Weddings are mainly considered to be happy occasions. But they can also be incredibly stressful, particularly for the brides. As a six-time bridesmaid, Jen Glantz knew the stressful nature of weddings quite well. So she turned it into a business opportunity, granting the ability to hire a bridesmaid.
As a professional bridesmaid, Glantz offers help with various wedding day tasks, from organizing showers to providing emotional support. She’s not a wedding planner. For the most part, wedding planners only deal with the major logistics of the big day. Glantz also offers small tips for brides that she’s learned from her extensive bridesmaid experience. She told CNN:
“No one is going to tell you to stretch out your shoes.”
Brides can hire a bridesmaid and order small packages like speechwriting for a fee of about $150. Or they can go with the “ultimate” bride package, which costs upwards of $1,000. This includes six one-hour sessions with Glantz leading up to the wedding day and then nine hours of logistics on the wedding day. She can even stand on the altar alongside the bride as an actual bridesmaid, but that isn’t required. Brides outside of New York are also responsible for covering her travel expenses.
Glantz started the business on a whim by posting an ad for her unique services on Craigslist in June. Since then, she’s worked with more than a dozen different brides, offering help with everything from dresses and accessories to dance skills.
Glantz currently runs her bridesmaid-for-hire business as a side project. She still works full-time during the week as a copywriter. But the business is growing quickly. Glantz has already received more than a thousand emails from women around the country wanting to work for her or start their own Bridesmaid for Hire franchises. For now though, Glantz is just working on finding new ways to monetize the business, like charging for advice and partnering with other bridal brands.
Glantz’s business is a great example of someone seeing a unique niche that wasn’t being filled by other businesses, and then just going for it. She didn’t have a business background, but instead just wanted to help people. And because it’s a service that many brides seem to find incredibly helpful, she might have just unknowingly created a whole new industry.
Image: Bridesmaid for Hire
This article, "Now You Can Hire a Professional Bridesmaid" was first published on Small Business Trends
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