Weddingbee Blog

There are definitely a few differences between bridal magazines in the US and the UK.

I’ll only delve into the UK Bridal Magazines at the moment, but remind me to tell you about the cheese!

In the US, when you purchase a bridal magazine you’ll often receive just the magazine; occasionally it will be a special issue with an insert, or perhaps include a CD ROM. But in England, you get a bridal package. In fact, you could probably use the packet to lift weights. I purchased two wedding magazines, Brides and You and Your Wedding:

Inside I found:

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Thanks to our superawesome photographers, Ray & Erwin of Apertura, Mrs. Eggplant’s right arm has now been published in a national wedding mag! Apertura printed their very first full-spread ad in this month’s issue of Inside Weddings, smack in the middle of the magazine too. Watch out, Hollywood… here I come.

The image on the right side of the page spread was taken just before I walked down the church aisle. My cousin, Monica, was fixing my lipstick as little Jillian watched in wonder. Jillian was the cutest little flower girl ever and she definitely stole the show. I’m so glad this moment was caught on camera! I’m also so very glad we picked Apertura to document our wedding day. Best wedding decision ever.
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Last year, around this time, our honeymoon was nearing just as the holiday season was picking up speed. I found myself in a rush when I got back to get in the Christmas spirit! Mr. Peppermint and I promptly bought ourselves a tree and started decorating. Of course, the apartment still was filled with remnants of our months of planning… most notably wedding magazines. Lots of wedding magazines.

Being the resourceful newlyweds we are, we decided to use these magazines in what I lovingly have come to call “The Great Purge”. Basically we cut up dozens of wedding magazines to make a charming garland for our tree.

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Today’s behind the scenes at Bridal Guide Magazine post comes to us from  Senior Associate Editor, Elena Donovan Mauer.

Greetings from New York’s Lower East Side—or maybe we’re technically in Chinatown. Either way, here we are wrapping up the January/February 09 issue’s “Party Planner” photo shoot (don’t we work mighty far in advance?) and I’m coming to you via my laptop.

As I was sitting here, watching everyone toil away trying to make these three magazine pages look gorgeous, I was thinking about all the things bridal magazine readers would probably never guess about what goes on at this type of shoot.

First off is the location. Certainly, there are plenty of stunning photography studios in New York City, but there are also some in very hidden spaces.

This is the entrance to the studio where we’re shooting. Doesn’t look like much, huh?
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On Friday night, Mr. Cupcake and I had a cleaning party in our apartment — I know, we are absolutely wild!!! In our defense, though, our apartment was in dire need of some TLC, and neither of us could take the clutter anymore, so we decided that playing music and having a few beers while we cleaned would make it a lot less painful.One thing that I had to realize while we were cleaning: a LOT of the clutter in our apartment is the result of wedding planning. I have been storing a lot of wedding items in my mom’s basement (like my now-over-275 pieces of cut glass that will hold candles at our reception), but a lot of items have still seeped into our living space. The biggest culprit: my wedding magazines.

You may recall my creative storage solution for housing my mags…. but the truth is that the wine rack didn’t even hold 1/4 of the wedding magazines I have accumulated over the last 16 months. Others were hiding out on shelves, in corners, and under couches. Mr. Cupcake treaded carefully when broaching the topic, but when he mentioned the idea of possibly getting rid of a few, I knew he was right. Even though I was holding on to them for so long because I didn’t want to risk throwing away the most perfect idea for something that I had forgotten about, I had to face the fact that even if the perfect ideas are hiding in there, I am way too busy to sit there and look through them all again over the next 2.5 months!
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I have an unhealthy number of wedding magazines. Probably not nearly as many as some brides, but nonetheless, there’s a lot of ’em. It started innocently enough a few months before we got engaged when I couldn’t resist a pretty cover on the newsstand in Border’s. It escalated to full-blown over-consumption once the ring was on my finger. Subscribe to Modern Bride and Brides for the price of one? SCORE! That Martha Stewart Weddings “special” color issue? Well I HAVE to get that!

Once I found my dress, a lot of my wedding mags seemed to be a lot less useful, but I still can’t quite let go of them. I have torn some notable ideas out of them and put them in my wedding binder, but what if that PERFECT signature cocktail recipe is still hiding in the remains of the April 2007 issue of Bride & Bloom? I couldn’t possibly just throw. that. away! Mr. Cupcake has hinted at maybe getting rid of a few, but a stern glare shut him up pretty quickly. However, these mags do take up an obscene amount of space, and storage space is at a minimum in our apartment. So where do I keep all this “wedding porn”?
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A few weeks ago, I received this in the mail:

I had completely forgotten that I somehow stumbled across their sister publication’s website and noticed that they would be coming out with a bridal magazine soon. As soon as I saw the offer to sign up to receive a copy when it was published, it was a done deal. It had been so long, though, that it was a total surprise to get it in the mail one day!

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Well, it appears my little wedding magazine addiction isn’t going away anytime soon…. In the meantime, this weekend I discovered another new UK title called Wedding Ideas.

Although I’m supposed to be cold turkey from all wedding magazine buying at the moment, after much pleading, several applications of over-the-top doe eyes, and many justifications of why it would help our wedding planning and therefore our entire lives as a couple, Mr. Tulip basically just gave up the battle and let me purchase a copy.

This magazine is a bit more “approachable” than the other UK mags I’ve read — in US non-wedding terms, more Family Circle or Good Housekeeping than Vogue or Elle. Although fewer of the featured ideas suit my personal tastes, it’s rather nice to have a different set of items to look through. (And there are lots of photo arrays — oh, how I like to look at photos!)

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Martha Stewart was my gateway drug.

I don’t know, she seemed harmless enough. I guess I figured everyone else reads her. The wedding blogs are always showing off her ideas. The local library stocks her wedding how-to videos. Many of the craft tips can be applied in real life — you know, outside the wedding context? — and there are even recipes. Everyone can use new recipes, right??!?

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I love living in the South. I love the traditions, accent, balmy weather, you name it! My favorite places are Atlanta (naturally), Savannah, and Charleston. I originally wanted a destination wedding in Charleston. I’ve only visited once, but I instantly fell in love with the architecture and charm of this city.

Imagine my surprise and wonderment when I discovered their regional wedding magazine. The cover nearly produced a whiplash-like reaction in my neck:

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A special collector’s edition of Martha Stewart Weddings is currently on newsstands. The color themed issue features the best flowers, cakes, favors, etc. from the pages of the magazine for the past 12 years.

I picked up a copy yesterday (for $9.95), and the 96 page book is absolutely gorgeous. However if you’ve been devouring the pages of MS Weddings for years like I have, you’ve probably seen most of the images that are featured.

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People Magazine’s first ever wedding issue hits newsstands on June 15th. Currently they’re looking for pictures and stories for ugliest bridesmaids’ dresses, wackiest ceremonies, wedding disasters, proposal stories, destination weddings, and weddings that were inspired by a celebrity. The first 250 people to submit a photo online will receive a wedding gift package of samples from their advertisers.

Right now they’re posting submissions they’ve received for ugliest bridesmaids’ dresses on their blog. Of course the original ugly bridesmaids dress archive can be found at uglydress.com.

Have you ever had to wear an ugly bridesmaid’s dress?

Click here to print this coupon for $2.00 off the latest issue of In Style Weddings on sale April 6th.

Last time some of you had trouble using this coupon at newstands and Barnes & Noble, so try your local supermarket where reader ocicats had success!

I got this in my email today - click here to print a coupon for $2 off the latest issue of In Style Weddings!

Stop reading wedding magazines before bed!

For the past few nights, I have been having a hard time falling asleep. It’s been taking me over an hour to finally pass out, and that is such a waste of precious time. The culprit? Wedding magazines! So instead of falling into my usual coma, I have all of these ideas and visions floating around in my head.

Last night I was reading Inside Weddings, which I picked up at Barnes for the first time. It was great in that it had tons of “Real Wedding” features which I love to look at for inspiration… but apparently these are the “real weddings” of like millionaires. *sigh* I wish I was of those people who could afford to spend $50Gs on flowers alone. And hire Preston Bailey to pimp out my venue. Or buy 3 dresses: a Monique, Vera and an Amsale. And have fireworks. Hehe.

You can go here to check them out online.