Thank you so much for your interest in submitting your wedding or work to Chic Vintage Brides! I am always excited to see arrive in my inbox weddings, styled shoots, engagements, or DIYs that I know will inspire CVBs readers, and that are a good fit with the vintage aesthetics they adore. I especially love anything that showcases vintage themes, creativity, distinctive style, beautiful photography (that captures the emotion and love that fills a wedding, as well as the gorgeous details) and of course a great love story! If your submission features any or all of the above then I can’t wait to hear from you.
If you are a wedding professional or creative with a product or service you think Chic Vintage Brides would love, then please pop across to the Advertise page, or email me at [email protected] for more information on collaboration opportunities.
Before diving into your submission, please take a good look at my recent posts to be sure yours is a good fit, and have a read of the guidelines below.
I love a good wedding and aim to feature as many as possible, from the fabulously retro to the classically elegant, and everything in-between. It doesn’t matter if it was a backyard DIY wedding with a budget of $2000 where the bride wore Grandma’s vintage wedding dress, or $150,000 Country House wedding complete with a custom Jenny Packham creation; if it is vintage, vintage inspired, or modern vintage I would love to see it!
Couples planning their big day like to see everything from the getting ready photos right through to the moment last drinks are called and the couple make their getaway. Your submission should be made up of a good mix of people and detail photos. So along with the portraits I want to see beautiful shots of the invitations, the bouquets, the cake, the place settings, the escort cards, and of course the fashion, along with the venue and overall styling of the ceremony and reception.
Before submitting, please be sure your couple are happy to have their wedding published and are willing to complete Chic Vintage Brides’ wedding questionnaire – which should take no longer than an hour, depending on how much they want to share.
There is no better way to showcase your work than with the creative freedom a Styled Shoot provides! The ones loved most by CVB’s brides however are those that most closely resemble a real wedding – with a loved up couple and all of the details couples are looking for for their wedding: a beautiful setting, styling and decor, wedding cake and stationery, as well as fashion and finishing touches.
For a styled shoot to be accepted I want to see inspiring photographs of ALL of the elements, NOT lots of shots of just one or two. If you wish to highlight the work or services of just one or two vendors, please head across to Chic Vintage Brides Advertise page for details on Sponsored Posts.
Before submitting, please be sure you have all of the credits, and that all of the vendors involved are in agreement with regards to their preferred publication.
I carefully curate your submission, be it a wedding, inspiring styled shoot or engagement shoot, down to about 25 – 75 photographs in order to create a post that I know will resonate with CVB’s readers. So, please make sure you submit enough images to allow me to select the ones I know that will work best – but not so many that choosing will be impossible. Somewhere between 75 and 200 images is usually best.
I appreciate that there are many different types of photographic styles, but I tend to gravitate more towards photographs that are beautifully and naturally lit. I love images that fall in the same photographic style and colour story rather than a mix – posts make much more of an impact when the images within them flow beautifully together. As Clare Boothe Luce said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” So please no random filter effects or obviously photoshopped images.
With your submission please send through 75-200 images without watermarks, branding or borders. I am happy to accept images via Dropbox, ZIP, We Transfer, Pixieset, PASS or anything that allows me to download ALL images at once quickly and easily. I don’t mind how large they are, as long as they are a MINIMUM of 850 pixels wide (portrait or landscape they must be at least 850 pixels wide), I can easily resize them down to the size I need.
Please label the image folder with your business name + the couples name/shoot name – downloading hundreds of folders titled “Chic Vintage Brides Submission” can get so confusing and leads to submissions getting lost and accidentally deleted.
I prefer submissions to come from photographers, because they own the Copyright to their work. However, I am happy to accept submissions that are accompanied with an email from the photographer giving consent for their images to be published on Chic Vintage Brides. I can not accept an email that doesn’t specify Chic Vintage Brides, so please be sure that your photographer is happy to contact me with their consent before submitting.
Whilst I will gladly be the first to publish, I do not stipulate exclusivity. I firmly believe great work shouldn’t be hidden away for only the lucky few to stumble upon, it should be shared and shouted from the rooftops! So, I am happy to see your work being published and showcased in magazines or on other blogs. Therefore, please feel free to submit weddings and shoots that have already been published, all I ask is that you include in your submission where it has been published, a link to the post and when it can be re-published based on the exclusivity terms of the blog or magazine. And once your work has been featured on Chic Vintage Brides, please do submit it elsewhere for publication after 30 days.
I receive A LOT of submissions every week, and I definitely appreciate brides, photographers and vendors who go the extra mile to make my life a little easier. So here are a few tips, pointers and observations that will improve the chances of your submission being accepted and published quicker……
– Matchology is my preferred method of submission – and you can sign up for a FREE trial here!
– Make sure your submission is a good fit for Chic Vintage Brides.
– Include between 75 and 200 images sent via Dropbox, ZIP, We Transfer, Pixieset or PASS.
– Ensure images are a minimum of 850 pixels wide – and without watermarks or borders.
– If it’s a wedding, include a few details about the happy couple, their love story and the day.
– If it’s a styled shoot, include a short paragraph about it, as well as the business name and website URL for everyone involved.
– If you are not the photographer, ask the photographer to email me giving consent for their work to be published on CVB.
– Let me know if your submission has been published before, where (include a link if possible) and when I can publish it.
If after reading the above you feel your submission is a good fit for Chic Vintage Brides, please submit via Matchology or send your submissions to [email protected] and include the word ‘SUBMISSION’ + what type of submission it is, in the subject field of your email and I will come back to you as soon as possible. Usually I try to reply within 5 days, so if you have not heard from me within that time, please do feel free to send me a follow up email – it is a constant battle to keep the inbox monster at bay and occasionally emails do succumb.
Whether or not your submission is accepted, you should hear back from me within 5 days – do please feel free to send me a follow up email if you don’t. If your submission is accepted, I will include in my response any information I require for a post (for example, for a real wedding this is likely to include a completed Wedding questionnaire + a few words from you the photographer; for an inspiration shoot the credits + a little bit about the inspiration behind the shoot) Once I have received everything I need, I will send you the publish date, followed by a confirmation on the day.
Here’s a little check list of things for you to do after you have been published, to maximise your posts exposure!
– Let the couple/vendors know – Email them with a link to the post and ask for their help to spread the word.
– Be sure to share the news, along with your favourite image, on Instagram.
– Head to Chic Vintage Brides Facebook Page – Find your post and be sure to like and share it to your Facebook Page.
– Pop across to Chic Vintage Brides on Pinterest – Repin the lovely images from your post (and anything else you find and like!)
– Tweet your favourite image from your post along with a shortened link.
– And last but not least take a peek at Chic Vintage Brides’ Badges page, choose your favourite and add it to your website or blog!