by Staci Nichols

You wake up the morning after the wedding, ready to blog about last night’s centerpieces and love story and that hilarious toast…but your feet are still aching from 10 hours of running around at the venue. And you want to take your kids to the park like you promised. And there is a stack of dishes in the sink.

“Hey, why don’t I just copy and paste my agenda/playlist/menu [insert what you do here] from last night into a blog post and be done with it?”

Yea, I’ve been there too.

Oh, the siren song of the crappy copy-and-pasted real wedding blog post (or, for photographers, the one-sentence write-up accompanied by 25 photos).

Here are 5 easy ways to spice up your real wedding blog posts…and still have time for the dishes.

Tip #1 – Take notes and cut to the chase

While you are at the wedding, take notes of unique details, song choices, appetizers, attire items–whatever–that jump out at you.

Couples read your real wedding blog posts to 1) get ideas and be inspired, and 2) see their venue in action (or research venues). At the beginning of your blog post prominently state the top 3 coolest “take-aways” from the wedding.

Don’t expect couples to read through the entire night’s playlist when all the song choices were fairly standard…just put the one super-clever, never-seen-before song choice front and center.

Tip #2 – Include a video

You know that moment at the wedding where you’re swept away in the romance and sort of forget you’re there to be working…the moment where you take out your cell phone and take a little video?

From what I see, most of us are simply posting that video to our Facebook pages and forgetting about it. No!

Add that video to your blog post.

If you’re not a photographer/videographer, couples aren’t expecting your video to be sparkly and polished–they understand you are a florist or caterer or DJ…it’s OK.

Bonus Tip: If you find the videographer has posted a highlights reel, you can embed it or link to it. Be sure to properly credit the videographer!

Tip #3 – Use the untapped resource: the couple’s wedding website

If you’re going to copy and paste, include some quotes from the couple’s wedding website.

Engagement stories, bios on the wedding party, and honeymoon plans are often included on these websites. Be sure to properly cite it, of course.

If the website is set to private, be sure to respect the couple’s privacy…but there are often still some great tidbits lurking on the wedding website.

Bonus Tip: Use the couple’s wedding hashtag! Even if you don’t have Instagram, you can still google “#joe+sally4ever” and see what guests posted. Even just listing the hashtag in your post will make it stand out. (Something like, “For more on this gorgeous San Diego rooftop wedding, see Joe and Sally’s wedding hashtag: #joe+sally4ever.”)

Tip #4 – Make your posts easy to read.

Why are you even writing this post?

Be honest…your main two motivations for posting real weddings to your blog is to show off the venues you’ve worked at and to show prospects that you are busy and in-demand, right?

Nothing wrong with that at all…but remember to consider the reader. So many of our real wedding posts are “zeroes” on the readability scale because we see the post as a badge of honor instead of a gateway to our contact buttons.

To improve your posts’ readability, use a pleasantly-sized font (I don’t want to use a magnifying glass to read it), use subheadings (“The Ceremony,” “The Menu”), use bullet points and sidebars, and re-size your images so they are no larger than 600-800 pixels wide.

Tip #5 – Include the client’s review or thank you card.

If the couple gave you a handwritten thank you card, whip out your smart phone, get the free Cam Scanner app, and take a picture of it (the app will turn it into a nicely-rendered scan for best readability).

Post the thank you card in the post. If the couple eventually leaves you an online review, take a screenshot of it and include that as well.

A testimonial ON a real wedding blog post has double the mojo, so don’t forget this crucial step!

What are some of your tricks for pimpin’ out your real wedding blog posts? Let me know in the comments below!