Newspaper Wedding Announcement Photos

Many couples send wedding announcements to local newspapers after the wedding. (Some submit announcements to multiple papers. The record for one of our couples - that we're aware of, at least - is twelve. Since every paper has different submission guidelines and editorial guidelines, we thought we'd discuss a few of the considerations.

Almost all newspapers allow you to submit photos online by uploading a hi-res jpeg. The problem is the same image may not work as well for different papers. Some prefer portrait images (say, 4 x 5 or 2 x 3) while others request relatively square images (4 x 4 or 3 x 3 is most common). And a few prefer landscape images. To make it more complicated, the New York Times requests portrait images for the announcement itself, but if they feature your wedding in their online section, they also request a landscape photo that's 3 x 6 or 2 x 5. Typically that photo is more of an "action" photo than a headshot; often whether or not your wedding is chosen to be featured is partially based on the quality of the additional photo.

The problem is the same image may not work well depending on the relative size requirements. For example, here's a landscape image.


And here's the same image, but cropped as a square.

From a newspaper point of view, the square image is stronger. If a landscape image was requested, we'd definitely crop the horizontal image differently, even though as is it looks great in an album or a frame. (How you'll display a photo makes a big difference in how it should be cropped.)

On a side note, the New York Times also has pretty specific photo specifications, at least as compared to most papers. Here's an excerpt:

"Couples posing for pictures should arrange themselves with their eyebrows on exactly the same level and with their heads fairly close together. Couple pictures should be printed in a horizontal format.

"Our policy on photographs has changed. While we continue to include formal portraits of couples and individual brides, we also include full-length images of brides in wedding dresses, as well as informal photographs of individuals or couples at home, outdoors or in other attractive settings. Those posing for pictures should be neatly dressed, and the images should be of professional quality."

So, while this is a great photo, the Times would be unlikely to use it due to their "eyebrow level" policy.

The bottom line? Tell us the guidelines of the papers you'll be submitting to, and we'll make sure your images look great while also meeting their expectations.

Wedding Planning Advice from Brides #2

More wedding planning advice from couples after their wedding - this couple had a small wedding (less than 40 people) and were delighted with the outcome:


"We were thrilled to have had a small wedding with our closest family members. It was very meaningful to us to keep it small and intimate. We loved the venue (Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, VA) and were very happy with the overall process, planning, experience, and general logistics.

"If one has a smaller wedding, we would advise people to reach out ahead of time to close friends/family who are not going to be invited. Speaking to these friends/family members personally may help them feel included rather than excluded. This can help prevent mixed messages and post-wedding friction if people find out they are not invited through the grapevine.


"Despite all the stress of weddings, we wish that we could have relaxed more with the planning, preparation, and uniqueness of the event. Sometimes details can seem much more important than they actually are. We think we could have given each other a bit more credit for the planning items each was taking on. We would recommend taking some wedding planning time-outs to spend time with each other and remember why you’re getting married in the first place! At the end of the day, the wedding is not as important as the marriage."

Wedding Planning Advice from Brides #1

We've been asked to write an article for The Knot about what couples wish they’d done differently in terms of wedding planning, whether it was picking a different venue, spending less money (or more money), putting together a different menu, serving drinks (or not), having an open bar (or not), picking favors and decorations differently, etc.

So we asked brides whose weddings we photographed over the last couple years to tell us what they were happy with and, probably more importantly, what they would do differently based on their experiences. We've gotten a lot of responses so we thought we'd post some. Here's the first!

"I was/am incredibly happy with the church that we chose for our wedding. It was a little more costly than some other options that we had, but it was exactly what I pictured when I thought of our wedding. Because we chose a more expensive ceremony venue, we had to be a little more conservative with the choice of our reception site. There were other places that we liked more, but it just wasn't in our budget to have the church we wanted and an expensive reception site. Although we were worried about how the reception would look, we were very happy about it that night. It all fit together very nicely.


"I think brides get so wrapped up in everything being 'perfect,' which I did A LOT. Although I was pretty level headed about the ceremony and reception venue cost, there were many things that when I look back on, I just have to ask, "Why?". Why did I spend almost $90 on red chargers for the centerpieces of the tables that have not been touched since the morning after the wedding? Why did I spend so much on my veil and tiara? The bridal boutiques reel you in. You find the dress you can not live with out, then they put the veil and matching tiara on you while you are standing in front of the mirror... and you can't leave the store without them.

"I am very happy about some things we cut costs on. The only real flowers we had were the roses sitting at each side of the altar (a last minute purchase the morning of the wedding). I am so glad I had artificial flowers. All of the bouquets were done two months before the wedding. I knew exactly what they looked like, so I didn't have to worry about wilting flowers or a bouquet that I did not like.


"As I said, brides get so obsessed with having the "perfect day". Well, I am sorry, it's not going to be perfect. You have to plan on that. You have to have a plan b and a plan c. Our soloist canceled on us just hours before the wedding. My fiance was so scared to call me and tell me; I was at the church getting ready and he tells me she isn't coming. I was totally cool with it, because I had already planned with the pianist in case that happened. My marriage did not depend on one person singing a song at the wedding.

"I'm not going to lie, there were plenty of days that I could strangle someone or totally call the whole thing off and elope. I just remembered to have fun with it. My sister (my matron of honor) thought it was hilarious that I woke up early that morning very nervous. She thought I was scared to get married or worried that something would go wrong. Truly the one thing I was worried about was forgetting the steps to our dance. At that point I had done all the planning I was going to do; if something went wrong then it would be wrong or we would just go without. No one will know what 'should' have happened. We just totally let go and enjoyed the day and I think everyone had an awesome time because of it. We wanted a big party and that's what we had."