How to Successfully Submit to Wedding Blogs (And Why You Should)
Have you been part of a wedding where you’ve been really proud of your work? Are you looking to showcase your expertise and extend your reach to a bigger audience? Are you ready for more couples to see how awesome you are?
If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, you should be submitting your work to wedding blogs. It’s an excellent way to establish yourself as an industry expert and extend your reach even further.
But, here’s the problem where most creative event professionals get hung up.
Submitting to blogs can be a daunting task, one that takes a great deal of time and organization to accomplish. And if it’s not done right, you’re really just setting out to waste your time and energy. Your wedding might not get picked up by the blog, or if it does, it might not be particularly useful for your portfolio, and what’s the good in that?
In this post, I’m going to teach you how to successfully submit your event to a wedding blog. Why me, exactly?
Not only am I a business coach and an experienced wedding and events planner, but I also own and maintain a successful wedding blog. The blog, Santa Barbara Wedding Style, showcases the best of the best in Santa Barbara, and many of our blogs highlight real weddings from real couples. This unique positioning has put me on both sides of the process, allowing me to offer valuable insight into making it work for you. In fact, I’ve broken it down into 4 key elements—let’s get into those now.
When you are considering submitting your event to a wedding blog:
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Start with Clear Goals in Mind
Those goals? Decide who you are going to submit to, and how often you’re going to submit throughout the year.
Do your research here. Find the wedding blogs that speak most to your type of wedding. Some wedding blogs showcase weddings in certain locales, other wedding blogs showcase one type of theme. Some wedding blogs set out to highlight a certain price point, whereas others may focus on small, intimate gatherings.
One of my biggest pet peeves for my Santa Barbara Blog is when vendors outside of SB submit their work. Hellooooo? We’re a blog specifically for this region! Know exactly who you’re submitting to and why.
The key takeaway here: make sure the blog is aligned with your business, your goals, and your ideal type of clients that you would like to attract in the future.
Think about it, why would you want to waste time submitting to a blog that doesn’t align with your business or the types of clients you’re hoping to attract?
2. Set Up An Organized System
It’s easy to spin your wheels with the submission process, but there are ways to be efficient in your approach.
Once you have the blogs you want to submit to narrowed down, familiarize yourself with their submission process. If the process is lengthy, consider saving all the steps to one central document or sheet where you can continually refer back to. This will keep everything handy in one place.
The next thing you should do is start thinking about these three mindsets: before the wedding, during the wedding, and after the wedding.
Prepare your materials and props ahead of time with the couple in mind, of course, but also with the wedding blogs in mind. Think about how things are going to be photographed during the wedding. Is there an interesting shot you could get? A better angle? Once the wedding is over, take a quick hour or so to jot down details about the wedding when the event is fresh in your mind. If you’re any creative event professional besides the photographer, make sure to exchange details with the photographer and follow up after the wedding so you can showcase BOTH of your work later.
3. Connect to Both the Couple and the Other Vendors
Everyone loves a good story, especially blogs. That’s what they’re all about, after all! When participating in a wedding, pay attention to anything tidbits or nuggets of information that might play into the bigger love story. Jot these down throughout the event. When submitting to wedding blogs, use these little tidbits with a combination of photographs to really tell the story of their love.
Whether you’re a photographer, event planner, caterer, cocktail mixologist or any other integral part of the create event business, it’s essential to connect with other vendors because, in the end, submitting to a wedding blog is a chance to showcase everyone’s work. Don’t upset a vendor by omitting their hard work, especially when they might recommend you down the road to future couples. Remember, a rising tide lifts all boats.
And last but not least…
4. Share, Share, Share!
Once you’ve submitted and been accepted by a wedding blog, the work isn’t done yet! It’s time to share on your own blog/portfolio as well as your social media channels. You’ve worked hard in the submission process, now make sure it gets seen! It will not only boost your SEO, but you never know who will find your work, love it, and hire you as a result.
Some Final Thoughts
Remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re a wedding planner or a caterer or a florist, photographer or musician. You’re an integral part of the wedding industry, and submitting your work to wedding blogs is an excellent way to extend your reach to new audiences. If you need any additional help submitting to blogs or someone to hold you accountable, schedule a quick call with me here, and we’ll talk through your ideas and goals so you can catapult your business into a successful year.
