Hi friends! So I just returned from a business trip to Las Vegas, during which I co-hosted a workshop for photographers about getting published, and then attended a photographer’s trade show. Of course I really know nothing about photography (except for what looks good), as I’m not a photographer, so it was hilarious when I was walking around, and people would ask if I used XYZ service for my images. I would then have to explain that I’m not a photographer, I’m a wedding blogger- and the majority of the time, the person I was talking to had NO clue what a wedding blog was.
Well, because of the above situation happening all too often, I wanted to take today to make a declaration about wedding blogs, what they are, and what is involved.
One of my friends recently wrote a little post on her blog about the word “blogger” and the negative connotion that it seemed to have. She mentioned that she doesn’t really tell people that she’s a “blogger”, because people either don’t know what it means, or they don’t think it’s a legitimate career. This got me thinking. In the 3+ years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve been the same exact way. But the truth is, I actually don’t even really see myself as a blogger, because blogging is such a small portion of what I actually spend my time doing. Back when I started this blog, and I started playing with the idea of doing it full time, I thought that my days would be spent blogging and looking at pretty photos. Well, now that I “blog” full time, I’ve realized that my-oh-my, I was SUPER wrong about that!
So now I’m saying it to the world: I am a professional wedding blogger. It’s taken me YEARS to be able to say that to people’s faces. To say that I run , own, and write a wedding blog. Because honestly, half the time people don’t even know what a blog is. And other times, people don’t quite understand how a blog could possibly be a business. Sure, I have a whole “thing” that I say to people- how a wedding blog is like a magazine that updates every day. And that my site is more of a “resource” for brides planning their weddings. But even after explaining it, I’m still faced with clueless looks.
You know what that says to me? That a wedding blog is *different*. From the things that are shared, to the services that are provided- it’s different. The pages of my blog equal my work. My business. My career. My income. And yes, my life. I’m not just a bride blogging through her wedding planning, or someone who is a “stay at home wife/mom” who really loves to swoon over weddings. My blog is more than just a blog to me. It’s a website. It’s a resource for brides. But it’s also my business. My career. Heck, even my LIFE at times. It pays my bills, puts food on my table, and it is 100% ME. I built it from the ground up, and it’s grown organically. I didn’t have existing connections in the wedding industry when I started off, and I don’t have a husband/best friend/cousin/in-law who is a web designer. Oh, and let’s not forget that I don’t have a team of worker bees helping me out either- as much as I need it! I thankfully do have contributors who do a few wedding posts per week, but all other posts, emails, submissions, etc- is all me. I’m still figuring out how exactly to get the help I need, because I’m pretty convinced that working 18 hour days can’t keep happening.
So back to the question of what a wedding blog is. In general, a blog is a platform. Some people use that platform to speak their mind. Some people use it to share information. In the wedding world, we use it to share inspiration, ideas, and information with brides. And yes, as a wedding blog, our readers are BRIDES. A wedding blog is a publication- an “online magazine” that updates every day if you want to look at it that way. It’s a place that was created so brides could have tons of beautiful wedding inspiration and ideas at their fingertips- and have it every single day. A wedding blog is something that *helps* brides.
One of the things that I’ve seen is that the title “wedding blog” is thrown around a bit too freely. So I’ve categorized wedding blogs in 3 different ways. Professional wedding blogs, wedding vendor blogs, and bride blogs. Every Last Detail is a PROFESSIONAL wedding blog. A professional wedding blog is one that updates every day, derives an income from advertising and marketing, works hard to provide unique content, and has a business that IS the blog. A wedding vendor blog is a blog that a wedding professional uses to help marketing their own business. Their blog is FOR their business. And then a bride blog is a bride who is blogging about her own wedding planning experience. Perhaps sharing inspiration boards, dresses, etc. (Most of the time, these blogs stop after the bride gets married, or become family/baby oriented.)
So with those things said, I’m brought to another common question that I get- what does a wedding blogger do? I was going to go through a normal day for me, but let’s face it- no day is actually normal. When I started blogging full time, I had the notion that I was going to spend my days blogging pretty weddings, writing tons of posts, and doing photo shoots. HA. But I WILL actually just lay out the things that a wedding blogger (at least in my world) does:
– Blog. Duh. But there are lots of things that have to happen for this to happen. See everything below.
– Review submissions.
– Email photographers/brides for vendor info, confirmation and/or interviews
– Wait on email responses from above
– Respond to emails above
– Keep an editorial calendar up-to-date
– Cull images
– Lay out images
– Respond to and/or (in my case) DELETE meaningless PR emails
– Emails and phone calls with existing advertisers
– Monthly email blast to brides who have signed up
– Emails and phone calls with potential advertisers
– Submit blog post links to various outlets for increased publicity
– SEO
– Keep media kit updated
– Write posts with actual content
– Come up with new blog post series
– Photo shoots
– Website updates
– Website upkeep
– Input new advertisers
– Update existing advertisers
– Comment moderation
– Emails times a million
– Blog
I did actually write out what a somewhat typical day is like for me. But I’m not going to share it. Because it’s bad y’all. Real bad. You would judge me. Let’s just say it involves email pretty much all day, lots of social media, and blogging at night. But that’s the thing- as a professional wedding blogger, blogging is probably the thing that I do the least. Like right now- I’m writing this at 11 PM. Because that’s when I write best. And as you can see from my list above, blogging is really not what I do all day. It takes a lot to be able to be a “blogger”. In fact, I don’t even describe myself as a blogger anymore- I describe myself as the owner of a website. However, the wedding blog world is WAY different from all other blog worlds out there- mostly because of the fact that we have a more visual focus for our blogs. If wish it was easy as just slapping a few photos in a blog post. However, there are several other things that are involved with posting weddings besides just the photos. And let’s not forget the fact that I don’t make money from just posting photos. So yes, that’s why email takes priority in my world, because emails lead to relationships, which for me, leads to me making money.
Yeah, I said it. It’s not a secret- I live off of this blog. I consider it my JOB to be a platform for vendors to share their work, and inspire brides. It’s not my job to look at pretty photos. It’s my job to tell you about how to get those pretty photos. :)
A big thing that has happened for me this past year was connecting with several other wedding bloggers. We’ve been able to support and encourage each other, bounce ideas around, and even help one another troubleshoot issues. We’ve all found so much benefit in having a community of professional wedding bloggers that we’ve decided to tell other people about it. So if you are a professional wedding blogger (or are striving to be), then come check out The Love Collective! :)
I know this is deviating from my usual Thursday posts, but I felt the need to share all of this information today. Because I don’t want to to be ashamed to tell people that I’m a wedding blogger anymore. I want people to understand what a wedding blog is. I want people to value me for my time, my content, and my website. And above all else, I want to help brides!! :)
Lauren
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I LOVE every word you wrote. I think you’ve summed up everything we’ve all been discussing for so long perfectly & I can’t even think of anything else that could make it better! I don’t want to be embarrassed when I say I’m a professional wedding blogger anymore either. So I’m going to share this everywhere!!! Great job Lauren!
I LOVE every word you wrote. I think you’ve summed up everything we’ve all been discussing for so long perfectly & I can’t even think of anything else that could make it better! I don’t want to be embarrassed when I say I’m a professional wedding blogger anymore either. So I’m going to share this everywhere!!! Great job Lauren!
I LOVE every word you wrote. I think you’ve summed up everything we’ve all been discussing for so long perfectly & I can’t even think of anything else that could make it better! I don’t want to be embarrassed when I say I’m a professional wedding blogger anymore either. So I’m going to share this everywhere!!! Great job Lauren!
I LOVE every word you wrote. I think you’ve summed up everything we’ve all been discussing for so long perfectly & I can’t even think of anything else that could make it better! I don’t want to be embarrassed when I say I’m a professional wedding blogger anymore either. So I’m going to share this everywhere!!! Great job Lauren!
Great post. Even though it’s not my day job, I like to tell people I’m a blogger, because it’s where my heart is. You’re very lucky that you can do this for a living. I’m working on it – I would love to spend the day answering (or deleting!) emails! :) So speaking of that, I’m going to check out Love Collective right now.
I really like the idea of The Love Collective but I can’t find the membership rate on the site.
So well written! I have now printed this out and keeping it for reference and inspiration!
Lauren, we’ve never met but I’ve followed your blog for awhile and love the weddings that you feature. As a part-time blogger I recognize how time consuming it is and how much blood, sweat and tears it takes. I would love to one day be able to just have The Event Crashers be a full time thing and declare to the world that I am so proud to be a blogger! Thank you for your continued inspiration and motivation, and I hope one day I get the chance to meet you!
Great post Lauren! Blogging sounds so easy and fun, but it’s a lot of hard work and you should be proud to have turned your blog into such a successful business! I can’t wait for the day I get to go to Las Vegas to speak at a wedding workshop! Thank you from a fellow wedding blogger for writing this insightful article!
Fab post, Lauren!
Professional blogging takes a lot of hard work and dedication and, as you say, the actual blogging part takes up a relatively short period of the day with all the other admin/SEO/social media etc. involved.
I think this post is especially great for people considering starting a wedding blog to understand that it’s not as easy as it looks!
ps. Congrats on The Experience!
Great post, Lauren! I too have gotten many blank looks when I explaining what I do. People don’t realize how much hard work is involved – thanks for writing this article!
I love this! The only way you can celebrate something is if you own up to it. I love that you’re calling yourself a professional blogger.
Wow, I’m blind, I totally missed it! Thanks Layla.
Yes Yes Yes … I just ordered my business cards that say “WEDDING BLOGGER” in caps. I refuse to feel ashamed – It is a job and it is fabulous. Thanks for sharing Lauren!
“Slapping a few photos in a blog post” ha ha! What the world thinks we do vs what we actually do : ) Fantastic post, you’ve hit the nail slap bang on the head. We’re professional wedding bloggers! Let’s shout it from the rooftops!!
Love this Lauren! Reading these posts has been so awesome and encouraging! Yay for showing the public all the hard work we do- it’s not all glitz and glamour :)
Wonderful post Lauren! I really love how you broke down the different kinds of wedding blogs. So informative!
Brilliant and so true. Congrats on being a ‘professional wedding blogger’ … I love it :)
XO~ Heather
Style Unveiled
Great post, Lauren! It’s funny how everyone outside the wedding blog world just doesn’t always ”get it.” But to those of us who live it, breathe it and are in it – it’s our life! I recently enrolled my little boy into preschool and there was a space on the enrollment form that said “mother’s profession” and I wrote down “wedding blogger.” It felt silly – given that I wasn’t able to explain it or go into detail about what that exactly entailed – but I wrote it down anyways. It felt good to write it down, but I still wonder if anyone read it and thought ”whattt???” ha ha.
Great post, Lauren! It’s funny how everyone outside the wedding blog world just doesn’t always ”get it.” But to those of us who live it, breathe it and are in it – it’s our life! I recently enrolled my little boy into preschool and there was a space on the enrollment form that said “mother’s profession” and I wrote down “wedding blogger.” It felt silly – given that I wasn’t able to explain it or go into detail about what that exactly entailed – but I wrote it down anyways. It felt good to write it down, but I still wonder if anyone read it and thought ”whattt???” ha ha.
Great post, Lauren! It’s funny how everyone outside the wedding blog world just doesn’t always ”get it.” But to those of us who live it, breathe it and are in it – it’s our life! I recently enrolled my little boy into preschool and there was a space on the enrollment form that said “mother’s profession” and I wrote down “wedding blogger.” It felt silly – given that I wasn’t able to explain it or go into detail about what that exactly entailed – but I wrote it down anyways. It felt good to write it down, but I still wonder if anyone read it and thought ”whattt???” ha ha.
Omg Lauren, I cannot agree MORE! Your “blog” actually just made my night. My small company, The Social Doll is hired by multiple companies as an SEO/Content Specialist and “Blogger” and recently, during a meeting with one of my larger clients, one of the main editors (who sits on a high horse, mind you) referred to me as just “the website blogger” and I took offense, in fact all my being felt annoyed, but I realized…no do not get hurt by this comment…because AS bloggers/writers we are communicators, consultants, PR embassadors who are Google-versed, computer savvy and yet completely educated in our field. We are more than just a post a day or a few nicely cropped images. We are the backbone of our field, because good content is important and that is why people care about these topics. In fact, “blogs” and social media do make people happy with weddings and pins and positive information. I really hope people will one day understand that bloggers are a source of valuable information just like ELD is to those millions of brides and companies like Poetry Booths who use your resource as a filter, a “traffic” to stimulate our virtual name and our economy. Weddings, fashion, food, travel etc. need bloggers, we make the internet world go round :) And btw- I LOVE what you do! xoxoxo
Love this post! Especially about building from the ground up. I can completely relate. Diving in to an industry where you don’t have previous connections can be scary, but all the connections you make along the way are so worth it! Glad you put this out there to educate those that don’t know.
Hi Lauren – yes! What we do all day is often so different from what is conjured up by a profession. (Like all the poor kids scammed into going to chef school thinking they get a Food Channel job when they get out. Meanwhile, they just paid $25,000 to haul pot in a 100 degree kitchen!)
Aaron Wall of SEO book (blogger to the SEO world) calls what he does ‘publishing’. That a blogger is really a publisher. So what you do all day is what a publisher or editor does all day. And night. (That part doesn’t seem to change from print to web:)
Best to you!
Helen
InviteSite/3MusePress
this is an awesome article. this can be helpful for anyone. thanks for sharing this with all…