Planning a wedding is big business these days – the average cost of a US wedding is $28,732 – that’s more than many people earn in a year! Most couples have never planned an event of this size or cost before, so they’re searching for any advice to help manage their wedding plans. Bridal magazines and online planning guides cater to these dazed brides and grooms. If you’re passionate about taffeta and lace, seating plans and wedding bands, perhaps you should consider writing for the wedding market.
Several bridal magazines distribute in the US and internationally, and the pay rates for the professional ones are consistently high. To sell to bridal magazines you must pitch exactly the kind of articles they run. Certain magazines won’t take articles on budget, gay or alternative weddings. Others won’t take pitches on extravagant, no-expense-spared weddings. Above all, bridal magazines look for useful, fluff-free content with quotes from expert sources – wedding coordinators, financial specialists, relationship coaches and fashionistas.
Bridal magazines tend to acquire articles under four categories – advice for wedding planning, bridal fashions and trends (often written in-house), beauty tips and honeymoon destinations. To a lesser extent they also consider articles on related topics – relationship advice, etiquette, buying your first home, etc.
If you’ve never written for bridal magazines before, utilize your writing and professional experience. Were you a financial writer? Then pitch list articles on wedding budgets and saving for your wedding. If you wrote for craft magazines you’ll have heaps of ideas for DIY brides. If you’re a travel writer you’ll be able to submit articles as honeymoon destinations.
Another way to earn cash writing for the wedding market is to sell ebooks online. Many brides prefer to hunt for vendors and information online, especially if they’re planning a niche wedding that isn’t catered for by the larger wedding magazines. Information-hungry brides and grooms constitute one of the largest markets for ebooks and information products online.
The key to successful wedding ebooks is to find lucrative niche markets within the wedding industry and tailor your products specifically for that niche. While a general ‘Wedding Planner’ ebook might not attract much attention (there are thousands of these online) a planner with a title like ‘Your Dream Wedding for Under $1000’ or ‘Plan a Wedding in Hawaii’ will attract niche buyers.
Here are some examples:
Halloween Wedding Planner
The Destination Wedding Workbook
How to Plan the Wedding You Really Want
Deliver Great Wedding Photos
Personalizing a wedding ebook with pictures and details of your own and others’ weddings gives a special touch that your readers love. Make sure you ask permission from your wedding photographers before using their pictures.
The wedding industry is a competitive market, but new freelancers will find plenty of assignments if they take the time to learn the market and are generally enthusiastic about weddings.
PAYING WEDDING MARKETS
Bride and Groom
Pays between $0.50-$1 per article.
Elegant Bride
Pays $0.30-$0.60 per word. No online guidelines. Mail submissions to Deborah Moses, Elegant Bride, Pace Communications, Inc, 584 Broadway, Suite 607, New York NY 10012. Accepts freelance articles related to wedding planning and the first year of marriage.
Brides
Pays $0.50-$1 per word. No online guidelines. Mail submissions to Sally Kilbridge, Bride’s Magazine, Conde Nast Publications, Inc. 4 Times Square, 6 Floor, New York, NY 10036. Bride’s Magazine is written for the first- and second-time bride, the groom, their families and their friends.
When she’s not dragging her husband’s drum kit between gigs, Steff Green transcribes braille and large print and writes articles for print and online media. She’s written numerous articles on alternative, budget and niche weddings. Steff runs the Wedding Skulls blog and is the author of Halloween Wedding Planner ebook, available from Booklocker and her author website.