val & Sarah
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question: how do I increase my chances of being accepted for feature on a wedding blog? Or, “this is my first time submitting to  a wedding blog – any advice?”. As a matter of fact, I DO have some advice. I’ve always considered myself lucky to get to experience both sides of the wedding blog submission spectrum – as the submitter and the submission receiver – and it’s given be a pretty well rounded view of the wedding blog submission process. Wedding Bloggers might complain “no one reads my submission requirements” and submitters might respond with “every blog has different requirements! I don’t have time to meet every single one”. So I’m here to break it down for just the submitters, in 3 easy pieces of advice.
The Top 3 Tips for Submitting Your Work to a Wedding Blog
#1. Read the Wedding Blog’s Submission Requirements
(See what I did there?) I took sides with the wedding bloggers already!. But seriously. I cannot emphasize this enough – reading the submission requirements of a blog (even if they are insanely long) will be worth it if you want to get featured on that blog. Most bloggers will deny you instantly if you do not follow their requirements. I tend to take a bit more of a lenient approach, as I understand that it takes a LOT of time to customize your submission for each different wedding blog, but most wedding bloggers are not like me. And as a wedding blog editor, I can tell you that 75% of the submissions I get do NOT follow my requirements and that stinks.
I tend to send submitters to my submission requirements page, but other bloggers might not be so kind. So it’s in your best interest to just start there! If you want to be accepted, then you MUST read the submission requirements. And then, obviously, follow them!
#2. Read the Wedding Blog You Are Submitting Too(!)
I cannot stress this one enough. I can’t tell you how many times I get submissions and I look at the images and I think, man – this person hasn’t ever even looked at my blog. If you want to get accepted for publication on a wedding blog, take the time to READ the wedding blog. Look at the images they post, the types of features they accept, etc. If the wedding blog you are submitting too tends to only feature weddings that are shot in natural light, outdoors, with floral crowns, then chances are, your super modern, interior wedding, will not be accepted.
Personally, I get a TON of weddings & engagements submitted to me from states outside of DC, MD, & VA. I also get SUPER traditional weddings and very portrait-like engagement features. I know right away that these submitters obviously don’t even read/look at my blog – so chances are their submission are NOT a fit and I don’t accept them.
So if you want to be accepted for publication on a wedding blog, do a little due diligence first and ask yourself, “is the feature I am submitting similar to the ones this blog likes to feature?”.
#3. Accept the Fact that Doing #1 & #2 Might Still End in Denial
Getting accepted to a wedding blog for feature (especially depending on the blog’s reach and how many submission they get) isn’t easy. Mostly because sometimes it’s just impossible to know what the editor is specifically looking for OR what the editor might have in their pipeline.
I might get submissions that I love personally, but it might be missing something I can’t really put into words. As the editor, that’s my responsibility – to pick the content and features that I think keep my blog on brand. I might also get submissions that I love but I just featured something similar and have something also similar in the pipeline on my editorial calendar. So just bad timing.
Unfortunately that is the nature of the wedding blog beast – wedding blogs are businesses after all and if we featured EVERYTHING sent our way, then our brand wouldn’t hold much meaning, would it? Quality over quantity is key for any online editorial business.
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