Wedding Ideas: ‘handbag’ format
Former Haymarket publisher Kevin Whitchurch has set up his own magazine company and is planning to launch a magazine for brides next month.
Wedding Ideas will be the debut title from Taunton-based Giraffe Media, founded by Whitchurch and his partner Rachel Harris.
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The 212-page glossy will be published monthly in a “handbag” format to make it easier to carry.
Whitchurch said: “We think the current magazines for brides are a bit bland and dull and they don’t give many ideas.
“They are pretty but not useful, and don’t do a very full job.”
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Wedding Ideas is expected to take a more practical approach than existing titles, offering brides affordable ideas on everything from fashion to catering and venues for the wedding reception.
Celebrity hair stylist Trevor Sorbie and jewellery expert Susan Astair are among the contributors in the first issue. Harris has taken on the role of editor but content for the first issue has been written mainly by freelances.
Harris previously worked for Origin Publishing, editing the beauty titles Your Hair and Your Hair and Ideas.
Whitchurch said he wanted to see what the sales were like before recruiting a full team but, if it is a success, the company may consider further launches next year. Wedding Ideas will go on sale nationwide on 2 January with a print run of 80,000 and cover price of £2.95.
It will compete against Condé Nast’s market-leading title Brides and Setting up Home, which has a circulation of 66,016; You and Your Wedding, owned by the National Magazine Company, which sells 62,750; IPC’s Wedding and Home (55,481) and Cosmopolitan Bride, also owned by Nat Mags, which sells 46,040.
Whitchurch has worked on a range of titles in the past, having launched Haymarket’s flagship football magazine Four Four Two and relaunched Classic FM, as well as having published teen magazines Sugar and B when they were owned by Attic Futura.
He oversaw the first few issues of design glossy Wallpaper before it was acquired by Time Inc.
He also has experience of contract publishing, having produced customer titles for HMV, Waterstones, UGC Cinemas and Roland.
By Ruth Addicott
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