When a wedding blog features your work, you’ve got reason to celebrate! Not only is it a solid way to get your images in front of prospective clients, it also builds SEO authority and is a great bonus for your fellow vendors, too.
Here are the top four ways to ensure success when submitting a wedding or editorial shoot to a wedding publication:
1. Respect exclusivity.
Don’t submit to more than one place at a time if your top choice for feature is an exclusive publication. Yes, the wait can be excruciating, but patience is a virtue, and if more than one blog accepts your submission for publication, you’re in trouble. Publications are NOT okay with the withdrawal of an accepted submission and you risk the possibility they’ll internally mark your business as one that is unreliable for sharing exclusive content. Submit to your top choice and wait; most publications give you a ballpark time frame when you can expect to hear back. After that window of time, you can follow up to confirm they’ve decided to pass on your submission, and you can move on to the next publication.
2. Share the good news!
Once accepted for publication, e-mail the entire vendor team and your clients to spread the word about the upcoming feature. If you haven’t already shared the image collection with the other vendors, now is a good time (it’s okay to withhold full galleries if you’re planning to submit to an ultra-exclusive publication like Martha Stewart Weddings, which requests NO posting on social media or Web sites before their feature goes live).
3. Resist the urge to overshare.
Even if the publication is flexible with you posting on your own social media and website, try to refrain from posting a ton of images of the wedding or editorial between the acceptance and the feature date. Publications appreciate you letting them be the first to share the full “story” of curated images, and most magazines (even a couple of blogs, like Martha Stewart Weddings) ask that you don’t share ANY images publicly before their feature goes live. Even if you share a “sneak peek” on social media, keep it simple and don’t “give away” too much of the design and decor.
4. Promote the feature when it goes live.
Share posts and stories on Instagram (remember to tag vendors and your clients!), re-share the publication’s social media posts, and add the feature to the “press page” on your website. Humble-brag the heck out of your accomplishment! Your work being published is something to be proud of!
