© BEN CHRISMAN/CHRISMAN S TUDIOS
Junebug Weddings
www.junebugweddings.com
Founded: 2006
© JUNEBUG WEDDINGS
Who selects photos: Christy Weber, co-founder
and executive editor; Molly Magee, photo editor; Alexa
Johnson, assistant editor
style: “We strive to showcase the highest quality
wedding photography in all styles and approaches in
order to illustrate what’s possible for our readers,” says
Weber. “We aren’t pushing one style, one look, one
way to approach a wedding, but rather the knowledge
that each wedding should be a personal, individual,
meaningful celebration and whatever that looks like,
there are extraordinarily skilled wedding professionals
out there who can help bring that vision to life.”
Frequency oF sho Wing photos: Two to six real weddings per week
submission requirements: Ten to 20 images of a wedding shot within the last 12 months.
If the submission is accepted, the photographer will be asked to supply 60 to 120 images of
the wedding day. Submissions of previously published work are OK.
Features and directories: Numerous “hotlists” vetted by editors including World’s Best
Wedding Photographers. Photobug is a blog about wedding photography. What Junebug
Loves features photogs and other vendors, both advertisers and non-advertisers.
Founded by former wedding photographers, Junebug Weddings emphasizes pho-
tos of real weddings in which the personalities of the couple shine through. Co-founder
Christy Weber notes that the site’s “clean and simple” design helps images stand out. In
evaluating images of real weddings, she says, editors look for images that convey a “hook,”
something that makes the wedding distinctive. That does not necessarily mean details or
décor, she says, but “the little something personal and special that made a particular wed-
ding unique—from the story of the day to the family traditions involved to the way the
décor represents the couple’s personalities to the images themselves.”
“They’re just into cool photography,” says Ben Chrisman of Chrisman Studios, which has
been featured on Junebug Weddings and has also advertised on the site for two years. “Some
of our best inquiries have come from Junebug because they
show some of our best weddings.” One bride hired him after
seeing one of his images on the site. Taken in Greece, the image
showed a bride’s veil being blown by the wind, against the back-
drop of the sea. “Not every blog would have run that, because
the people are quite small,” he notes.
Brisbane, Australia, photographer Marcus Bell, who began
advertising on the site shortly after its launch and was recently
profiled on the site, says, “Junebug is very much photography
focused. I think that’s one of the keys to their success.”
Opposite: An image by
Yan Photo featured on The
Wedding Chicks. Above: Ben
likes Junebug Weddings’s
photo-friendly design. Right:
Work by the photographers
at The Cana Family, recent
discoveries for 100 Layer Cake.
100 layer cake
www.100layercake.com;
www.100layercake.com/blog/
Marketplace lets photographers bid on requests from brides. Vendors of
all kinds can sell their products or services on a Pop-Up shop.
Founded: 2009 (blog), 2010 (Web site)
Who selects photos: Jillian Clark
and Kristina Meltzer, co-founders; a
submissions coordinator
style: “Current, airy, open and clean.”
Frequency oF sho Wing photos:
One to two real weddings per day
submission requirements: Ten
Web-resolution photos; these should
include “mostly shots of the décor, some
of the fashion,” say Clark and Meltzer.
Sending a photo of the invitation is a
plus. “The number one deciding factor
in approving a wedding on our blog
is how many interesting details were
captured, and how beautifully.”
Features and directories: Vendor Guide, vetted by editors.
© 100 LAYER CAKE
the editors at 100 Layer Cake offer inspiration and ideas to appeal to a wide reader base. While the 100 Layer Cake blog showcases
ideas for fashion, décor and invitations, the 100 Layer Cake Web site is
a resource where brides can search for vendors of all types. The blog
recently increased the number of real weddings it shows, due to the
number of submissions it receives.
100 Layer Cake first discovered The Cana Family, a photography and
film studio in San Luis Obispo, California, when a wedding planner
who had collaborated with the studio on a styled shoot submitted it
to the blog. Since then, Cana has submitted other weddings that have
been featured, including one shot over a few days in Capri, Italy, with
a couple who eloped. “Our natural instinct is to show off the couple.
That’s something 100 Layer Cake likes about our work,” says Ben Potter
of Cana. “We feel that a blog with a more artistic vision like 100 Layer
Cake, that’s who we want to work with.”
“They feature more real couples celebrating their wedding,” notes
Matthew McCully of Jade & Matthew Take Pictures in Savannah,
Georgia. When the McCullys’ images from a steam-punk-style wed-
ding were featured on the site in February, they saw an increase in traf-
fic to their own Web site. “The images [the editors] chose did a good
job of telling the story of the wedding and what the experience of be-
ing there was like,” says Matthew.
