InStyle Weddings Is Closing

by Diane Davis (Subscribe to Diane Davis's posts)
Posted Nov 25th 2009 at 12:00PM

The end of an era. InStyle Weddings is shuttering.

InStyle Weddings is closing. The last issue will come out Christmas day.

InStyle Weddings is the number one wedding magazine on the market, with an annual circulation of 2.6 million, Fashion Week Daily reports. The closure is apparently another casualty of the changing bridal market, hit hard by the economy, according to the site.

The quarterly, in keeping with its parent publication, focuses on celebrity weddings, sharing details on nuptials of the likes of Drew Barrymore and Marcia Cross.

While the magazine has delighted readers eager to hear exactly what kind of flowers their favorite stars chose, or who made their party favors, several stars covered in the magazine ended up separated of calling off an engagement altogether.

The New York Times called it "the curse of the InStyle Wedding" when weddings or engagements of Barrymore, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Avril Lavigne and Shannon Elizabeth went sour.

InStyle Weddings is the third bridal title to close in the past few weeks, with Elegant Bride and Modern Bride, both Conde Nast publications, folding last month.

The magazine launched back around the turn of the century, right around the time of the dot-com boom (and bust). Fueled by the Internet, America's celebrity culture was hot.

But the wedding industry has evolved. With dozens of beautiful blogs chronicling real people's weddings and elaborate guides to personal DIY touches (we love snippetandink.com and oncewed.com), prospective brides have numerous places to find ideas, and many couples on which to model their ceremonies.

And even though the average cost of a wedding is now between $21,000 and $24,000, according to Richard Markel, president of the Association for Wedding Professionals, as quoted on SmartMoney.com, most brides in today's economy are looking for realistic ways to save money when planning their big day.

That said, we'll miss InStyle Weddings, where every wedding was perfect and planned down to the smallest detail. And who doesn't want to see how beauties like Christina Hendricks celebrate their nuptials? Here's hoping they continue to cover celeb weddings in their main monthly title.

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