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Hey, vendor friends! It's me, Ariel, the publisher of Offbeat Wed. As some of you may know, this year I got my first non-Offbeat Empire job in 14 years, working on the publishing tools over at Medium.com. To say this has been a huge year of shift for Offbeat Wed is an understatement, with my lil team of Offbeat Weditors like Suki and Yelahneb taking over the management of the site.
I wanted to reach out today and let you know how I'm seeing Offbeat Wed evolving in 2024 — because it has big impacts on you.
The heart of Offbeat Wed's work has always been about helping our vendor community connect to our readers. This was true way back in 2008 when we first started doing sponsored posts with a few early adopters. It was true back in 2013 when we partnered with Lovesick to produce the coolest wedding expos nationwide. (RIP Lovesick Expo, you were the best party ever.)
It was also true earlier this year, when the New York Times wrote an article about inclusive wedding vendors, featuring the Offbeat Wed Vendor Guide as an industry-leading example of how things should be done.
…And it's extra super massively true now, as I look forward to 2024 being the year of the Offbeat Wed vendor.
What do I mean by this? I mean that increasingly, the focus of the Offbeat Wed blog (and our associated social media pages) will be on our committed community of weird, wonderful, offbeat wedding vendors.
- While we'll always feature reader-submitted weddings, we'll also be focused on vendor-submitted weddings and shoots.
- We want to feature more of vendor community's industry perspectives and pro-tips, stuff like our Industry Insiders posts.
- Next year, in partnership with Suki's new social media company, we'll be offering bespoke production options for your marketing videos. Suki will have more news about that in coming months.
If you're a member of our vendor community, we can't wait to feature your stuff. You can submit here.
But wait a minute. What if you're a vendor who's not yet in our community?
As part of this increased focus on our vendors, I'm also making a huge change to the Offbeat Wed Vendor Guide pricing structure.
I want our community to be as accessible as possible, so for the first time in a decade, I'm lowering the price of new Vendor Guide listings.
A new listing in the Offbeat Wed Vendor Guide is dropping from $460/year to $275/year.
By dropping the price of a first-year listing by 40%, I hope to make a listing on Offbeat Wed more inclusive for all levels of wedding vendors, including microbusinesses, side hustles, and those just starting out.
This drop in cost also aligns with my values of supporting the kind of small businesses that I want to see more of — I know how many offbeat vendors are solopreneurs, women-owned, queer-owned, trans-owned, and BIPOC-owned companies. Let's get you in here with us…
Finally… a sincere thanks to every single one of you for being a part of this vibrant, remarkable community!
I want everyone to feel great about their involvement with Offbeat Wed. If you have any questions or feedback, just leave a comment and let me know.
I'm so excited to see what we can do together in 2024.
XO,
Ariel Meadow Stallings
Publisher, Offbeat Wed
Offbeat Wed Vendor
This page features vendors from our curated Offbeat Wed Vendor Directory. They're awesome and we love them. If you're a vendor let's get you in here!
