About Your East Anglian/Yorkshire Wedding
Who reads it and how many of them are there?
Brides-to-be (and some grooms…) in East Anglia and Yorkshire. Our target reader is a bride-to-be who expects everything to be just right on her big day, and is prepared to invest time and effort to make the right purchasing decisions from local businesses. Each issue is predicted to reach in excess of 10,000 people.
What subjects do you cover? What stories are you most interested in covering?
Anything to do with weddings. Fashion for brides and grooms, health and beauty, honeymoons, local venues, entertainment, photography, transport, gifts.
What makes you different from the other outlets in your sector?
We are regional, so we can offer information on local wedding businesses. We feature real weddings which use local suppliers, and have local venue guides and offers. We can be quite specific within the region, looking at different areas and providing content based on that. Readers can get all the lovely glossy aspirational dream wedding ideas they would from a national magazine but also have information that’s completely relevant to their wedding.
How do you decide the content, front covers and headlines?
Generic features which are published across all 15 County Wedding regional titles are decided by the editorial team together. The features schedule states the areas and types of venue that we are focusing on in each issue, and then two other regional features per issue – for example, photography or entertainment. It is then up to the individual editor to decide on the angle the regional features will take. The most important feature of our front covers is that the bride must look happy – they are often taken from our real wedding features. No moody model brides here.
Do you produce a features list? Why?
Yes, we do. It helps to know where we could feature particular venues as we know when in the year we’ll be looking at the area they are based in; and we can plan ahead for other regional features.
About PRs
What types of PR agencies do you work with?
A very wide range; we cover everything from five star international travel to tiny independent stationery designers.
Do you tend to work with the same PRs or do you receive contributions from a wide range of sources?
Quite a wide range of sources.
Of all the press releases you receive on a daily basis, what percentage of them make it to publication?
Difficult to say. If they’re really relevant to the area and are genuinely newsworthy then I will try to get it in somewhere.
Do you find that your idea of what makes a story and a PR's tends to differ? How?
Not really, most PRs in this business seem pretty switched on to what a good story is.
How do you think the PR/journo dynamic will change in the future?
I hope that editorial independence will remain strong. I think the dynamic is good at the moment, and although developing new media obviously does bring about changes in communication, if those developments are to have credibility then press freedom is crucial. I do also hope that relations continue to be friendly and fun.
About you
Describe a typical day at work: What are your editorial duties/responsibilities at the outlet?
As I’m editor of two titles, one is usually going to press as the other one begins to ramp up. So typically, I’ll be subbing, checking proofs, choosing photographs, writing features, investigating and interviewing local suppliers, thinking about angles for the next issue, and hoping that someone will send me some cake to test.
What interests you most about your job?
I adore magazines and I’ve always wanted to work for a wedding magazine. I think that the job of a magazine is to entertain, inform and inspire, and a good wedding magazine sums that up perfectly for me. I like the variety of people I get to talk to. And I love weddings, so getting to look at wedding photos all day is a very nice position to be in.
Where have you worked previously, and how did you end up in your current position?
My last position was news editor for an audio trade magazine (www.audiomedia.com) which I loved. I had been there for three and a half years, though, and I wanted to take the step up to editor. I had been watching for suitable positions coming up and I leapt at the chance to interview for my current job.
Do you tweet? Why?
I do, personally and professionally. I find its best used sparingly in both cases, but can be very useful for finding leads.
If you could time travel what time would you go to?
Actually, I love the time I live in now – I think it’s the best possible time for an ambitious professional woman with a family (Though if I absolutely had to, I’d like to go back to 1910 and be at the premiere of 'The Firebird' in the Ballet Russes Paris season…).
Jo Fletcher-Cross is tweeting @glitterjo.