With over half a million visitors a month and 3 million followers on Pinterest, Bridal Musings is one of the most visited and well respected wedding blogs in the world. It’s even Vogue-approved! The blog’s founder Elizabeth Muhmood Kane and its editor Claire Byrne have worked on successful editorial campaigns for international brands like Disney, Macy’s, Dove, Crate & Barrel and UNICEF.
I met Elizabeth a few years ago in New York and am excited for her share a bit about herself and her tips for event professionals.
Name: Elizabeth Muhmood Kane
Job: Founder of Bridal Musings
Website: http://bridalmusings.com
Follow her on:Â @bridalmusings
About Elizabeth:Â Elizabeth Muhmood Kane, a Londoner, red lipstick lover, Pinterest addict and world traveler with a penchant for all things chic and romantic who founded Bridal Musings in 2011. In 2014, Elizabeth welcomed her first full time staff member, Claire Byrne, who is now editor of the blog while she oversees the operational side of things.
How did you first become a wedding blogger?
I was an early years teacher, covered in play doh and glitter most days. I was not a reader of blogs, didn’t have a clue what ‘html’ was and wasn’t the slightest bit interested in weddings. But all that changed when my husband, Zee, proposed in 2009 and I discovered my first wedding blog. It was love at first click.
I needed my daily fix and loved the intimacy and informal nature of blogs. After our wedding in 2010, I was surprised to feel quite low and kept finding myself sneaking a peek at my favourite wedding blogs. My husband was then the editor of a technology website The Next Web and he suggested I set up a blog of my own. With a little help from Zee, a lot of Googling and a basic Tumblr template the first, cringe-worthy version of Bridal Musings was born. What started as a hobby soon became my obsession and with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck it became my full time business
What do you like about working in the wedding industry?
I get to spend my days working with passionate, talented creatives, immersed in beautiful imagery, sharing people’s love stories and some of their happiest, once-in-a-lifetime moments. Also the majority of people who work in the wedding industry are genuinely lovely. I’ve formed some great friendships with fellow wedding bloggers who are essentially my competition but we learn so much from each other and help to lift each other up.
How do you find sources for your blog posts?
The majority of our content is submitted directly to us by wedding vendors, which has meant that we’ve built good relationships with them and often turn to them for expert quotes or images.
Our editorial calendar is mapped out months in advance, often around particular themes or seasonal content, so we tend to reach out to wedding vendors directly in good time. But then there are times when we receive an exciting email, meet an inspiring person at an event or spot something on social media that sparks an idea for a post and we follow up right away.
Sometimes we’ll turn to social media (usually Twitter or Facebook) to ask wedding vendors / experts for quotes we can include in our posts.
What is the best way to get your attention for an event professional?
Show a genuine interest in and understanding of our blog and use a personal touch. Taking the time to look at our About page, and address either Claire or myself by name in an email makes the world of difference. ‘Dear sir/madam or wedding editor’ emails are binned immediately!
Short and sweet emails are always greatly appreciated. The majority of an editor’s day is taken up with email admin, so big walls of text and numerous attachments are off-putting. Far better to provide a link to a website or Dropbox folder of images, that way, we can take a quick look and see if your product/service is the right fit for Bridal Musings without downloading or sifting through a ton of information.
What one piece of advice would you give to wedding professionals looking to get publicity?
Invest in high quality imagery. You may have the most wonderful, unique product or service but if your images are poor quality, badly styled or soul-less, then wedding bloggers are unlikely to feature them.
It’s also important to recognize that each blog and magazine has a particular aesthetic that they adhere to, so before reaching out, take a look at the last 5 posts / issues (as well as their submission guidelines) and ask yourself if your product and imagery will be a good fit.
You’ve been running Bridal Musings for 6 years! What has been your favorite project so far?Â
Earlier this year we worked with UNICEF (and a host of talented UK vendors) on a campaign to raise awareness about the devastating effects of child marriage. Our editor, Claire, and I and everyone involved (including our fellow wedding industry friends who helped to spread the word) worked so hard to bring our styled shoot and film to the general public’s attention and start a conversation about a cause that has become very close to our hearts.
I remember seeing that UNICEF campaign all over the place and thought it was very daring of you!
It was a controversial campaign so I was extremely nervous about how it would be received but the response was incredibly positive and overwhelming. We broke records for the most shared UNICEF campaign film ever with over 300 million views on Facebook, and 3 million YouTube views in the first week alone. This is my proudest business achievement to date, but there is still much more to be done. If you’re interested, please check out UNICEF, girlsnotbrides.org, tooyoungtowed.org to find out more.
Thank you for your time, Elizabeth. Keep up the good work at Bridal Musings!
