Things to always include in any wedding submission
1. Your Information
Your Company Name / Your Name / Date and Location of the Event / Couple’s names
2. Company URLS
The more urls we can get, the better.
3. Social Handles for Everyone Involved
Makes promotion your business on our social channels that much easier.
4. Your Images
60-150 images that you feel best highlight the wedding. We need individual images at least 900 pixels wide and no larger than 5MB to accommodate our blog width. Vertical Imagery is best, with about 10% horizontal.
5. Image Types
We love color photos as they look best on our blog. Detail shots are very important in considering the wedding for publication, though details should be in healthy balance with the wedding story - the getting ready, the people, the moments. We do use black and white photography peppered in so feel free to include a very select group of black and white imagery as well.
6. Your Description
We love to hear details about the wedding. The more information you can give us about the wedding, the better. We can always cull it down. Sometimes it helps to have the couple answer these questions...
What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning?
What was your color palette and your style vision?
What unique elements or DIY details did you include?
What was your favorite moment? Your favorite crafted detail?
Tell us about your flowers, your gown, your favors, your cake, etc.
What is one piece of advice that you could give brides-to-be?
7. The Vendors
Please list ALL major vendors. We must have a photography credit to consider a wedding for publication. In an industry with so many similar brand names, it's super important to get the names and website urls correct from the very beginning! Don't forget the wedding dress and fashion designers! It's the most frequently asked question.
8. Video
If you have access to a short format video, it will always make the wedding much stronger online. We like videos that are under 5 minutes.
Exclusivity
SMP prefers unique, unpublished content for front page features. However, we do make exceptions on a case by case basis. The most important thing is that you DO let us know when & where the event has been featured.
Posting on Your Own Blog
We understand that you would like to publish your event as soon as possible on your own blog. If your submission is time sensitive, please be sure and let us know. Just include a note at the beginning of the Description Text section. Once a tentative publication date has been set (and entered on the submission) - we can work with you on coordinating with your own blog post timing.
For Cinematographers
We love to feature wedding films -- but for in-house reasons, it's best to include a few high res still shots along with the film. These images are used to generate thumbnails and post previews. In addition to Submission Guidelines 1-8 (above) here is a quick glance at what we're looking for in film submissions:
1. Timing: The videos that get consumed at the highest volume generally fall in the 1:45-3:00 minute time frame but more importantly, we need a really engaging introduction. The first minute is the most important.
2. Social: It would be AWESOME (we repeat AWESOME) if we also had a 15 second video to push around social. This would be such a value add to a submission and would allow us to market your work fully.
Tips for Getting Out of the Slush Pile
SMP receives between 400-600 weddings each week. Want to make your wedding sail to the top? Follow these tips...
1. Package Your Submission
Be sure to follow 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 in. The longer it takes us to chase down information, the more likely we are to put it on the back burner until we have time to devote to it. Because after all, there isn't a shortage for beautiful weddings. And those that are ready to go, will have an enormously fast turn around time!
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.
2. Select Good Images
Images that tell the story 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/couple 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, and the more unique attributes, the better.
Remember that at it's core, SMP is a social engine pro - and the elements that go viral on social for your business are the things that you might not have thought of or that aren't obvious from the images. Whether the bride has an amazing job or comes from a really cool family, whether some awesome new product/brand was used, whether there was a food truck with a super engaged audience that stalks them around the country. Dig deep and find the coolness.
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 and beyond.
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. Every image included should be able to stand alone or work as a collection. Consistency in color, tone, style and execution are incredibly important. Please don't send too many images that say the same thing from a different angle. We need you to cap it at around 120.
6. Editorial Photographs
They are really, really, REALLY important. We like images that are clean, simple and that haven't been too fussed with. 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. Where the details are set against a simple, clean backdrop and have been thoughtfully styled. We see far too many bouquets set against brick and ivy, far too many invitations that are washed out and feel a bit messy. You are your own best stylist so get in there and take a bit of control with the wedding story.
7. Read Our Blog
Select the weddings that you want to submit carefully. It’s so obvious to us when a submitter 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. Once you get the ball rolling on accepted submissions, we recognize your name and associate it with a YES rather than a no.
8. 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 (i.e. show us 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.