The Art of Wedding PR: How to Get Your Work Published with Meghan Ely

In this exciting episode of Wedding Empires, we’re joined by the incredible Meghan Ely, owner of OFD Consulting and one of the most influential voices in the wedding industry. Meghan combines her in-the-trenches event experience with her PR expertise to help wedding professionals get the recognition they deserve. With accolades from the Public Relations Society of America and Eventex, Meghan has a proven track record of elevating brands through media exposure. Her clients have been featured in prestigious outlets like The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides, Architectural Digest, and Style Me Pretty.

During our conversation, Meghan shares actionable tips and strategies for wedding pros looking to break into top-tier publications and grow their businesses. Whether you’re a planner, photographer, florist, or another wedding vendor, you’ll learn:

• How to craft compelling pitches that editors can’t resist.
• The must-have elements of a successful submission.
• How to build and maintain strong relationships with editors and media outlets.
• The secret to standing out in a crowded and competitive market.
• Ways to leverage your media features to attract more clients and grow your brand.

As a WeddingPro educator and an experienced speaker at major conferences, Meghan has a unique ability to make PR approachable and achievable for everyone. Tune in for a deep dive into the world of wedding publicity and learn how to take your business to new heights by sharing your story with the world.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Power of Wedding Industry PR
• 9:42 Photography Style and Aesthetics Influence Decisions
• 16:48 Media Pitching Do's and Don'ts
• 28:11 Media Selection and Success Advice
• 38:32 Photographer Submission Process and Joy

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:28

Welcome back to Wedding Empires everyone. Today, ben and I will be joined by the wonderful Megan Elly, who is the owner of OFD Consulting and she's an absolute, true powerhouse in public relations and marketing for the wedding industry. Specifically, megan is a very sought-after speaker, a wedding pro-educator, and she's been featured in major publications like the New York Times, forbes and the Knot. With her unique ability to blend PR strategies and deep industry knowledge, she's helped countless wedding professionals elevate their brands and connect with their dream clients. Megan, I've been dying to get you on here.

Speaker 2: 1:08

I'm so excited. We've known each other for a while, haven't we? We? I was thinking about that I was. It was such a pleasure to be asked to come.

Speaker 1: 1:16

I'm so glad to be here yes, and we've had a few of your clients too, haven't we? I was thinking who's that memorable, who's that guy that we like, ben Jordan?

Speaker 2: 1:26

Jordan yes, wonderful though it's a cast of characters, but they're all so amazing and just wonderful. But no, I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 3: 1:36

I'm very glad that you did that full intro, jack, because as usual here, I am just making you look good, yeah so Ben Ben likely hasn't even read the run sheet.

Speaker 1: 1:47

It's okay, we can have fun with this.

Speaker 2: 1:49

We can have real fun.

Speaker 3: 1:51

Ben's just gotten off a plane from Japan. Ben's only just back in the country a very short time, so Ben's read nothing, ben knows nothing, and it's just normal, really, isn't it Jack?

Speaker 1: 2:02

Yes, it is.

Speaker 3: 2:03

Yes.

Speaker 1: 2:04

So why don't we just start from the beginning? Make it really easy for you, ben Megan, how did you get into PR.

Speaker 2: 2:10

So we'll start from the very beginning. Believe it or not, I was in high school and a test told me I'd be good at it. That is an actual true story where I thought and I'm a bit of a rule follower so I thought, well, I mean, who am I to ask you know and judge that? Just I should go for it. But no, that's how I got introduced to it and over time, when I started really studying what I could go to school for, go to college for, it really hit me that that could be the right fit for me. So I went to college. I went to university for public relations. I loved it. I had notable internships at some larger publication. I worked at Nike, the world's headquarters. I got a lot of great experience.

Speaker 2: 2:49

But I always had a bit of a pull to the wedding industry. There's something about. I mean we can blame those watching today. They make it look fun. I felt like it looked fun. It could be a happy place to be. So I made the decision to kind of veer off a little bit and jump into the world of events, which I did, and so I split my time between the two for a long time, but always knew I would return back to my PR roots, which is what I really did in 2000 when I started OFD. The idea was let's start a PR agency, one of the first globally to really service the wedding industry.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Great. Why do you think that, as a wedding professional, getting published is such a game changer? Why does it need to happen?

Speaker 2: 3:29

There's a few different reasons. I mean, what's interesting is it's not going away 15 years. My answer does evolve over time. We are facing this big shift in audiences right now, right, these couples coming in universally. They're being known as Generation Z, and so the answer is a little bit different than a few years ago. But here's the thing. A few different things. One is social proof that's the biggest thing right now is the couples these days in that 25 to 35, they want to know that everyone thinks you're great because you can think you're great.

Speaker 2: 3:58

You can showcase your beautiful portfolio. That's wonderful. A beautiful grid on Instagram. All of that is important.

Speaker 2: 4:03

But there's a magic to other people saying you're great, so to be able to showcase that you're being quoted in the publications and that these editors are saying yes to your beautiful weddings and having them stand out. There's something to be said for that. But if I could be a bit of a nerd for a second, you know from the SEO standpoint, which is not my area of expertise by any means but you know there's always those great backlinks back, so you get featured, you get links back. I mean, I've seen it with. I've seen transformations with people's Google rankings because of press. And then, finally, you know what we hear across the board.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Statistically, yes, couples will find you through Google, so this works well together. But also the power of referrals. I think we can all agree this is a people industry and we for business to each other. And so imagine you have this gorgeous wedding with a couple and then, six months later, you can tell them well, you're in the latest issue of Bridal Guide. You send them an issue like you're top of mind again. Imagine you're a photographer and you submit, get things published, and it keeps the planner happy and the venues happy, so it really weaves into other promotional strategies as well.

Speaker 1: 5:03

I love that. Yeah, so what would be the first thing that a wedding pro should do if they're thinking I want to get published?

Speaker 2: 5:10

Yeah Well, I'm going to give you kind of, I'm going to give you a boring answer, but it's a very truthful answer, right? Because everyone, when they think of PR, maybe they'll be inspired today and they're like that's it, I'm going to go out and be in everything. And you really got to stop and ask yourself, because I doubt anybody has unlimited time and money. I mean, if they do have unlimited time and money, I'm always like come find me and we'll, we'll figure out what to do with that, you know, but with it, but because of that, we really have to ask ourselves what has to happen for this to be a success. Why do I want to do publicity? Why do I want to, if I'm going to be representing myself, which I encourage people to consider doing? You know, to start is the first thing you do is why do I want to do this? Am I trying to like, do I need to boost my Google rankings? Do I, am I looking to increase, of course, my referral base and things like that? Do I need to build my social proof or am I doing it for ego, which, if that's the answer, that's the honest answer, right? So, asking yourself what has to happen and really leverage your strengths Like what's most appropriate for me.

Speaker 2: 6:05

If you're a planner, photographer, venue I would say, designers, florists as well, then real wedding submissions might make sense. If you don't fall in those categories, maybe you're a DJ, hair and makeup then you would consider getting quoted as well. So what do I have there? And then the big thing is what kind of resources do I have? And I don't mean money, I'm not saying you have to pay someone but what sort of resources from the idea of timing and bandwidth and team to be able to help you with that as well? So it's some pretty big questions you should. Anytime you're jumping into any sort of promotion, new strategies, you have to ask yourself those things for sure.

Speaker 1: 6:40

That's what I would do first, ben, do you submit yours to publications?

Speaker 3: 6:43

Not normally. No, it's something that I have been going to do for so long. There's quite a few blogs and quite a few sort of websites out there that that I should do that too, but no, it's I'm. I kind of find that I I get a bit sort of lazy and then having to go through and fill out all the submission criteria and it's just for me it's kind of like it's all too hard so but I, with that said, it's, some cases it's a lot, some cases it's not, but it's.

Speaker 3: 7:12

I do recognize the fact that it's something, as a photographer and potentially as a videographer and stuff as well, that we need to be doing to get published.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Yeah, it's very difficult when all the publications have different processes, isn't it? You know?

Speaker 2: 7:27

It used to be. There was this brief, magical time where Two Bright Lights had a huge part of like so many different blogs and publications and they still do have definitely a bunch of them. But then the knot took over and it looks a little bit different now, but it used to be like so many that you could just do it once and get it out the door and that was beautiful. That's probably been why we're still in business, because everyone's like, if I have to format that vendor list one more time, I'm like I get it, like I get it when it comes to that and I wouldn't say I would actually push back and say I wouldn't see.

Speaker 2: 7:53

This laziness is just when people they either come to me or they're just looking to train on their own. It's just the middle of the busy season when you've done all the weddings and the editing and like who who wants to have to revisit it with a different eye. So I know it's a lot to ask of people as well, but I do feel strongly the importance of social proof. But I totally get. It's like me with my accounting. It's like I know I have to do it but I end up outsourcing it because I just don't. At the end of the day, I don't want to add it to my plate.

Speaker 3: 8:20

Megan, you're making me feel a lot better for not doing it, but you shouldn't, so I know it's something that we all need to do.

Speaker 2: 8:29

No, no, no, no, absolutely. But I do recognize with the wedding pros too. I mean, I was in weddings for years and it's like the idea of adding anything, anything else as well. The good news is there's smaller transformations people can make to like build layers to the bigger stuff.

Speaker 1: 8:41

So that's that's hopefully what I'm encouraging people today yeah even if it's as simple as I know with darling, don't panic. We just had a spreadsheet where it had the direct link to the submission page and whatnot. So yeah, I mean even just that simple starting point to sort of go okay. I suppose that leads me to my next question, though how do you choose which publications are worthwhile doing this for?

Speaker 2: 9:05

So it goes a couple of different ways. It starts internally with those bigger questions and it kind of lands on well, if I'm here, point A in my business, I'm trying to get to point B, wherever that is. What are the media outlets that are going to support that? I want to be better known on the destination side. So maybe it's destination I do, I want to attract the North American markets and maybe it's style, made pretty or, you know, I want to do more broad and what does that look like? So you kind of start there, right, and then you have to do and you have to pair it with those, of course, answers like SEO. You're going to look at it differently than you are the clout, right. Those are very different things.

Speaker 2: 9:43

But really, what guides the final selection, at least when we're working with our clients as well?

Speaker 2: 9:45

It's going to be the photography style and it's going to be the aesthetics of the wedding, because we could all want to be in Martha Stewart Weddings, which, by the way, has not published a wedding since last August 19th, by the way. So at the time of this, it was been a very long time since they've published anything, but we could want to be a Martha Stewart wedding in better times. But if the aesthetics of the wedding which are the final choice of the couple, even if we do have impact influence over it, if it doesn't match up, then that's not what's going to guide you. You know, I just had this really thoughtful conversation with these really, really, really talented planners we work with and they definitely have more of a timeless aesthetic and it's it's perfect in their region. People love using them, but it doesn't catch the eye of the editors as much. So we can sit here till we're blue in the face and say these are the publications I want, but the aesthetic of the wedding and the photography style does guide the final decision there.

Speaker 3: 10:37

So, megan, can you have you got any advice, then, for someone that doesn't potentially have a photography style that is conducive to all of these editors and all of these publications going oh?

Speaker 2: 10:44

Sure, I would say it's not usually a yes or no, I would say it's more of a. Is it limiting? You know what I mean. If someone chooses a pretty dark and moody that look that was popular for and some people still do, and is quite well loved amongst the couples who want it, that's just going to limit them to places like Junebug weddings or Storyboard weddings and things like that. So I think it's more of a limitation than like yes or no altogether.

Speaker 2: 11:09

But to answer your question more at length is if you have someone whose photography style is unapologetically what it is and they love it and it's their art and the couples love it, then that route of PR is not going to be the way to go.

Speaker 2: 11:21

Instead, I would absolutely advise them. Of course, they're going to lean into other marketing, such as Instagram and all this, but I would advise them if PR is something they really want and they want the clout of the as seen in, then they need to go the route of being quoted, to look to the places where the articles are. Maybe bridescom is not the right fit for them from an aesthetic standpoint. Well, right now, unfortunately, their weddings editor was laid off literally a couple of days ago. So that looks. I know there's a lot going on in the last week, in particular in the new year, but then to look to the articles to see where you can be quoted as well, so that's a great question. But I don't want anyone to think, oh, my photography style doesn't work at all. It's like, well, it just will be limited to certain publications Sure, and visuals are key.

Speaker 1: 12:07

So I guess I've been faced with this problem where I've got, you know, 300 photos from the wedding. How do I know which ones to choose and upload? Is there a strategy?

Speaker 2: 12:17

There is so much of a strategy to the point where I thought I had the right strategy. And then I brought in more of a team and Megan Acosta, who is a wonderful part of our team, she kind of re-imagined it, and then I asked her to train me in this, even though I'd been doing it for a decade. And so, yes, so when it comes to the images, first of all, you could have 300. You could also have 3000. If you've got this amazing, you know, south Asian wedding, it just depends on what, what it is. And so first you go and you finalize, looking at the photos, and say, well, what publications are going to make the most sense for me, kind of in what order? One at a time, thailand, or the right fit. And you've got to look to their rules first, because the question would be well, how many do I pull? And it's like, well, how many do they want? Because if somebody says a hundred, they mean a hundred, they don't mean 105. They don't mean 96. They mean a hundred. And so you go through and just see, okay, thematically, what do I need to pull From there, bearing in mind that for the majority of the time, you're going to have some of the couple. But people newer in this process always think you need to pull more of the couple and that's not necessarily the case. And so what you're going to do is start really, you're going to cull it down and then curate it based on, really the story of the couple Chronologically is typically how we do it.

Speaker 2: 13:27

We normally start with, like flat lays so if someone has really extraordinary flat lays and then of course the getting ready and you have one for one couple and then the other partner and you kind of alternate from there and then you go chronologically through the day, being especially heavy on, you know, anything from the reception.

Speaker 2: 13:42

You can capture all the up close and different angles of the cake and and so and so forth, and then you bring it down to the end. I will say that we use Adobe Bridge, which is free at least here in the States. It's free and it allows you to put it in a particular order so you can really tell a story of the day and highlight the details you want. But typically we're telling people you know you are not going to have a ton of horizontal, you're going to pull more vertical, you're going to have a ton of black and white, even if you, I love black and white, but they just don't want a ton of those and you're really going to want to narrow it down to the most impactful photos of the day that tell the story of the couple. It really, you know, it shows off the details and it shows off different angles of the things that you really want to highlight.

Speaker 1: 14:23

I like that. I feel like almost that should be applied to portfolio pages on like planners websites. Do you think as well?

Speaker 2: 14:33

There's some similarity there too, and I would say that you know we always want to put out there what we want to attract, and so if someone really and I want to encourage them this you know we've known over the years some very talented, you know, photographers who are very focused on telling the story of the couple and the details are secondary, and I respect that, and so I want to make sure that you know their portfolio and their site should reflect their philosophy in that style, whereas when you're submitting it to blogs and publications, we have to lean into what the editors are looking for, which is more the detail. So I think that would be the only main difference, but I do agree with you, there's some similarities there yeah, interesting that's.

Speaker 3: 15:06

That's one of the things that I noticed as well with a lot of publications. As a photographer, I'm very much there for the couple and their story and I found that with a lot of publications and a lot of my friends have sort of said the same thing that the publications wanted us to be almost product photographers so that they could have all the details and that sort of stuff, and it's wet for photographers that don't normally do a lot of that.

Speaker 3: 15:31

We now maybe need to start shooting specifically for blogs and and publications as well.

Speaker 2: 15:37

Now no, I agree, it's something that and people are surprised about this, about me, because my start was in weddings you're going to find a very well, I'm very pro vendor. That pardon us, but I'm also pro couple. So I always tell people listen, at the end of the day you shoot for the couple and you make the decisions on the rest of it. You're not taking away from what the couple wants.

Speaker 2: 15:53

I will contend that as more and more couples consume the media and these real wedding features, they are in some markets the expectations getting higher that those details are being captured, which I do think is kind of it's permeating the scene a little bit more.

Speaker 2: 16:06

You know, we have some people where they have some of the most and again to your point, the product feeling, these just really dazzling flat lays like a level that's just way up here. But when couples see that that's their expectation, they're going to see it. So I think it's going to be interesting to see how the consumption of this media leads to the expectations of the couples. But yeah, it's not. You know the submissions aren't for everybody. You know, sometimes I worked with some great people who you know the relationship didn't work out. I mean it ended in a couple. But it didn't work out because they would do these gorgeous like very high-end, but like elopements where there's just not enough details and the editors aren't going to want those, unfortunately. But you do shoot based on the couple's preference, number one and I would always agree with that.

Speaker 1: 16:49

And when it comes to a great pitch, how much of it is about the story, the story of the couple and, I guess, the story of the day.

Speaker 2: 16:57

I would say, if I was going to put a percentage on it, which I will it'll probably be about 15% most of the time. Now there's going to be rare exception when you have a high profile couple that's well known in their own circles, well known enough to be able to people. Yeah, that that's going to accelerate, right, that's going to look a little bit higher, but typically, as a whole, what we find is that what it's going to come down to are the details of the day and how it was shot so you could have a couple. And I've had people come to us say, oh my gosh, this is amazing. It's siblings that got married, which is a cool story, but it's not enough. Well, depending on we've seen a few of those and it's not enough with the double wedding if it can't bring it to the finish line with the extraordinary details.

Speaker 2: 17:36

What we have to remember, ultimately, is that the media has to make money In order for them to say they have to be a sustainable business. We all have to be a sustainable business and it's going to be likes and engagements and visits to their site and the right story that pulls at the heartstrings. On occasion can make sense, but really they want the extraordinary details, and I don't mean lux all the time, I just mean different. I mean oh wow, I haven't seen that before. So I would say most of the time the story, the couple, is about 15%. Really, I think it goes higher if you start thinking about because right now it's all about the thoughtful crafting of the details, the personalization, when the story ties in that way, that's when it has more of a weight to it.

Speaker 1: 18:17

Yeah, All right do's and don'ts. For those of us who are listening, who are going to give it a crack.

Speaker 2: 18:26

How much time do we have on that? No, let's start with that. Okay, the don'ts. Okay, we'll start with the don'ts. No, we'll start with a couple of positives. Let's do the do's First and foremost.

Speaker 2: 18:36

Do your, do your research, do your research. The biggest mistake I guess we're going into a don't already by mistake, but the biggest mistake people make is they take a wedding and they throw it out to a bunch of places arbitrarily to see what's going to be a right fit. What you do want to do is you want to research, you want to be clear on the publication what their guidelines are, because a lot of them are popping up and now only allowing for advertisers, right. So you want to be mindful of, like knowing that ahead of time. You want to pay attention to their rules, understand all that going in, but you do want to pay attention. Also, I always say, if you've got like five places, you want to be featured, like a little bit of a longer term goal, follow them and get to know their content, understand, like, pay attention and take it all in. But what you don't want to do, like I said, is just to start throwing things out arbitrarily, because that's where you want to see yourself being, because the biggest mistake you can make is keep sending the wrong weddings to an editor over and over again because they will. I can't speak on their behalf, but there's a good, strong assumption they're going to disregard you over time. It's like this person doesn't even take the time to understand Cause it was like, well, there's no harm in trying, and I'm like. I disagree with that. I think you can get one pass, but I think that after a while you can't keep doing that.

Speaker 2: 19:40

Do make sure that you have all the permissions in place. If you are not the photographer because we all know the photographer primarily owns the copyright and that's globally, I mean, I think in most places that's the case you have to make sure if you're not the photographer, you have their express permission, but you also have the couple's permission. Now, here in the States, what I would tell people is you get with your lawyer and make sure your contract says that. Of course, that varies country to country, but you want to make sure the couple's on board and even if they sign something we all know we sign things and then forget what we sign so running it by again to make sure that you've got their permission and that they're willing to work with you. Because you do to your point, jack, about the telling their story. You're going to have to pull them in at some point and interview them and it or even if the editor interviews them as well, like you need to make sure you go ahead and do that. So do make sure you do that.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Do make sure you're as accurate as humanly possible. We don't want to guess on vendors at all, because the last thing you want to do is get it to the finish line. It is featured, and then you find out there's a bunch of errors with the vendor list and then people are unhappy and then you throw off the editor, who has a job to do and they don't have time to keep going back and fixing mistakes as well. So accuracy is going to be key when it comes to that. And then, at the end of the day, we do want to follow the rules of communication. We don't want to hound people. We don't want to.

Speaker 2: 20:51

You know you submit to an editor and they said it'll take eight to 10 weeks and then, at the seven week mark, we're asking about the wedding, like we just want to ask that each of them I mean to the point we were making before. There are a lot of different rules, but we have to follow the rules accordingly to get it out the door. So those are some of the biggest things. Let me do one more. Let me one for the road.

Speaker 2: 21:09

Also, make sure, do make sure that you're the only one submitting of your group, because how many times have I I mean, oh, my goodness, over the years, where you get all the permissions? I'm going to tease my photographers for just a second. I mean, I represent a lot of planners and we'll talk to the photographer and we have their permission and they know what the plan is and they say, okay, great, yep, you've got my permission. I mean, I did just submit this one to the not, but you've got my permission to send it out. And it's like that's not how it works, like I wish I had known this, you know, weeks ago when we were talking about this. So, making sure that the couple's not submitting if you're the photographer, that the planner didn't jump the gun by mistake on that as well.

Speaker 1: 23:07

So, so, those are just a few. I mean, we could spend hours doing this, but I'll leave it at that. And what if they? You don't hear back or, even worse, they reject?

Speaker 2: 23:12

you. You know what I almost think. Not hearing back is worse. Is that terrible of me? Like I would rather have a clean yes or no at the end of the day, because I know that they've taken time to review it.

Speaker 2: 23:23

So if someone says no, let me start with that one, is it? First of all, I, hopefully someone has a media plan, so it's not just it has to go here, and if I don't get it, that's the end, because because you know, press is as much as getting nos as it is getting yeses, and so you want to make sure that you go ahead and do that. And so if, if it's a no, you thank them accordingly and you, you know, better luck next time, kind of thing, and then you move on to the next outlet. The end you do let, if there's anyone you need to let know, like maybe you were working alongside the planner and you want to update them or whatever let them know, and then you move on. Now, if you don't hear anything, this is where it gets more complicated. I feel very strongly about closing the loop on this.

Speaker 2: 24:02

So if you submit it and then you don't hear back from them, and it's been the time typically what we'll do is, let's say it takes eight to 10 weeks.

Speaker 2: 24:10

So at the 11 week mark, if we haven't heard anything, and because sometimes they'll say if you don't hear back in 10 weeks, it's not a done deal, you know, but let's say they don't say that Then you follow up once you give it about a week hey, just checking in, I know it's been almost three months and I know it's been past our time. I just wanted, before I move forward with submitting elsewhere, if you don't hear anything in a week, then you go ahead and respectfully withdraw it and say Amy's my fake name, so so just bear with me. But I'll say hey, amy, and I hope you're well just following up one more time on this. We haven't heard back, we're going to assume this has passed. We'd like to respectfully withdraw the wedding and look forward to trying again down the road. And I say that from the experience of submitting not hearing back. Months pass, we send it elsewhere and then the first publication goes surprise, you've been featured.

Speaker 2: 24:55

It's like what is happening, so you always want to close the loop, and I would always rather get a no, just because I know that the editor hopefully looked at it. It's tough sometimes when you are sending something out and you just don't know if it's going to be looked at or not. You know, hopefully they all are, though I know I know how hard the editors work.

Speaker 1: 25:16

Something I found too was I would.

Speaker 2: 25:19

I would go and submit and then months later I'd just look up the couple by name and I'd find that someone else had submitted and it was published somewhere that I didn't even know about you know which was like thank you very much, I'll have that, and you've got to be careful with that, because it's great when that happens, but but it wouldn't if it was published in two places, because the editors can get pretty upset, understandably, because they expect most of the time, exclusivity is first, rights of publication, so you want to be mindful of that.

Speaker 2: 25:48

I'm going to give you guys a free tidbit. Here is there is this globally it could be used. It's called Talkwalker Alerts. It's T-A-L-K and then Walker, like walking W-A-L-K-E-R, and so it's free. And so, jack, what you could do is you plug it in and you put in your name and quotation marks, like the name of your company, and so that when you pop up online, maybe with a happy surprise, it will send you an alert. It's like Google alerts, but it's a little bit better and it's also free. So I'm going to just tell you yeah, it's really great yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Yeah, it just comes in a little bit handy. Plus, the thing is I mean the editors sometimes they'll give you a publication date, but sometimes it's not what ends up being. Sometimes they surprise you with it earlier, and so it's nice to have that in case. It's also great when you're doing articles, because a lot of times those writers have no idea when something goes live. So that's, that's my free advice, extra free advice for tonight.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Awesome. Now, when it comes to editorials, I guess how different is the process if you're you know as opposed to submitting a real wedding if you want to submit an editorial.

Speaker 2: 26:54

So editorials or or style sheets I know they go by both of them. The thing about those is this you know, in 2009, when those really took off, everybody was doing them and they were everywhere. But these days it's you know, the editors. They're it's far more competitive. The editors almost always lean towards actual weddings, like, if you've got a great wedding and a great style shoot, the wedding's always going to win out. It just is it has a more complete look at the day, and so the style shoots are.

Speaker 2: 27:17

What I tell people is this if you're doing a style shoot first, you've got to get in the mindset that there has to be other goals other than being published because of the level of competitiveness, because you really have to think way beyond. I mean, I know this because you do. You really do do some extraordinary ones. So you understand but not everybody's at your level of what we've seen before. And so to think really far ahead and ask yourself are there other things that can happen for the shoot that will make this a win? For me it's like these relationships and the content and all this stuff. So once you get kind of past that, you are still going to curate the gallery in the best of your ability and storytelling way, knowing that you're not going to have the whole day what you're going to do is, instead of interviewing a couple of course it's going to be the kind of lead of the shoot the designer, the planner, maybe the photographer as well and they're going to share the inspiration where they drew it from, any challenges, the colors, things like that and so the story is going to look more of a how I made this versus how we got married, and so that's how it's going to look different.

Speaker 2: 28:12

I think the biggest thing is going to be the media selection. Most print is not going to accept a styled shoot. There's exceptions to that, but with online, you just have fewer choices these days, so you want to be very judicious when you're trying to pick outlets to make sure it's the right fit. I would also say, too, the biggest difference with managing is when you're doing a wedding, you kind of let the couple in later in the process, but obviously, when you're doing a style shoot, these vendors all know from the very beginning.

Speaker 2: 28:38

Imagine a lot of weddings get featured. You don't even know you're going to be published and it's like a happy surprise. But with style shoots you have like 15 vendors jumping on you being like where is it? What's going on? So that's a harder. I think there's a lot of pressure with a styled shoot that you have to put it in the front, you got to get it out the door, you've got to keep people posted. So I think it's I'm not telling people not to do it and I'm saying it's a lot of work for what the return could potentially be.

Speaker 1: 29:02

I don't know if you guys can hear this, but my pomeranian is under the desk and he's snoring, so he's not interested.

Speaker 2: 29:09

Oh, did I bore him.

Speaker 1: 29:10

I'm sorry he's having a good old snore. Um, any tips on how to reach and find and reach the right person? Like get hold of these editors and get in the right inbox.

Speaker 2: 29:25

Absolutely so. The biggest thing is and forgive me because this is a very like low, key answer, but it's actually the right answer Someone who's like a rule follower I think this is why it works for me so well is they want to be reached the way they asked you to reach out to them. So that's something that, like, I'll give you. Until recently, with brides, for example, which they accepted weddings all over the globe they have a submission sheet. They want you to send it in the submission form unless it's high profile and there was an email the end, unless you. I always say listen.

Speaker 2: 29:52

If you regularly went out for cocktails or whatever these guys and you knew them very well and they're open to a different way, then do it.

Speaker 2: 29:59

But we follow the rules because they are having to streamline, because the submissions have gotten. There's just so many out there, there's so many people submitting, and so what I say is this if you're looking at a particular outlet that you have interest in, you are going to follow their rules, but it does not hurt to go ahead and follow them on social. Follow the editors on social too, just to get a feel for what interests them, what direction they're going with thing, and do it that way. But really, at the end of the day, the answer is always going to be the way they asked, with rare exception Unless, unless you've gone to a bunch of networking, you've become friends with them your godparent, one of their children, you know like maybe then at that level you can, you can, across the, across the holiday table, say, hey, I've got this wedding for you. But for the most part it's typically going to be emails listed on the site. They all have a streamlined form, even the ones that we know really well. We still follow the rules.

Speaker 1: 30:54

Amazing Megan, megan.

Speaker 2: 30:56

I told you I was going to do that. My mom was Megan. I told her it was absolutely fine, but everyone calls me Megan because of, like, the accent back home. And I finally said my husband said to me one day he goes, you know, you crazy. Do you ever think that everyone calls you that? Maybe that's name? So who knows jack, maybe this is my name and I just I need to come to have a moment with myself and realize, yeah, sorry, so jack can I?

Speaker 3: 31:19

can I shoot one question there? Yeah yeah, so. So megan ben's question if you, knowing what you know now, you walked outside, you ran into an 18-year-old version of yourself.

Speaker 1: 31:34

Gosh.

Speaker 3: 31:35

What advice would you give that 18-year-old version of yourself, knowing what you know now?

Speaker 2: 31:40

You mean about like life or publications or anything.

Speaker 3: 31:44

About how to be successful.

Speaker 2: 31:46

No, okay, I'll take it because I'm going to be like get as many cats as you want. That's what I want to say. Like you can, you can have more. No about being successful. I would say bet on yourself. Honestly, bet on yourself. You know more than you realize.

Speaker 2: 31:58

I, when I graduated school, I deviated for a year while I was getting ready to go in the wedding industry and I spent a year in working. We have something in the United States called AmeriCorps, which is a year of service. I worked in the inner city schools and I had a lot of blowback from the adults in my life and the people in my life thinking you'll get too far behind, and I think there was a lot of self-doubt that became because of that, and I'm so glad I did it. I'm so glad I gave myself a year to volunteer and I worked three jobs to pay the bills and there's no regret, but there's no regret. But even when I looked into OFD, I started two years earlier than expected for a thousand reasons that I won't bore you with right in the middle of a recession here in the US, right as I was about to pay for a wedding with my husband now husband, spoiler alert and we just paid for a wedding and I think there was a lot of self-doubt there that I encourage others to believe in themselves but I don't. Trusting that I understand and bet on myself more, I think would be a big part of it, and I think I would have been not to turn you, ben, your turn coming becoming my therapist for a second. I don't mean you, but it's like it's eight o'clock here, so you know eight at night. So now I'm like you know he's my therapist, but I wish I had said no sooner to things.

Speaker 2: 33:12

You know, I think I learned only in my face to start to say no to things, cause I mean there are years where I was traveling 90 plus plus days Cause I said yes to everything because we're all in hospitality different, different parts of it and we say yes to things because we're hospitable and we are natural people pleasers. And once I brought someone to start doing my numbers about eight years ago I think, michelle Loretta over at BCH, who's just a brilliant, brilliant person I learned to start saying no for the right reasons. But even now I mean I'm still, you know, but I think that's. I wish I'd been kinder to myself and said just because you say no now doesn't mean one someone else is going to scoop it up and they will wait for you.

Speaker 2: 33:48

When I had my son I remember he's 11 now, so this is a long time ago but I remember there was this like I mean it was sad. It was only like a 30 day period where I thought I shouldn't take as much because I literally just had a baby, which I know is a mis-American, terrible mindset. So, forgive me everyone, this is how I was raised, but for myself, when I would tell people I can't start anything for the next six weeks, I wouldn't say why. They were fine, they waited for me. There wasn't some mass exodus and I wish I had known that ahead of time. I think I could have learned that lesson earlier, not only for success, but probably for mental health, if we're being totally candid yeah, yeah, one thing I've really liked about, about knowing you, megan, as well, is when I've spoken to you, because I keep hearing about how wonderful it is to work with you.

Speaker 1: 34:34

I don't know how many times we've had conversations and nearly started in some capacity, but you were always very authentic in your response in that, you know, like I poked around and found you had this program that was like a group. It's a group program, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 34:49

And I went what about that? Can I do that? And you said you're not going to get like you could do it, but I don't want you to because it's not going to give you everything that you need. So I love that. You're very authentic about that and you know, normally I would have gone in and just paid and done it. You know Does bother.

Speaker 2: 35:05

No, I appreciate that. Listen, I learned that in my venue years and I appreciate that. But, like I mean, what? The worst case scenario, what if someone came in to this beautiful hotel but it just was all the things they wanted? It was, they were trying to make it work. And then what if they're unhappy on their wedding day? And I would hate for someone to like buy into a course or my membership and then be like, well, this isn't what I wanted, like that to me would be worse versus them numbers on it. So I appreciate that I always tell people when I talk to prospects, I said we're either gonna, by the end of this, solve what your challenge is with me or we're gonna find a different solution for you. Maybe it's not me, but that's okay because it'll be productive either way. So thank you, I take pride in that, thank you now are you working with people.

Speaker 1: 35:45

Is there any way that people can get involved with you? What about your membership. Is that still going?

Speaker 2: 35:52

yes, ma'am, eight years now. So, yeah, ofdconsultingcom, about 80 of my work is still geared towards the collective, and so, for people who want us to handle the submissions and reformat all those things and send it out the door, we can do that. But in addition, we also have a course on submissions for those who are like well, show me how to do all of it, but then I'll do it, and that's fine. We're happy to do that too. That's going to be this spring. We teach people how to be speakers as well, and so there's a few things that we do. We also do some customized training when the right opportunity comes along. It has to be very specific. Again, that's one of those ones where I turn sitting down with someone. It really is my area of expertise. So, yeah, so you can find me on Instagram and OFTconsultingcom.

Speaker 1: 36:33

Just quickly before you go. If Ben joined the collective, what's in it for him?

Speaker 2: 36:37

Yeah, well, given his world travels, I'll have to find office hours where that can actually match when he's awake and around. So that's that's going to be challenge number one here. But anyone interested in joining the collective? We do offer ongoing education where it's going to be live but also recorded. We do all sorts of metrics. I believe that applied knowledge is power, so we try to provide that. We do Q&As with editors all over. We just had Mary Clark, who's this lovely, lovely. She's an icon bridal guide print, so we have that available. We also do office hours, which we try to be very globally minded with our hours and the timing where people come and pick our brain sessions. But the biggest things that we do is we do submissions, so we do up to 80 year for people in a 365 day calendar where we literally take them off their hands. We do the media strategy, we curate the gallery. We do everything and it's all permission based, of course, and we keep people posted. And then we also do something. I don't know if anyone out there ever did HARO help a reporter out, quoted as another version of it now, but what we do is about 20 to 25 times a month.

Speaker 2: 37:37

We work with writers and I do some writing as well where and we've partnered with you guys as well on this but where we'll work on articles into bigger publications. We'll reach out. We'll work with Destination I do the not so-and-so a lot of North American based but but global audiences, and what we'll do is they will have needs of a particular nature for art, like I'm doing an article on photography trends for 2025. And so we will collect answers from our members, combine them, get them everything in and get them over to the writers. So we love doing that.

Speaker 2: 38:06

That's it's such a joy because it combines my love of working with wedding pros, but I also deeply love the media to be able to help them on articles as well. So, yeah, that's what people get. Those who do particularly well and use a lot of our services to the year get really dorky trophies mailed to them, and so that's always like up for grabs too. They get these trophies and say super user, so that's something I try to sell to people. No fees, it's a super user, so that's something I try to sell to people no, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3: 38:33

This is a fun surprise and delight element so I could reach out to you, I could read you, megan, and palm off any submissions for eight submissions a year we'll take them.

Speaker 2: 38:40

We'll take them and we'll get them he's thinking about it, look at him wait a minute. Ben's like wait a minute, but we do. You know that. That's the thing too. Is is everything's permission-based, so we make sure that the photographer has given the final yes. So we're not sending anything without making sure that we're properly representing the work as well. But yeah, I know people love when we just take it off our hands and we're like we shall take the work on from now and they just love that.

Speaker 1: 39:03

So it is a joy to do that's very handy to know you'll be getting an email at any moment. Oh, thanks so much, megan. It's taken us a while to get here and to actually connect like this, um, but it's been worth the wait so, thank you, it's always a pleasure.

Speaker 2: 39:22

Thank you so much to you both for having me we'll get you back sometime soon yeah, it's been a pleasure to meet you, thank you.