About Ultimate Wedding Magazine

Who reads it and how many of them are there?

Anyone from the age of 18 – 80 getting married, male or female!

What subjects do you cover?

All aspects of engagements, weddings, honeymoons.

What stories are you most interested in covering?

Anything relevant to our readers.

What makes you different from the other outlets in your sector?

We are unique in design, distribution and content.

How do you decide the content, front covers and headlines?

We decide the covers, if we like it we use it, simple. We keep the cover free from clutter, and ensure the content is worth reading!

Do you produce a features list?  Why?  Why not?

We have generic features each issue, plus competitions, and then seasonal features but always leave space for ad hoc.

About you and freelance journalists

Do you pay for contributions from freelance journalists?

Never, we are lucky and do not have to.

Do you like freelance journalists to get in touch with you directly to pitch ideas? And if so, how?

We welcome submissions from journalists looking to have their work published.

Name the three most important attributes that make a freelance journalist stand out for you and would make you use them again?

Ability to write correctly! Informative, yet lively.

If you can, tell us about the best approach you've seen from a freelance…and the worst…

The best are those who approach and ask if they can get involved, the worst who are arrogant and seem to think we cannot publish without them!

About PRs

What types of PR agencies do you work with?

Every type! Wedding, fashion, beauty, gadgets, travel, we work with many covering a wide aspect!

Do you tend to work with the same PRs or do you receive contributions from a wide range of sources?

We have a wide database. 

Of all the press releases you receive on a daily basis, what percentage of them make it to publication?

Some of them are so badly written! So based on approach, content and relevance probably 10% get investigated further.

Do you find that your idea of what makes a story and a PR's tends to differ?

My background is PR, and I am shocked by the approach of some of these companies, whereas others get it spot on. I find it usually helps if homework has been done, and the PR company knows that this is of interest to our readers. Also it is interesting when PR bods ‘overvalue’ their product.  

How do you think the PR/journo dynamic will change in the future?

Some of the teams we work with are excellent, they are the best in the industry and we will use them again and again, more and more. The ones who don’t make the grade will get left behind.

About you

What interests you most about your job? The diversity! No day is the same, I can be writing, styling a shoot, talking to brides, working with suppliers on their marketing and pr plan. We offer our clients a complete package of advertising, blogs, directory, features, social media PR plus much more.

Where have you worked previously, and how did you end up in your current position?

I started in banking, then a major airline, pharmaceuticals, had my own hair and beauty salon, and ended up in publishing! Varied but very useful background!

Do you tweet?

Yes, all the time, I am addicted!

If you could time travel what time would you go to?

So many places and times! Forwards for the future of technology, or back to some significant date? I would have to say, back, 1950s/60s Hollywood!