If you read all of the bride blogs that I do, you have already seen this announcement 274 times. Want to know why every single bride is writing about it today? No, we weren't paid. Really, there are no free handouts involved here. When I first started reading and commenting on EAD I was amazed to find personal replies in my inbox to some of the comments I was making. It was like getting individual attention from a blogging celebrity, and I was loving it. The more I commented and began to converse back and forth with EAD, the more I loved the two of them and what they are doing. They are like my new blog BFF's.
Now they have launched this new library that will eventually grow into a comprehensive resource for brides across the nation. The best part about this library is they have given us brides some control! Every single page on the site has a "Contact Us" link where you can submit links to wedding vendors you would reccomend. The sponsored links are clearly marked, but every vendor below that link is there because EAD loves them, a bride loves them, or because that vendor themself keeps up with the wedding blogging world well enough to know about this fabulous site and wants to be a part of it. I love that there is no question about whether vendors were chosen for the site based on the amount of money they are willing to pay.
When I said before that EAD could potentially become your best friends, I wasn't joking. They even took my suggestion and included a vendor review from a real bride on the front page! I absolutely hate when I can't tell if a site is made up of vendor reviews and reccomendations sponsored by ad revenue, and I think the words of a real bride eliminate that concern entirely.
If you haven't already, go check things out. I was very excited to see A Bride Beautiful (the store where I bought my dress), listed in the beauty section under bridal salons. Start submitting your own vendors to help build things up. I'm very impressed by how comprehensive the site is on the first day of the launch, and I can't wait to see where things go from here!
4 comments:
ami and rebekah are awesome. they offer wonderful encouragement. i wish i had been more involved with them when i was still planning. our relationship didn't start until post-wedding.
i want to add to your post and reiterate that the vendors didn't put themselves out there. i emailed my photographer today to tell her to check out the review that i wrote on her and she was shocked. she had no idea this was going on.
i also wanted to give you props on such a great idea to do the real bride reviews!
:) Jenna, you are fabulous and we love your input! You need to market your ideas because they are truly awesome.
jenna! we love you, thank you for the post. :)
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