Getting to Know - LifetimesMAG.com - The Wedding Community

Company Name: LifetimesMAG.com

Interview With: Rory Squires

Location / Coverage: Across the United Kingdom

What is LifetimesMAG.com?

If you have ever dreamed of having your wedding featured in your very own magazine, LifetimesMAG.com is perfect for you. We produce custom, personalised magazines that tell the story of your big day, in a range of stunning styles.

Each magazine features flowing articles created by our expert writers (based on answers from you, your friends and family, to a series of tailored questions) in combination with your pictures.

We also create personalised magazines for anniversaries, hen and stag do celebrations, and all of life’s milestones.

It is inevitable that your memories of a special occasion such as a wedding will fade over time; trust me, it happens to all of us! However, with a LifetimesMAG your memories will remain fresh as you can relive those details, emotions and feelings time and time again.

How did LifetimesMAG.com come about and how long has the company been running?

The original incarnation of LifetimesMAG.com was Lifetimes Publishing, which was established by a friend of mine back in 2007. Originally the idea was for the writer to attend the wedding before liaising with the designer on creating the magazine. Although quite a few orders were processed, the service was inflexible and expensive.

However, I always thought the concept of a personalised wedding magazine had great potential, and I took over the company a year ago with the aim of completely relaunching the service this summer as LifetimesMAG.com and giving it the time, effort and love it deserves.

The revamped service features a really nice interactive website through which orders can be placed and the information we need for the articles can be retrieved from people without sending a writer to the wedding. We call the website process a ‘Template’ option, whereas we still offer a ‘Bespoke’ option featuring telephone-based interviews.

With prices starting at just £199 or, for example, £399 for 100 printed copies of an absolutely stunning 16-page magazine packed with all your memories, we have made the service very affordable, especially when you consider more expensive wedding-related services.

It was also really important to give the magazines a fresh look and more design options, and there are now 10 stunning styles to choose from.

Who works at LifetimesMAG.com and what are your roles?

Richard heads up our design team, while I keep a close eye on the editorial side of things along with Phil. We also have Simon who heads up our proofreading team. My wife, Lynda, helps in a number of areas including marketing, communications and editorial. We also have a network of hand-picked freelance writers and designers based across the UK, from the south west to the north east.

Why is the company called LifetimesMAG.com?

We wanted something catchy and memorable, but not a complete departure from the previous incarnation as Lifetimes Publishing. We also wanted to highlight the website, which is really slick. The name LifetimesMAG.com also reflects the fact that this is an ideal service for every life milestone, although obviously weddings will be a big focus.

What styles of magazine can LifetimesMAG.com create?

We have 10 styles in total to choose from — Art Deco, Comic, Elegant, Gazette, Glossy, Lucid, Matchday, Rustic, Sleek and Vivid.

Everyone has a favourite style, and they are all very unique and cater for a range of picture styles and personal tastes.

We started out with a shortlist of about 20 designs, and then through a thorough market feedback process we whittled them down to a shortlist before fine-tuning the final 10.

The research we carried out featured dozens of people — primarily women who were planning a wedding or had married recently. I promised them that if their efforts help LifetimesMAG.com to hit a certain sales target in the coming years, we will fly them all to New York for a trip. I’m starting to regret that now, but I’ll keep to my word!

Can couples create something completely bespoke?

We offer a Template or Bespoke magazine order. With a Template order, we fit your pictures and our words into an existing 8, 12 or 16-page magazine design template. The articles are written based on tailored answers from you, your partner and up to eight friends or members of your family in the Client Area of LifetimesMAG.com.

With a Bespoke, personalised LifetimesMAG, we create the design around your words and pictures, and we can accommodate specific requests as part of a luxury and flexible service that can include telephone-based interviews with those involved in the big day. Telephone interviews help us to delve deeper into the detail, thoughts and emotions of the day.

If you would like a different design altogether, we can also cater for that on an ad hoc basis. Just get in touch at info@LifetimesMAG.com to find out more.

How do you create a magazine for each of your couples? What’s involved?

It’s very straightforward process, whether it is a Template or Bespoke order.

You can order a Template magazine directly through the website. When you place a Template order you are emailed a unique code that you, your friends and family can use to log in to the Client Area and access tailored questions for each of you. You will also be able to email your pictures to us.

You can order a Bespoke magazine by firstly contacting us at info@LifetimesMAG.com to inform us of your requirements, and then we can arrange the payment, either via bank transfer or over the phone, after we have discussed your requirements for your magazine.

What content will the magazine have and how many pages?

Our Template magazines are 8, 12 or 16 pages long, but we can create longer magazines for Bespoke orders.

For a wedding magazine the Template questions ask the Bride and Groom about everything they would want to remember about the big day, including the details, feelings and emotions from the moment they woke up through to the end of the night, as well as the honeymoon and beyond. So for example, ‘How did you feel when you saw your partner at the end of the aisle?’; ‘What were you wearing on your wedding day, and what did you love about it?’; ‘How did it feel to wake up the next day as a married couple?’; ‘What do you love most about your partner?’

The magazine tells the full story of the day and the couple, with the thoughts of friends and family (who you have chosen to comment) weaved in to the magazine.

How long does the process take?

Once all of the answers and pictures have been provided it will take up to 10 working days for us to email you PDFs of your LifetimesMAG to enable you to check details in your magazine. Once approved, it will then take up to 10 further workdays for any printed copies to be delivered to one UK address, but the online flipbook version of the magazine will be available as soon as any details have been amended.

What does a personal wedding magazine cost?

When you think about the overall cost of a wedding, not a lot at all for something that you will treasure forever! Prices start at just £199 and, for example, you can get 100 printed copies of your own unique, personalised 16-page magazine, on excellent paper, for just £399, including free postage to one address. Then you will have enough to hand out to all of your wedding guests as well as keep for yourself!

If a guest wanted to buy a wedding magazine as a 1st wedding anniversary present, would they be able to get everything you need without the bride and groom knowing?

Yes, absolutely — they should just get in touch and we can process the Template or Bespoke order so it is a complete surprise for the couple. We also have an anniversary magazine option, which asks a different set of tailored questions for the couple and their friends and family, and includes a look back at the big day — even if it was several years ago!

What sets LifetimesMAG.com apart from companies offering similar services?

The quality of the product is unrivalled as we have a team of professional writers and designers who have worked on numerous national and international magazines and newspapers for many years.

But when you also consider the very affordable price, which is half that of any comparable service, as well as the number of options and the ease of ordering through our website, there simply isn’t anything close to LifetimesMAG.com. The price compares very favourably with other wedding-related services, such as videographers, and the end result is a simply stunning way to make your memories last forever.

What other occasions can LifetimesMAG.com create magazines for?

We have magazines for every life milestone — weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirements, Christenings and naming ceremonies. We can also produce a ‘memory mag’ for personal memoirs, someone reaching a life milestone, or for celebrations such as a Hen Do or Stag Do.

Do you have a favourite wedding magazine that LifetimesMAG.com has made?

My wife and I received our own pictures this week from our wedding in July, so our LifetimesMAG will be ready in a few days, and no doubt when I get my hands on it I’m sure it will be my favourite!

I really would not want to pick out one that we have done as they are all special and it has been a privilege to be offered an insight into so many different people’s personal lives and personalities, but I do have a special place in my heart for the very first LifetimesMAG I was involved in — the wedding of Sue and Shaun.

What are your top tips for creating a personal wedding magazine?

Pick a design that you think will complement your pictures and perhaps your colour scheme, and then when it comes to the questions, take your time, save them and come back to them if you need to, and be open and honest. We are fascinated by people and their stories; you all have an interesting tale to tell! Moreover, you will feel uplifted and fulfilled if you open your heart to us and relive some memories and details that you might have forgotten — that’s certainly what we have heard from our customers.

Also, if you are not sure how many copies you want, you can just order the basic online version plus PDFs initially, and then you can decide how many printed copies you want when you see the pages online.

Finally, if you need to check anything, just get in touch at info@LifetimesMAG.com!

Random question… What are your top three films of all time?

Goodness me… it really depends on my mood! I would have say The Godfather films (Parts I and II, but definitely not III) are right up there, as is The Shawshank Redemption. For a lighter mood, I’d go for The Hangover, purely for the fact that my wife has made me watch it so many times I think I know it off by heart.