Get Married Magazine

Get Married

by Tanya Irwin , Friday, November 13, 2009
Condé Nast recently shuttered Elegant Bride and Modern Bride. How can a new bridal magazine possibly survive in these trying times? Get Married is hoping to carve out a niche by focusing on being "the new shopping and trend guide for the savvy bride."

One forward-thinking aspect to the magazine is the Microsoft Tags, which offer the ability to instantly shop for the wedding products featured on its pages. Via the Tags, brides can connect instantly to Web sites, videos, images and information directly on Web-enabled mobile devices. Note to advertisers: The Tags enable the ability to track campaign success via impressions.

Even without the tags, the magazine has partnered with many of the biggest brands in the bridal business. Nearly 80% of the magazine products are available in its online wedding shop (shop.getmarried.com). The cover includes a blurb for a 10% off coupon for the shop.

The magazine includes editorial features on real brides, wedding professionals and experts, plus an array of trend roundups and product profiles. The "What's Hot" section acknowledges that brides have individual tastes and doesn't try to push a cookie-cutter, "one style fits all" wedding theme. Each page showcases a style, including the "Jackie O," "urban cowgirl," "beachy clean," "pink princess" and "preppy grey and yellow." There are a lot of clever and whimsical items for each theme, such as invitations, guest favors, cakes and dresses.

Although the magazine specifically defines itself as being aimed at budget-conscious brides, there's also a fair number of do-it-yourself projects that will appeal to anyone who would welcome some cost-cutting for their big day. The cover photo of the inaugural issue is of a place setting with an ornately decorated guest favor that brides can make themselves. A DIY wedding story shows two tables with items that brides can put together without the help of a party planner or interior designer.

A four-page spread on invitation styles provides lots of eye candy with "fanciful and vibrant"' examples. These are a far cry from the boring and bland invites that were standard fare 14 years ago when I got married. Rebel that I am, I made my own invites. Nowadays I'd be perfectly happy to pick any one of these. Hmmm, I wonder if a 15-year commitment ceremony might be in my future.

In "Real Weddings," couples who have already tied the knot are featured each month.This issue focused on one of the contestants in NBC's "The Biggest Loser" as well as several non-celebrity couples. The stories are sweet, focusing not only on the weddings but how the couples met and how the husband-to-be popped the question.

One standing feature, "Destination Hotspot," spotlights locations that could be considered for a wedding or honeymoon. Of course, this is a great place in the magazine to sell lots of travel-related ads. Hmmm, maybe this magazine will be around a while.

MAG STATS

Published by: Get Married Media

Frequency: Quarterly

Web site: www.getmarried.com

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Irwin can be reached at tanya@mediapost.com.

Magazine Rack for Friday, November 13, 2009:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117392

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