When you first get engaged, buying wedding magazines is like a right of passage. The excitement is fresh, you’re dreaming about your perfect attire, planning the personal details and of course there’s the honeymoon! There’s a lot going on and if you’re like most couples, you’re ready to dig in and get your hands dirty. Enter…the wedding magazine. As you baste in your new title of fiancé, they are a tangible planning tool (or so they seem) full of pretty, making it hard to tear your eyes away…a literal page turner.

When my husband and I were planning our wedding, Pinterest didn’t exist and I confess I bought a pretty hefty stack of wedding magazines myself. The thing is, after I picked out my dress, I wasn’t really getting information from most of them. Ironically, the dress I purchased wasn’t even in a magazine, as it was from a boutique designer. I soon ditched the magazines in favor of google searches and the few wedding blogs that existed at the time. Luckily, I’m a “creative” so I just started playing around with design ideas on my own and got to work on a handful of DIY’s.

Once I started photographing weddings I recommended only one wedding magazine to couples and unfortunately, it’s no longer in print. It was Real Simple Weddings and it was published once annually. It was a little more expensive at about $13, but it had all the most pertinent information and some real wedding features, plus it was beautifully arranged. It was broken down into sections for each of the major wedding purchases, ie. wedding gown, men’s attire, accessories, venue, floral, photography, entertainment, etc. and each section included important questions to ask each type of vendor when you do your interviews, tips for saving money and certain details to consider. There were very few advertisements and the majority of them were for wedding registries from places like Crate and Barrel. It was the type of magazine you could take with you to every meeting and actually get really great use out of it.

Since Real Simple Weddings is no longer in print, and there are literally hundreds of wedding blogs sharing every kind of information you could possibly imagine about wedding planning, plus Pinterest…I’m suprised people are still buying wedding magazines, but they are and there are no shortage to choose from. So which one(s) should you buy or steer clear of and why?

The short answer is…it depends. Many wedding magazines are published monthly, while some are published quarterly. Monthly magazines generally have less planning information per issue because they want you to buy a subscription or keep picking up the newest copy each month at the grocery store.
With that being said, before you start purchasing wedding magazines (or anything wedding related for that matter) you’ll really want to think about money…aka your wedding budget. I know that’s not romantic, exciting or fun and I totally just killed your engagement buzz, but it’s the truth. If you spend $100 on wedding magazines and planners, that’s $100 you don’t have to spend on your wedding album or parasailing on your honeymoon, and in the end, that’s the real buzz kill.

Now that the money talk is out of the way, here are some guidelines for purchasing wedding magazines. I spent an entire day (about 10 hours) reviewing some popular publications in order to help you narrow down which ones might be right for you.

BRIDES
This one is chock full of advertisements and most of them are for wedding gowns. I call this “bridal gown centric”. It is essentially a collection of bridal gown advertisements. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you’re in the market for a gown and haven’t gone shopping yet or don’t know what type of dress you want. You can use this collection of ads as an all in one dress shop. Rip out the styles you love for reference when you hit the stores. It had very few real wedding features (less than a handful) and not very much usable information when it comes to dealing with vendors. This is a monthly publication so they’ll spread information over several issues to keep you coming back.
BUY – if you’re in the market for a wedding gown (or bridesmaid dresses), but are still reviewing styles.
DON’T BUY – if you need info that will help you book vendors right away, or if you want to see a lot and a good variety of design inspirations.
BRIDAL GUIDE
Just like Brides, this publication is heavy on ads and bridal gown centric, though there did seem to be slightly more usable information in regards to dealing with vendors. This magazine also had less than a handful of real wedding features.
BUY – if you’re in the market for a wedding gown (or bridesmaid dresses), but are still reviewing styles.
DON’T BUY – if you need info that will help you book vendors right away, or if you want to see a lot and a good variety of design inspirations.

MY WEDDING
This is a new wedding magazine that I’m pleasantly surprised to report is very beautiful and thoughtfully laid out. It is very light on ads, but full of inspiration. It features more than a handful of real weddings along with the couple’s stories, plus some engagements which also showcase thoughts from the grooms-to-be which is rare and lovely to see. There was slightly more information about dealing with vendors, mostly due to the fact that this will likely be a quarterly magazine. And last but not least, there were even some really great DIY projects!
BUY – if you want to be inspired by love stories and a variety of real weddings in different styles from around the country.
DON’T BUY – if you’re on the prowl for wedding attire and want to see as many examples in one place as possible.
MARTHA STEWART WEDDINGS
MSW is always one of my favorites despite the fact that it is heavy on ads and very bridal gown centric. It’s Martha Stewart, so expect some DIY’s for crafters at every level and tons of ideas for ways to personalize any possible detail. There are always lots of ideas/wedding inspirations, but not necessarily a lot of vendor negotiation info.
BUY – if you’re a DIY’er, super detail oriented and want to include tons of personal touches to your celebration, and/or if you’re in the market for bridal and bridesmaids gowns.
DON’T BUY – if putting the stamp on your invitation envelopes is what you consider DIY, and/or if you need info to help you book vendors right away.

THE KNOT (national)
This is probably the most popular wedding magazine you’ll come across. It is very ad heavy and bridal gown centric. While there is a lot of content, this publication doesn’t necessarily have very much information about dealing with vendors, though it has tons of eye candy. For the most part, this magazine is just showing you what’s available in the world of weddings.
BUY – if you’re in the market for a wedding gown (or bridesmaid dresses), but are still reviewing styles.
DON’T BUY – if you need info that will help you book vendors right away or if you want to be inspired by tons of real weddings.
THE KNOT (Michigan, or your local state)
This is a local publication of The Knot. I chose to review Michigan (rather than Texas) because it’s my home state (and I’m working on my Michigan wedding bucketlist 🙂 Ironically the state publications of The Knot are pretty amazing compared to the national publication. They feature tons of real weddings and lots of ads for venues and vendors in the state. There is also more tailored information for navigating wedding planning and booking vendors in that state.
BUY – if you’ve just started planning and are shopping for a venue and vendors the ads and real wedding features and credits might help you get inspired and find your ideal vendors. If you’re planning a wedding in another state, I’d definitely recommend ordering a copy of that state’s publication to help you get your planning started.
DON’T BUY – if you’re in the market for a wedding gown. The state publications are extremely light on bridal gown ads.

SOUTHERN WEDDINGS
This is my new favorite! When I ordered my copy online I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I have to say I think I’m going to sign up to get every issue. The magazine is beautifully designed and features tons of real weddings accompanied by some very sweet and uplifting commentary. It’s lighter on ads, which are centered around wedding venues, event planners and various other wedding vendors operating in southern states. AND there’s a newlywed section which I think is so epically important and completely lacking in other wedding magazines.
BUY – if you’re super stoked to plan your wedding AND your marriage…if you want to be inspired by real love stories and an array of real weddings from all around the south. Also, if you’re considering a destination wedding in a southern state, but aren’t yet sure about location or style, or if you’re planning a wedding and just want to add some southern traditions and flair.
DON’T BUY – if you’re on the prowl for wedding attire.
Additional things to keep in mind:

Any wedding magazine worth it’s salt will have a wedding planning timeline. They may vary slightly from magazine to magazine, but if you’re totally clueless about what to do when, any publication you pick up should have a run down for you.

The bridal gown ads (as well as the invitation and men’s attire ads) in Brides, Bridal Guide, Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot were often repeats of each other. If you’re picking out a publication to ad shop for gowns, just pick one and leave the others on the shelf so you don’t pay for the same ads twice!

If you’re just looking for design inspiration, I recommend skipping the magazines altogether and, if you haven’t already, creating a Pinterest board (or boards) for your wedding inspirations. It’s free and you’ll have a lot more at your fingertips.
If you’re planning a themed wedding, and I don’t mean a beach theme…I’m talking recreating the ballroom scene from Beauty and the Beast, a Mad Men theme, Star Wars theme or some other heavily niche idea, wedding magazines are not likely to help you very much with your wedding inspiration woes (except your local publication of The Knot for possible venues and vendors). Don’t waste your dollars. You need Pinterest, Google, a vibrant imagination and/or an epic wedding planner.

If you’re looking for information about dealing with and booking vendors, google searches are a dream. Just type in “tips for booking a wedding (insert vendor type here)” and you’ll come up with tons of articles and blog posts that will help you with everything from what questions to ask each type of vendor, hidden costs that may be associated with the service or product, potential ways to save money or get extra use out of your purchase, etc.
Wedding magazines aren’t the best place to go in search of possible honeymoon locations. While they all have at least a small honeymoon section, they are very broad overviews. If you’re looking for honeymoon inspiration, I recommend Budget Travel or another travel centered publication or website.

These are just a few of the dozens of magazines you’ll find on the shelves of your local stores. If you live near a large metropolitan area, you’re likely to also find publications specific to that area. More often than not, these will be slightly more expensive and host ads from local vendors with a few real weddings.