Last day at Wed magazine
My final day at Wed magazine has arrived and with it comes major apprehension about my case study and making sure my research is in the right place. With my case study I am purely focusing on the qualitative data because of the smallness of the Wed team.
Following on from my research and work into vintage styles through the eras, I was asked to look into the do’s and don’ts of the vintage look. For this I looked at mistakes previous bridal parties have made and how they could have been easily sorted out before their wedding.
My work was looking at creating the authentic look with bold rules to pull it off, this included what styles to replicate and where if anywhere in the south west you could to make your outfit.
I used bold text to clearly demonstrate the ‘Don’ts’ when working with vintage based themes. It wasn’t just the outfit that I looked at; I also looked at the style of hair and makeup that someone should use. This included ideas for contemporary makeup ranges on the highstreet.
Next I managed to conduct my final interview with the editors of Wed magazine. Even though I went in with a list of questions I wanted to get across this was soon thrown out the window as an informal conversation style suited this meeting a lot better than a rigid format.
Brendan and Rebecca gave great answers to the questions I asked and have given me some great information to include in my case study.
Next I looked at a model agency website; this was so I could help decide on future models for photoshoots. With details like classic looks which is needed for a wedding photoshoot.
My last task of my time with Wed magazine was to look at photos brought in by a freelance photographer and help choose the photos that worked best for a future article.
My time with Wed magazine has been incredible; I have picked up so much good advice for my future in magazine journalism. Brendan and Rebecca created a relaxed atmosphere for me as soon as I walked in the door and I can’t thank them enough for the help and guidance they have offered me.
I hope to work with them again in the future and I look forward to seeing my work published in their next issue.
Day 9 of work placement at Wed magazine
Today is going to be a short post, on day 9 I had a freelance day in which my only focus was looking at a real wedding story. Unlike most real wedding stories this one had an incredible amount of detail on it.
The focus of this was how the couple had decided to have a relaxed no fuss wedding. Although it is a simplistic wedding in sense the bride has given a lot of information on her wedding day and also a massive amount on how they met and what happened after their first date.
For this I needed to use some of the journalistic skills from university, basically in its essence I had to decide what I would keep in and what would be left out.
The problems that I had encountered with this article were that I felt I was leaving a massive chunk out to make sure that it fit the word count. I was worried that this would anger the couple when they read it. I wanted to make sure that their feelings and what was special about their wedding day were included.
This almost resembles a press release style of exercise, which I have been looking at since the beginning of my journalism course.
Although there were difficulties I think that it has been an incredibly useful exercise in which I got to use my skills. It was an interesting way to see what I have learnt and what I may need to work on in my final year of the course.
I am interested to see how Wed thinks I have been working with this. By sending it in for editing I will soon know.
The real wedding stories are a good way of me getting bylines printed which I can use for my portfolio later on.
Day 8 of work placement at Wed magazine
My sole focus for my day at Wed today was looking at weddings through the eras from the 1920’s to the 19’50’s.
I’m a major history buff and found this task fascinating. My ideas were to look at customs, designs and styles from these eras.
In the 1920’s high glamour and the birth of the flapper girl was they key concepts for this time, its awesome that I got to look into this. With its unique styles and trends. 20’s themes are all the rage in the wedding world at the moment. So it has been strange to write a historical account but also keeping in mind that there still going strong.
The 30’s were similar to the 20’s although with stars like Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire gracing the silver screen their influence marked a massive turn in wedding designs.
The 40’s are a bit of a bleak period for wedding history, with rationing and most extravagant things in short supply the wedding became minimal and simplistic. Also it ha become a rushed affair with men being called to war.
The 50’s saw Marilyn Monroe break into the worlds consciousness, she had a massive influence in weddings, such as the famous ‘Seven year itch’ dress.
My day today has consisted of living in the past and now I feel that I have a greater understanding of the birthplace of the ceremonies and traditions that we hold dear today.
Rhymes and superstitions were born and held onto. Here is a very old rhyme about choosing the month of your wedding, this was often a sought after rhyme and seen as a thing to respected:
Married when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind and true.
When February birds do mate, You wed nor dread your fate.
If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know.
Marry in April when you can, Joy for Maiden and for Man.
Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day.
Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you’ll go.
Those who in July do wed, must labour for their daily bred.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see
Marry in September’s shrine, your living will be rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.
Day 7 of my work placement at Wed magazine
Today, I have done mainly research tasks for future ideas and articles for Wed magazine. These have involved wedding toppers, home and lifestyle choices, mood boards, forthcoming wedding trends and looking into old rhymes and superstitions.
I started the day by looking into wedding toppers (for those of you who don’t know what this is, it is the figurines sitting on top of the cake).
My aim was to find new and unique ideas for toppers. Throughout this research I have found some amazing figures. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride has even been turned into a topper. Some of them range from the very bizarre to the sophisticated traditional topper that has become the norm for weddings.
After doing this I looked into finding places inDevonthat offer unique wedding gifts for the home of the newlyweds. This is to add ideas for possible future articles and also businesses that Wed could use in photoshoots later on down the line. Obviously this extremely useful to keep their finger on the pulse of new things.
Mood boards are the most useful way of generating ideas for a photoshoot. Wed are planning a photoshoot around a Victorian theme, my task was to find swatches and photos to represent this them. As you may have guessed I look a good ole mood board! For this I found makeup and hair ideas, dress designs and accessories that would complete the look.
For Wed making sure that they know what is going on around them is of the utmost importance. My task is to find out how the royal wedding has affected the industry and what is being taken from it. Such as the white bridesmaid dress and using nature as a key feature of your wedding, it is also important to keep an eye on what is happening inAmerica.
The most fantastic part of my day was looking at old rhymes and superstitions surround weddings. As a time honoured tradition there is no shortage of these rhymes. Here is an example of one of the rhymes when choosing a wedding day:
Monday for wealth
Tuesday for health
Wednesday the best day of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
Saturday for no luck at all
These has been an extremely enjoyable task and I urge everybody to check them out. I also looked at flowers and colours and what they really mean for your wedding day and what statement you are giving out.
With this I looked at Kate Middleton’s carefully selected flowers and colour scheme and worked out what they meant.
Day 6 of work placement at Wed magazine
I’m now on my last week of my placement at Wed magazine. Today consisted of real weddings, trends around hair and beauty and also making sure that the websites and contact numbers in their directories are correct.
Firstly, I looked at a real wedding story that I had been working on the other day, their were some issues of 3rd person quotes to clear up, but now it is has been sorted and is now completed and sent to editorial control.
After doing this I got a chance to see the finished pictures from the photoshoot I went too last week. It was amazing how wonderful they look and what they have managed to get from the shoot.
I was asked what I thought were the best ones. By a pure stoke of luck maybe? I managed to find the pictures that Rebecca had chosen, so hopefully they will be the ones that get printed. It was wonderful to see these pictures again and to follow the process from photoshoot to print.
This has given me great insight into how a magazine works especially ones involving fashion and highly artistic shoots and spreads.
I also looked at trends around hair and beauty for spring/summer 2011, I’m not sure if this is for a future article or just helpful to keep up to date. Although with the beauty trends I added in how women could replicate this look and where they could find the makeup to do it.
After this I had a task of writing another real wedding article about a local Pirate FM presenter and his bride. With the real wedding stories they are a great way for me to get bylines in Wed magazine. I am really looking forward to seeing my name in future issues.
Overall, so far my experience with Wed has been extremely positive, Brendan and Rebecca have been extremely welcoming and have taught me loads about how a magazine works behind the scenes. It definitely has been a wise choice to do a placement with them.
For this week I will be focusing on getting all the right information for my case study, this includes final interviews and research into their magazine and website.
Day 5 of work placement at Wed magazine
Today, I looked at research for two future articles being produced by Wed magazine.
The first research project I did was on the history of the Veil.
This entailed looking at the history and superstitions surrounding the use of a veil. This may seem like a boring task but actually turned out to be incredibly fascinating. Looking at customs and where it all came from and why was amazing (the veil originally designed to warn off evil spirits from the virgin bride).
Within this research I also looked at how modern brides are using a veil I found out that not many brides use it any more and that to have one and for it to be down throughout the ceremony is to declare that you are pure and a virgin.
I also looked into iconic veils such as Grace Kelly’s, Princess Diana’s and now Catherine Middleton.
For my second project I looked into bridesmaids dresses and how the trends that are following with them.
For this I looked at bridal blogs and bridal websites to see what they are producing at the moment. I also looked at what current brides and future brides are planning for their bridesmaids.
I found that there is a more relaxed approach to the whole thing.
Also, the trend is for lace and a cocktail dress style or maxi dress (depending on season). Allowing a more sleek and sexy look to the typical horrid dress. Most brides are now setting a colour scheme and allowing the bridesmaids to choose their own style.
For the second part of this project I had to make projections for 2012 on what’s going to be hot! For this I looked at fashion designers and what they are producing. This took a while and a lot of searching but I believe I have made an accurate assumption for what is out there.
The fight seems to be between strapless and floaty or heavily fitted bodices.
Guess we will all have to wait and see. As always prerogative rests with the bride and her decisions.
Day 4 of placement at Wed magazine
Today, at Wed magazine I looked into unique and trends developing in the wedding receptions by modern newlyweds and also wrote an article for the real weddings section of the magazine.
Wedding receptions are just as important as the wedding itself. This is the time when couples relax and get to enjoy the final part of their day.
For many this is the point that many couples use to reflect their personalities and their passions. For this they can choose whatever theme and entertainment they want and have no rigid structure of decorum to work within.
I looked into different type of venues such as the boho wedding and camping and the barbeque. I looked at how this could be achieved and what other couples have done to enhance this theme.
I also looked at casino and carnival themes and looked at the entertainment that is on offer in the south west. This was all researched for a future article that Wed will be producing. My aim was to stick within the perimeter of the south west. This was a challenge when there aren’t a lot of companies this way that are offering unique services.
However, I did manage to find some very good organisers and venues to fit with what I wanted to produce.
My other task was to produce an article about a real life couple this consisted of looking into their wedding day seeing what themes and styles they were doing.
Using the skills I have picked up from uni I looked into what was the best angle for this article and what was different about this particular wedding than others.
One thing I have had to learn very quickly is their house style and the only way I could do this was to make sure that I read this section in several different back issues so that I could learn it and try and stick within it. I’m hoping that I have managed to do this but I will find out once I have submitted it.
Day 3 of work placement at Wed magazine
Today, I got the amazing opportunity to go to one of Wed magazines photoshoots.
The photoshoot was based on classic, vintage style and the venue chosen for the matched this style completely.
The Endsleigh Hotel in Milton Abbot, Tavistock, has an old stately home feel to it with gorgeous gardens and secret nooks hidden all around the vast landscape of fields and forests surrounding the hotel.
The team consisted of Rebecca and Brendan (editors of Wed magazine), a make-up artist, hair stylist and a photographer.
The model chosen for the shoot is a regular model to feature in Wed magazine; she is a complete natural to this and has elegant features to showcase the wedding dresses she is wearing.
The wedding gowns came from the bridal box wedding shop based in Torquay (one of Wed’s main goals is to use local designers in their magazine, this depends on whether this is theCornwalledition orDevon, this shoot is for the Devon issue.)
The gowns were from designers Alfred Angelo and Veromia all brand new designs with The Bridal Box and the first to feature in a magazine, each dress had a different style but all shared the same floaty feel to them.
To accompany the dresses were headpieces from Flo and Harvey, Sarah Drew and wildflowers picked and put into the models hair from the hotels gardens. The wildflowers also were used to create two bouquets which featured in some of photos taken.
The majority of the photos were taken using the outside locations of the Endsleigh Hotel; the weather was beautiful so was absolutely perfect for the shoot. Using rockeries, trees and in one case a hanging metal chair suspended from a tree.
My job consisted of assisting with styling and deciding what headpieces would match which dress. I was also asked my opinion on what hair styles would fit the situations (it was decided that starting with the hair loose and long and slowly making it up was the best approach.)
My other duties consisted of being a runner for the day and making sure that things that needed to be in the right place. I also helped the photographer with positioning of the flash guns.
This experience was amazing and gave me a real insight into what life in the magazine industry is truly like. I enjoyed every moment of the experience and could see myself going into this industry.
Brendan and Rebecca have been incredible to me and have not let me just sit on the side lines they actively have got me involved with decision making and are not treating me like an amateur.
I’m going to be off for the bank holiday now so will be back in the office from Tuesday. After today I am now really looking forward to what the rest of my experience with Wed is going to be and what they have in store for me.
Here are some of the photos I took of behind the scenes of the photoshoot
Day 2 of work placement at Wed magazine
Today, is my first day working as a freelance journalist and contributor for Wed magazine. Instead of going into the office I got the chance to experience what it is like to work from home. This comes with it owns unique set of challenges which I did not expect coming.
All communication is done through email and the occasional text message. This morning I received an email with a list of things that I needed to complete these were:
- Look at forthcoming trends in the world of weddings.
- Write notes on these trends and what designers, beauty therapists etc. are doing with these trends.
- Look forpossible new locations that could be added to their directories for possible future work.
I started by looking at wedding blogs and local wedding designers to get inspiration. It soon became apparent that the bohemian theme is the massive trend engulfing the newlywed circle.
Outdoor weddings in marquees and orchards with bare foot brides and minimal make-up is setting a new unconventional trend as a new way forward. This is most likely because of the spring/summer season.
Say goodbye to the white wedding and say hello to the boho celebration of love.
With this trend in mind I looked at wedding receptions and entertainment and the use of nature to show an ultimate declaration of love.
One of the common themes is the use of flowers in boho style whether this be woven into the hair or dress or used on the cake design. The popular flowers to use are wild flowers.
Not only did I look at the bride but I also looked at the groom (a much overlooked person in the world of wedding) to see his approach to bohemia. This is normally a navy blue suit with open collar shirt, a much more relaxed approach compared with the rigid conventions normally set by the bride.
I also looked at colour schemes used and found a palette of colours used, typically a pastel or vibrant colour.
The look for new locations is an ongoing thing I am currently looking through Wed’s directory and researching what they may have missed or if there is any up-coming designers or venues.
This will take some time so luckily with the future bank holiday long weekend I am going to use this time to keep researching into hidden gems in the south west wedding. I’m sure they are out there and I will find you.
Permalink Comments Off on Day 2 of work placement at Wed magazine
Day 1 of work placement with Wed magazine
Today I started my placement with Cornwall’s leading wedding publication Wed magazine.
Straight away I was put to work looking at styles to fit a bohemian themed photoshoot. For this I looked at styles of dresses that fit the criteria and also hair and make up designs.
With the images that I found I created a mood board including colour ideas to go with it.
I showcased what I had found to Rebecca who decided that my ideas fit the ideas she had and we both decided on what should be the key features of the photo
shoot.
Rebecca asked me if I could attend the photoshoot in late may after my placement so that she could write in a credit for me when the photoshoot went to print.
Following this mood board, I was asked to create another one based around jewellery that was gonna be the main focus, this consisted of hair designs, make up- this was to help with ideas for hair and makeup designers who are going to be at a photoshoot on thursday (which I will be helping with).
After this task I was then assigned to write a 350 word bio in the real wedding section. Mine was about a couple who got married in a cathedral and had a marquee reception at the brides family home (this has been handed in for editing).
My final task was to look at their wedding directories and check their accuracy and also add in some new adverts from new venues, designers etc.
With all this is mind I am now looking at if my case study question fits my placement?
Permalink Comments Off on Day 1 of work placement with Wed magazine
Joe Lentaigne's Blog 