By Paul Pannone

Efforts and slow changes in the wedding industry continue to succumb to the rapid changes that have taken place over the past decade, unable to keep pace with what today’s consumer really want. The same old boring pictures of models in gowns are replaced by the sultry swag of celebrities that make news when they marry– and divorce– in a short amount of time.

With an infinite amount of places to get bridal information, the older, most-established magazines are an easy target. No need to get personal there Mr. Magazine cover…

In April eWedNewz reported on a campaign to broaden readership and keep a more general public buying their printed magazine products beyond the wedding planning process. Sources who agree with eWedNewz reporting say the decline of formal wedding planning over the past few years, especially since the collapse of the economy in 2008, exacerbated the rate of decline. The same sources could not disagree the impact of the internet and how today’s brides look for information online– for free– continues to erode the importance of printed magazines with a price.

A focus on Brides magazine shows that despite efforts to connect with readers and change their format, the magazine is losing pages. Brides magazine lost nearly 180 pages in the first six months of 2012; newsstand circulation is at an all-time low. Editorial in the last issue talks about second hand veils, shoes, and other accessories. All factors that cannot bode well with advertisers.

An attendee of a recent event in New York City one source told eWedNewz;

“Their newsstand is coming off a high of approximately 400,000 a few years ago – June of 2011 (ABC – audit bureau of circulation 96,000 copies at the newsstand).   December of 2011 shows newsstand sales approximately 64,000 copies.  I’m waiting for the next ABC release to see where they will end up.  After checking the latest issue I could hardly find anything to read in the issue: primarily fashion and the magazine is as thin as a rail.”

If the turnaround at Brides is to happen, it needs to happen quickly and with a meteoric rise that can bring back departed advertisers and entice new ones.

eWedNewz continues our coverage of this story and welcomes you to take this poll

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