So, your wedding submission got rejected.

That sucks.

Unfortunately, getting rejected is part of playing the game.  Many of the online and print wedding publication receive hundreds of submissions each and every week.  Getting your wedding accepted at your first choice publication the first time you submit for each and every wedding you submit is an unrealistic expectation for most of us to have.

The important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how may times that you get rejected as long as you don’t get discouraged and give up.

There are several things that you can do to improve your chances of getting accepted the next time that you submit a wedding for publication.

Did you strictly follow the submission guidelines?

If you did not read the submission guidelines for the blog that you were submitting to that should be step number one.  The easier you make it for an editor to blog your session, the better your chances of publication.  If an editor likes your images, but has to track down additional details, vendor links, or images they will be more likely to let your submission slide back into the slushpile than if you provided them with everything they needed up front.

The same goes for formatting.  If a blog calls for all images to be sized to 960 pixels wide, and you did not resize your images the editor will ahve to go back and resize the images before they can blog them.  This makes their job harder and generally ticks them off.  If you have ever sat at a computer all day blogging I am sure that you will totally nderstand how frustrating small added steps like that can be.  Make it easy for them to say yes, and you will be accepted more often.

Did you research which publications would fit the style of your wedding?

In my ebook “The Wedding Photographer’s Guide to Getting Published” I outline a process that I use to research and find publications that will be a good fit for each wedding that I am planning to submit.  Just like you have a target demographic for your brides, so does each publication.  If the material that you are submitting does not appeal to their target demographic, you are not going to be a good fit for publication.

Don’t submit a traditional ballroom wedding to a rock inspired blog or vice versa.

Do your research.

Have you read recent posts on their site?

Even if you have done your research and the style of your wedding would be a fit for a certain publication you could still get rejected if they have recently published a similar event.  This is why it is important to read the blogs that you plan to submit to.

If you are following a blog and they publish a burlap themed wedding that does not mean that your burlap themed wedding will be a sure thing.  Yes, they obviously liked the concept, but they need to have fresh content.  You want to aim to submit weddings with the same general style, but that are unique from the features that they have recently posted.

Along with style, keep location in mind as well when researching publications.  Unless the publication focuses exclusively on one geographic area, they will not want to post four California weddings in one week.

With the multitude of publications out there in the wedding industry, chances are that your wedding is a perfect fit for one of them.  Keep looking until you find them!