As a wedding photographer, getting your wedding photography work published is always an exciting moment. Not only is it a bit of a bragging right and creates social proof, but it also allows your work to be seen by a large number of potential clients. 

Even though there are many perks to getting your work published, actually submitting your work to an editor can be pretty scary. It can be quite complex, with guidelines to follow, curating your images and getting clients permission. That’s why we created a list of all the top tips that will help get you featured.

Spend time getting the detail shots 

Publications love details. Take the time to set up all the details in a beautiful way with nice light. Time can be tight on a wedding day and you don’t always feel like you have the time to stop and set up detail shots. If you think a wedding has a strong chance of being featured, bring a second shooter along so they can focus on the people during the getting ready and reception while you take the time to get the detail shots. Another thing that can be helpful, is asking your couple to have all their details in one place. That way when you get there in the morning, you can start shooting the details straight away rather than having the couple running around. 

Tell a story 

Publications want to be able to see the story of the day through your images. They love emotion, laughter and all the little personal touches throughout the day. Keep this in mind when you’re curating the images you’re going to submit. Take a step back and ask yourself if the images you’re submitting truly tell the story of the day to someone who was not there. 

Do your research

There are hundreds of publications out there, each with its own style. Do your research, think of the style of the wedding and only submit it where it’s going to fit best. Don’t waste the editors time by submitting a wedding that is totally off-brand to their publication. 

Submit unique weddings

It’s easy to jump onto your favourite publication, see what they have featured and then submit something similar, but publications want to feature weddings with elements they have never seen before. It may be a unique DIY centre-piece, a new venue or super fashionable but unique wedding attire. 

Get personal 

Publications get thousands of submissions each week, take the time to include a personal note when you submit your work. Remember, there are real people behind the computer where your submission lands. Tell them why you loved the wedding and share what you think is unique about the day. 

If it’s your first time submitting, introduce yourself and share your story. Even if you’re just starting and don’t have work to submit yet, don’t be afraid to still get in touch and let them know that you will be submitting work in the future. This is such a wonderful way to start building a relationship with the editors! 

Make the editor’s life easy 

As said above, always remember that editors have to go through 1000s of submissions so make their life easy!! 

• Follow all the submission guidelines listed on their website
• Include all the vendors with the correct links so the editors don't have to chase anything
• Get your clients permission before submitting your work - yes, it’s likely in your contract but editors still want you to have asked permission. There are times where couples don’t want their wedding to be featured publicly and it creates a headache for the editor if they then have to take the feature down
• Don’t send your whole gallery - most publications only want a highlight of around 20 images. They mostly want to see portraits of the couple and details 

We hope these tips help you with your submission process and make the process less overwhelming for you. Once you submit a few, you will start to find a nice little process that can fit seamlessly into your workflow. Now get submitting!