New Sidebar & Submissions Request

Hello All!

First L’shana Tova, and Happy Rosh Hashanah to those of you who… are possibly not at your desks reading this. I myself am writing this in the past, so in the present, I can be celebrating happy birthday to the world. (Time warp!)

But! We wanted to take a moment to point your eyes to our brand new super shiny somewhat stripy sidebar. (Pretty, right?) Over the past year, APW has grown and changed (as it always grows and changes) and we felt like we’d outgrown our old sidebar a bit. First of all, the site feels very community and staff driven these days, and that giant picture of me was really starting to seem out of place. And by out of place, I mean “annoying the crap out of me.” So, as part of some crazed third trimester nesting instinct (that particular pregnancy myth is true times a thousand for me), we decided to do a flurry of tidying things up around here.

Here are some things you might want to check out, in the order they appear:

• Letter From The Editor: We have plans for this feature in 2013, once I’m back from maternity leave (look out!) but for now, it’s just a nice welcome to APW.
• New About Page: Yeah, yeah, we stuck my bio over there (yawn), but more to the point we finally put APW’s mission statement on paper. The staff is very excited about that.
• New Advertising Page: If you’ve been thinking about advertising with APW, we’ll be offering a fall deal later this week (hint hint), but in the meantime you can poke around our advertising page. Funny story, I really meant to finish that page the week after I relaunched the site two and a half years ago, and last week… I did it. Yay? Whatever, YAY! The longer you wait, the more exciting it is to check it off your list.
• New Vendor & Venue Directory Links: Big! Where you can find them! And see them on the iPad! You’re welcome!
• Submit Your Story Button: Within the first six months of APW, reader submissions became an important part of this site. I loved writing about What I Thought About Weddings, but realizing that there were other people who wanted to talk about this stuff too made me feel so much less alone. These days, reader submissions are a huge part of APW, and make the site so much more rewarding to run. Sure, I can (and do) tell you what I think about weddings and marriage, but it’s so much nicer to be able to share tons of different perspectives on these issues. So thank you all for that.

Which brings us to…

A Call For Submissions

It’s fall, which means tons of you just got married, and it’s the traditional time to ask you to consider paying it forward by sending in the story of your wedding. This year there are two ways to do that:

• Write A Wedding Graduate Post: If you have a story from your wedding that you think might help future graduates navigate their wedding planning, this is for you. And no fair taking the excuse that someone might have said it on APW before. First of all, there is nothing new under the sun, and second in direct contradiction, no one can tell your story but you. If you know you have something to say about your wedding, but are having a hard time figuring out where to start, ask yourself, What do I know now that I wish I’d known before my wedding, or what did I learn while planning my wedding that I think might be useful information for other people? And/or what adventure did I have in wedding land? Of course, you don’t have to answer these questions explicitly (otherwise the posts would all be the same!) but it’s a good place to start.
• Submit a Wordless Wedding: You guys! We finally made a form so that you can submit Wordless Weddings. WE ARE SO EXCITED! If you think your wedding story is better told through pictures (professional or otherwise, we love us some DIY wedding photography) than words, submit already!

• Everything Else: The rest of you, don’t forget to send us your wedding planning stories, your Reclaiming Wife stories, and anything that might fall in between. And if you’ve been sitting on a post surrounding one of the following topics, now is the time to send it in (these topics can be used for Wedding Graduate posts too!):
  • Work/Life: We still want to hear what you have to say about careers and relationships! How are you working through a tough time in your career, dealing with career changes, or helping each other realize your career goals? We want to know.
  • Tradition: Is tradition playing an important role in your wedding? Are you shirking certain traditions? What about the role tradition plays in our marriages? We’ve always been obsessed with the dance between traditional and non-traditional at APW, always.
  • Families: How did your family impact your wedding (positively or negatively). What role are your families playing in your marriage? This is a rich and deep topic, y’all.
  • Holidays: Last year we talked about carving out a place for your baby family around the holidays and how our holiday traditions impact our marriages. But it’s a new year! So send in your stories.
  • Rituals: Weddings are ritualistic in nature, and sometimes marriage can be too. (Sunday morning coffee anyone?) What are the important rituals in your life and how do they shape your relationship?
  • Heritage: Was your wedding steeped in cultural tradition? What about your marriage? Did you find yourself having to figure out a way to blend two cultures into your wedding? We want to hear how your heritage impacted your wedding and your marriage.
  • Kids: Deciding to have children? To not have children? Did your partner already have children when you got married? Maybe you both had kids and are learning how to blend your family while planning your wedding. Tell us about it! Also: SEND US WEDDINGS WITH KIDS. Sorry for the caps, but it’s been a huge deal for me for years, and we never have enough weddings where the couples have kids to share with y’all.