Our editors and writers take great pride in the quality of our work and create original, accurate, expert content that is free of ethical concerns, conflicts, or misinformation. We share everything you need to know today, while making sure our library is kept accurate. If you see something that doesn’t seem up to date, please let us know by emailing us at contact@brides.com.
The Dotdash Meredith Content Integrity Promise
We are committed to the quality and trustworthiness of our content and editorial processes. Our team of writers, editors, fact checkers, illustrators, photographers, and medical and financial professionals rigorously researches and reviews all content on an ongoing basis to ensure it is up to date, accurate, and puts the needs of our readers first.
Each article features a byline that includes the name, a brief description, and a link to more information about those who contributed to that piece. The date indicates when the piece was most recently updated with new information. Some articles also have a tagline at the end to provide additional information on research or authorship.
Original illustrations, graphics, images, and videos are created by internal teams, who collaborate with experts in their fields to produce assets that represent diverse voices, perspectives, and context. Periodic review by editors as well as by Medical, Financial, Anti-Bias or other Review Board members as appropriate, ensure the quality, accuracy and integrity of these assets. Photos and videos are not edited in any way that may cause them to be false or misleading.
We correct any factual errors in a transparent manner and strive to make it easy for our readers to bring errors to our attention.
All of our writers, editors, and contributors are responsible for disclosing any potential conflicts of interest.
Our editorial content is not influenced by our advertisers. We maintain a strict separation between advertising and editorial content and clearly differentiate editorial content from advertising content.
Independence and Impartiality Policy
Brides is committed to independent, impartial, fair journalism. Our editorial content is not influenced by our advertisers. Every Brides staff member and contributor is held accountable to a high standard of honesty and transparency.
We maintain a strict separation between advertising and editorial content. Our “Sponsored Content” is labeled to make clear that such content is provided by or on behalf of an advertiser or sponsor.
In line with our mission to provide useful information that helps people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired, we are dedicated to publishing unbiased, comprehensive reviews of products and services. Our product and service reviews are wholly independent and based on robust research and product testing. When readers visit “affiliate links” within our content, Brides may receive commissions from purchases, but we never receive any compensation or consideration for the content of our recommendations.
Brides writers and editors are prohibited from giving preferential treatment to any outside resource (company, publication, video, affiliate, website) based on their relationship with the person or company who authors or owns that resource.
All of our writers and editors are responsible for disclosing any potential conflicts of interest—any relationship, financial, or personal, with any source or resource that may compromise their ability to provide fair and impartial information. As with many publishers, our writers and editors are sometimes provided with complimentary products or services for review purposes. We are transparent and disclose when any valuable products or services are provided to our editorial teams. Our editorial staff and editorial contributors must not solicit gifts or services for personal purposes.
Partnerships
Occasionally, Brides will partner with other businesses to create products or services that we believe will benefit our readers. We take great pride in our partnerships, and we only collaborate with brands that align with our values and develop products that our team approves of.
In our most recent partnership with Minted, we collaborated with the brand to design an exclusive stationery collection. Our editors were involved in every step of the design process, ensuring that the final product was worthy of the Brides stamp of approval and something we knew our readers would love.
Any content that is either created with or promoting one of our partnerships is clearly labeled as such, and we may receive a commission from any purchases made from our chosen links.
Product and Service Recommendations
The Brides team is committed to researching, testing, and recommending the best products and services for your wedding, and we only endorse those that align with our core values, or that we have used or experienced firsthand.
As wedding fashion experts, our editorial team attends New York Bridal Fashion Week, an industry event that happens twice each year, to see the newest collections that designers and brands are debuting to brides, retailers, and media. After each fashion week, we are able to recommend the best new styles to our readers, and that’s because we’ve seen hundreds of looks up close and connected with the designers behind every single one.
Brides editors and writers are also experts in all aspects of wedding-related travel. We’ve toured wedding venues across the country and internationally, as well as visited some of the most popular honeymoon destinations in the world. Through our in-person experiences, we provide honest reviews of wedding venues, hotels, and locations and only feature properties that align with our mission.
As is common in the media industry, businesses and PR agencies sometimes provide Brides editors with complimentary products or visits to properties for review purposes. We disclose this information when relevant and always provide honest reviews of our experiences, keeping the best interest of our readers in mind.
To read our full product review guidelines, click here.
Originality Policy
Our goal at Brides is to provide original, useful, and unbiased content. All information must be verified, properly attributed, and may not infringe the copyright or anyone’s intellectual property rights. Any suggestion of plagiarism is investigated fully and is grounds for dismissal. We expect all contributors on the network to abide by all applicable laws, standards, and accepted journalistic practices including:
- Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Code
- Copyright Law of the United States
- FTC Guidelines on Disclosures
- Fair Use
Writers and Sourcing
Our writers and editors adhere to strict standards for article sourcing. We rely on current and reputable primary sources, such as expert interviews, government organizations, and professional and academic institutions. All data points, facts, and claims are backed up by at least one reputable source.
Our writers, reporters, and editors are committed to bringing you the highest quality content. It is against our guidelines to publish automatically generated content that has been written by AI (artificial intelligence) tools such as ChatGPT.
We strongly discourage the use of anonymous or unnamed sourcing, as this can erode transparency and reader trust. In the rare instance where an unnamed source is used, we will disclose to readers the reason behind the anonymity and provide necessary context.
A cornerstone of our reporting and sourcing is to consider often overlooked perspectives from diverse communities, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+. Our content strives to serve all communities.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity Pledge
Weddings are celebrations of love, and everyone should have a voice in that celebration. It is our absolute commitment that everyone sees themselves represented on Brides, so in 2020 we created a Diversity Pledge with that mission in mind. Our Diversity Pledge is a list of actionable items to which the Brides team is accountable. We recognize our responsibility as a leader in the weddings space, and each staff member has pledged to use the power of our 85-plus year legacy to diversify our own voice and urge the wedding industry to make much-needed change. This commitment to anti-racism is quantifiable, and we share updates on our progress quarterly as well as continually revisit and add to these guidelines. To read our Diversity Pledge in its entirety, click here.
Anti-Bias Review Board
Additionally, Brides and Dotdash Meredith have established an Anti-Bias Review Board to support our mission of representing, serving, and helping all people. Led by Dr. Mackenzie Price, the Anti-Bias Review Board is made up of educators, advocates, public health specialists, journalists, researchers, financial experts, and other professionals, each with a background in supporting diversity, inclusion, and racial justice initiatives.
Anti-Bias Review Board members review content and images on Brides, using research and their expertise and judgment to advise the brand on language, images, themes, and tone. The Anti-Bias Review Board supports Brides in the creation of inclusive content for readers of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, religions, and socioeconomic circumstances.
If you have noticed an issue that you would like to bring to the Anti-Bias Review Board’s attention, you may contact them at antibias@dotdash.com.
Fact-Checking
Our writers confirm all information and data gathered for all articles, including news. We consult relevant, diverse, qualified sources to ensure we’re providing proper context and background to the reader. Each news article is thoroughly reviewed by a staff editor and fact-checked by staff. Articles are rigorously evaluated for accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. If you have noticed an issue you would like to bring to our attention, please let us know by emailing contact@brides.com.
Content Quality Updates and Corrections
The accuracy of our verified information and news articles is core to Brides. So too is our commitment to accountability to our readers and transparency about our accuracy and corrections practices.
Our rich library of “evergreen” educational service content is routinely updated and fact-checked to ensure ongoing publication of accurate, complete, relevant, and up-to-date useful information. Following our rigorous and systematic updating and verification process, articles in our content library are date-stamped to indicate to readers that the information is complete and accurate. News articles often cover a distinct event in time and are not part of our routine update process.
At Brides, we are committed to telling readers when an error has appeared, and to correcting it. When we discover a significant error of fact, we will correct the article as quickly as possible and append a correction note. All corrections will be clearly labeled, dated, and include information about what was corrected.
We welcome our readers’ participation in our ongoing commitment to accuracy and fact-checking. If you believe we have published a factual error in any of our content, please let us know and we will investigate and take appropriate corrective and/or updating measures. You can report a possible error by emailing Editorial Director Gabriella Rello Duffy at gabriella.rello@dotdashmdp.com.