The Top Five Most Influential Wedding Blogs

For wedding photographers and stylists alike, getting published is one of the biggest keys to growing your brand and bringing business to your market. Over the past five years, the emphasis on wedding inspiration blogs from not just the vendor standpoint, but also from the client standpoint has given way to an overwhelming number of wedding blogs. In this post, we will look at the top five most influential wedding blogs over the past year.

The biggest snub of this list is going to be The Knot, and before you go crazy, remember, these are the most influential wedding blogs. The Knot is possibly the most influential wedding resource and one of the marquee print magazines of the industry, but from a pure wedding blog standpoint, they don't make the list.

What Makes the Cut

What we are looking for here are the wedding blogs that have had the most influence on the industry as a whole and the most influence on wedding trends and styling as of late. The strength of the brand and the social media footprint will of course factor in; after all, in order to be able to set the trends for the industry, you need the audience to receive your message. It is also important to consider the message of said blog and brand. Some wedding blogs have very niche aesthetics, while others, such as Borrowed and Blue, have a very broad scope. Here are our top five most influential wedding blogs.

1. Style Me Pretty

Social Footprint

Instagram: 614,000

Facebook: 2.5 million

Twitter: 165,000

​I don't think there will be any surprise here. Style Me Pretty has become the most recognizable name in wedding blogs, and this content juggernaut has created a household brand by actually being very niche in their aesthetic. The site is all about what's simple and clean: nothing too complicated, nothing too cluttered, nothing too colorful. It has a very specific aesthetic for their brand and only accept and show work that fits that mold. They receive 500 to 600 submissions a week and accept less than three percent. Submitting to Style Me Pretty can be done directly through their online submission dashboard, where you can upload your photos and add vendor credits directly. Soft pastel and cream colors, as well as clean details shots dominate the site. What makes this nine year-old blog the most influential is a combination of its large online footprint and how specific they are in what they show to their audience. This in turn has a ripple effect across the wedding industry and drives trends for brides and planners.

Editorial photographs are really, really, really important. We like images that are clean, simple, and that haven’t been too fussed with.

2. Martha Stewart Weddings

Social Footprint

Instagram: 360,000

Facebook: 180,000

Twitter: 165,000

​The battle between second and third was a tough one. Both are very different blogs and although the social footprint of our number three blog is much larger, at the end of the day, power and specificity of the brand won out here. Martha Stewart is a mega-brand and in the world of weddings is known for upscale and celebrity weddings. While not every wedding is a celebrity wedding, the high-profile events often seen in the print magazine elevate the perceived standard of the online blog. Also, Martha Stewart Weddings is associated with some of the biggest names in the wedding photography world. The blog itself doesn't have a set aesthetic other than just having a certain upscale appearance, and the scope of styling seems a bit broader in comparison to Style Me Pretty. But, that real and perceived upscale feel drives trends not only for photographers and planners, but for the wedding blog genre, making Martha Stewart Weddings highly influential. Submitting to the site is a bit unique as well. They request an email with specific information and three to five images attached. You can find specifics under the contact link on their site.

3. Wedding Chicks

Social Footprint

Instagram: 416,000

Facebook: 1.7 million

Twitter: 119,000

​In a word, Wedding Chicks is approachable. The images surrounding the site include the standard editorial cake and invitation suite photos, but seem to center around people and the emotional connections of the wedding day more so than many of the other blogs that have found high-profile success. While many blogs have attempted to stray from being purely associated with wedding style and details and focus more on the human and emotional side of the day, none have done so anywhere near as successfully as Wedding Chicks. To put it simply, most wedding blogs are all about the details and the styling of the wedding, while Wedding Chicks brings wedding styling inspiration, but also shows real, beautiful moments. Gorgeous, idealized editorials, as well as real obtainable wedding inspiration sit side-by-side. The site has its own online form and they ask that you upload 25 to 30 images directly, but also link to a larger Dropbox gallery.

4. Green Wedding Shoes

Social Footprint

Instagram: 320,000

Facebook: 360,000

Twitter: 61,000

Another great example of narrowing your brand in order to drive its strength comes from Green Wedding Shoes. The blog is all about the abnormal and unexpected. More specifically, the blog aims to feature weddings that are styled uniquely to the couple and feature different and personalized details.

 We love sharing weddings with our readers and believe that there is no 'right' way to throw a wedding. We love showing couples how their wedding can be all about them and that it’s ok to break traditions to make the day their own. Since beginning GWS, our mission has been to help couples personalize their wedding day.

What really separates Green Wedding Shoes are the unorthodox themes that they often publish and how each detail: the boutonniere, tabletop, altar, dress, etc. seem to break slightly from tradition and fit specifically into the wedding or editorial theme. Some blog titles include:

1. Eclectic California Wedding at Big Daddy's Antiques
2. Bohemian White Sands Elopement
3. Laid-Back Austin Hill Country Wedding
4. Little Red Riding Hood Wedding Inspiration

In short, Green Wedding Shoes has told the brides and grooms with untraditional ideas that not only is it ok to break from tradition, but there are some amazing ways of doing it, giving way to a wholly different way of seeing and thinking about weddings. If you are interested in getting published on the blog, the submission application is on the site; you simply fill it out and link to your Dropbox.

5. 100 Layer Cake

Social Footprint

Instagram: 270,000

Facebook: 92,000

Twitter: 233,000

​100 Layer Cake is all about real, usable wedding inspiration. Fun, airy images fill the blog and bring brides and grooms inspiration and concepts that they can bring right into their own wedding experience — nothing over-dramatic or over-stylized, just beautiful, practical ideas and pin-worthy images for any bride. From a brand standpoint, it's really very impressive that they have been able to nab the number five spot without having a super specific niche and in an online world that provides so many other options. Their submission process is a bit flexible: you can either send them a Dropbox gallery from your event or upload 15 to 20 low-resolution JPEGs in an email, and you don't have to send all of your vendor credits in the initial email; if accepted, they will send you a form to fill in for all of the needed info.

Honorable Mentions

1. Once Wed
2. Ruffled
3. Southern Weddings
4. Rock My Wedding

It was really hard leaving these four off of the list. Once Wed is filled with pure wedding beauty, Ruffled provides amazing content and has a top five SEO ranking, Southern Wedding competes with the national and international blogs from a social profile standpoint, despite only being a regional blog, and Rock My Wedding has a very impressive social media presence. With the landscape of wedding blogs growing and shifting from year to year, there's no saying who will be on top next year.