# pages: 330
# pages of advertisements: 245 2/3
# pages of “advertorials”: 1
# of remaining 84 and 1/3 pages of content devoted to wedding accessories for your dog: 8
Average price of dog accessories featured in this photo spread: $185.83
Average price of dresses from “Head Turning Dresses from $400 (Honest!)” photo spread: $3,316.44
# of dresses in this photo spread priced under $1,000: 1
# of sticker tabs labeled “hottest,” to mark up magazine, provided by Pantene®: 5
# of un-skinny people pictured: 2
# calories in coyly-referenced meal of celery and Fresca: 19
# real weddings featured: 1 (Sarah and Jonathan)
# imaginary weddings featured: 1 (Annika and Derek)
# of episodes of Parks & Rec I watched while compiling this list of figures: 3.
November 2010 Brides Magazine, By the Numbers
October 13, 2010 | 22 Comments
October 13, 2010 at 3:02 am
Will it ever change?
Is it what we bloggers can change?
October 13, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I think the answers here are yes and yes. See Angie’s comment below. See also, blogs make all this crap wholly unnecessary. Print is dead and we’re all holding murder weapons.
October 13, 2010 at 7:32 am
I think we should start a zine and sneak it into magazine stands in front of these WIC magazines to start spreading the truth.
October 13, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Hear hear! Go Angie!
October 13, 2010 at 9:48 am
ha, this is an awesome breakdown! i mean, not awesome… er… you know what i mean. ridiiiiiculous!
October 13, 2010 at 1:33 pm
# i’s needed to properly spell ridiculous in response to these figures: 6
October 13, 2010 at 11:14 am
What about accessories for my cat, hmm? Stop discriminating against brides who are cat people instead of dog people, jeez.
October 13, 2010 at 1:34 pm
If there had been a photo spread of cat accessories, Collin might have wanted to include his cats in our wedding. So I am grateful.
October 13, 2010 at 12:05 pm
When I planned my first wedding, half of the pages were filled with advertisements for honeymoons at either Niagara Falls or the Poconos. This time around, I haven’t even purchased a single magazine, and the closest I have come to looking at their online versions is clicking on a how-to link that someone had to Martha Stewart’s DIY section.
@KWu, your cat may be potty trained (if so, AWESOME), but will she walk down the aisle on a leash and sit quietly by your side as your “Best Cat”? I didn’t think so. Cats are far too uppity to let a human take center stage.
October 13, 2010 at 1:14 pm
But that’s why cats are better, they will take the attention off me!
Although the cats in my life would be far more interested about what’s going on in the kitchen.
October 13, 2010 at 1:36 pm
The “advertorial” was about Tahiti. Because honeymooning in the Poconos leaves waaaaay too small a carbon footprint.
October 13, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Angie rocks my world. Let’s overthrow the printed WIC!
October 13, 2010 at 1:37 pm
My only concern is… without wedding magazines, what will wedding bloggers make fun of?
October 13, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Oh my GOD. I get PR pitches for dog-related wedding products all the freaking time and it drives me batty.
And a magazine or blog wouldn’t know how to find a $400 dress if they tried. Nor can they really promote them, since their operating revenue comes from the much-more-than-$400 dress designers and big name shops. Boo.
October 13, 2010 at 1:40 pm
The thing that really bothered me is that they advertised the feature on the cover and in the table of contents in such a way that it seemed like it would feature plural dresses in the $400 range, and then just thew in one among a completely pedestrian spread of gowns in the $2,500–7,500 range.
October 13, 2010 at 8:29 pm
those mags are killers. I am a magazine fiend myself but never really got into wedding ones. probably for reasons similaer to why I never got into high end fashion magazines (my daily wardrobe probably adds up to under $50, including shoes).
I did love the parks & rec reference though! that show is the greatest!!!!
October 13, 2010 at 9:33 pm
WOWZA. My gal Angie is right. And I am glad for the existence of Parks and Rec so that the world is now aware of these stats.
October 13, 2010 at 11:12 pm
GOOD WORK! also, the fact you made some headway on parks and recreation in the meantime is amazing. one of my favorite shows.
October 14, 2010 at 8:47 am
Celery and Fresca???? Because nothing makes you happier, calmer, and more beautiful for that perfect day than starvation…
October 16, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I’d love to do this for the UK version of the magazine and see how the figures compare! Would you mind it if I did – all credit to you of course
It was really interesting to read this, though the results were what I’d expect! Such an expensive magazine too
October 16, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I’d love to read it! Go for it!
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