I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s post about our beautiful wedding spread in Baltimore Bride magazine.It was such an honor and we were really so excited about it.I hope you all enjoyed it!
While the opportunity to be published in a magazine was pretty unbelievable, it did come with one sad caveat, saying no to Style Me Pretty.For those of you who are unfamiliar with SMP, it’s the number one wedding blog out there and it features weddings from real brides from all across the world.To have your wedding chosen as a feature is a serious honor and an ode to your style and taste.So you are probably wondering why I would say no to such an opportunity, well let me explain.
Around the same time that our photographers submitted our photographs for the Baltimore Bride spread, I turned in our wedding to Style Me Pretty.I wrote an embarrassing eight page essay going over every single unique detail I could think about our wedding.Hey, they say the more information you give them the better your chances.So why not?I’m sure they rolled their eyes at the whole thing.I, of course, thought it was a total masterpiece.After submitting the 100 plus photos and the college-like essay, you have to read an exclusivity agreement.Basically, it says that your wedding isn’t being published by anyone else.All blogs and magazines want to have fresh new material, not the same wedding over and over again.Totally understandable.So I clicked away on the agreement and sent the submission away to be critiqued.Style Me Pretty cautioned that it could be up to 8 weeks before I heard anything back about my submission.Okay, no big deal, I can wait.
A few weeks later, we got the call from our photographers about the magazine spread.We were super excited and totally prematurely posted about it on Facebook like big dorks.We emailed all our friends and family members and generally gallivanted around about it.
A few weeks after that, I got an email from Style Me Pretty saying our wedding had been accepted for a spread and they would contact us in a few weeks about publishing it on their site.I was home alone when I got the email and I’m not lying when I say that I ran around the apartment and did a little dance.I’m awkward like that.When Mr. A came home, I gushed about the news (which he honestly didn’t understand at all).I was like, “Mr. A don’t you understand this is like the biggest thing ever. Style Me Pretty is like the crème de la crème of wedding blogs.It was my dream ever since we started wedding planning to have a wedding that would be featured on there….ahhhhh.”Finally, he was like “Congratulations babe (I still have no idea why you are so excited about this you crazy person).”
A few weeks later, the Style Me Pretty staff contacted me about a date for posting the wedding and asked that we get written permission from our photographers to feature their wedding on the site.Apparently, they had had a few issues lately with photographers objecting to their images being used.So I promptly sent a note over to our photographers explaining the situation, no biggie right?
Wrong, apparently I totally forgot about that exclusivity clause I agreed to originally.Our photographers emailed us back politely explaining that since we were going to be in Baltimore Bride, we couldn’t also using our images for Style Me Pretty.Womp, womp, womp.
So then I started kicking myself.How could I have forgotten the cardinal rule in blogging? No one wants repeat material.I’m not going to lie I was super bummed about it.I mean Style Me Pretty was my dream.But then my Mom gently reminded me that a real-life magazine is way cooler than an internet site (I still love you Style Me Pretty).Being published in a wedding blog wouldn’t mean anything to my relatives but they would certainly love a magazine that they could show to everyone.Pretty silly for me to be bummed about something like that right?Glad Mom snapped me into shape.
If I could do it all over again, I would still pick the magazine.It’s something physical I can pass along to my children (and maybe their children).I can sashay the magazine around our office and my friends and family can run out to stores and buy it.
We should change it to selected but declined
But I will always have a spot in my heart for Style Me Pretty.And no I won’t have that badge on my blog that says “I was featured in Style Me Pretty” but I can definitely brag that we got picked by them but had to turn them down ;)And that my friends is why you would say no to the goddesses at Style Me Pretty. And also why you should completely understand the ins and outs of exclusivity when you submit your wedding to anything :) Lesson learned.
I’m just glad I figured this out before our 5 year vow renewal, right Mr. A?
