This Girl Turned Being a Bridesmaid into a Business

Being a bridesmaid can feel like a full time job. A full time job that you pay to do. Most of us endure it. We suck it up. We put on a smile and stick out our skinny arm and pose for a group shot. We conceal our frustration with heart emojis until she says, “I do.” Unless you’re Jen Glantz, we just interviewed her on The Elite Daily Show which you can watch now on go90. Jen discovered early on that she was really good at being a bridesmaid. Not just really good. She was a pro.

Her skills may be accredited to her first job as a professional sorority girl. Yeah, that’s a thing, “I had to travel from college to college and work with sorority girls, so that kind of prepped me for the whole business,” she explained to me on the show.

Which makes sense – isn’t being in a wedding party a lot like rushing a sorority? But instead of getting hazed with late night scavenger hunts (and other things I cannot reveal on behalf of Alpha Epsilon Phi’s Beta Alpha chapter at Emerson College) bridesmaid hazing comes in the form of paying for and then wearing an unflattering dress, spending half of your pay check on penis jewelry and endless rounds of tequila shots, not to mention responding to every text, and e-mail from the Bridezilla — sorry your best friend– regardless of the hour. After all it’s called “bridesmaid” not “brides-friend.”

But Jen was such a great bridesmaid that one day in June, she was asked to be a bridesmaid not once, but twice. Jen kept muttering to herself, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” as she washed down her fourth slice of pizza with a bottle of two buck chuck, until her roommate joked that she was basically a “professional bridesmaid.” Jen laughed it off at first, then got an idea.

Like most of us do in drunken desperate times, Jen turned to Craigslist. But instead of doing something ridiculous like buying a life size Jonathan Taylor Thomas cutout that you completely forget about until it arrives at your apartment a week later (who does that?), Jen posted an ad: Bridesmaid for Hire. Two days later her ad went viral, she had hundreds of responses from all over the world.

Now you may be wondering, who are these brides that hire bridesmaids? Have they no friends? Do they hate women? Actually it’s quite the opposite. “They tend to be brides that don’t want to burden their friends with the time and money that goes into being a bridesmaid, and want professional help,” Jen explained. In other words, they are angels among us.

Do you know why we even have bridesmaids? It dates back to when women were property. And the father of the bride would pay a dowry (money to essentially take his daughter off of his hands) to the groom. Back in the day women couldn’t work, so they spent money instead of making any (also know as my mother currently). The dowry would be strapped on the bride under her white dress, and thieves knew this, would try to steal the bride. So bridesmaids became a thing, but back then, they were dressed like the bride and were essentially decoys. So OG bridesmaids literally risked their lives for the bride. Stop crying that your peach dress isn’t flattering, it could be worse.

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While Jen never had to be a decoy, she has had to do a good deal of dirty work as a professional bridesmaid, “I had to take off my strapless bra and give it to the mother of the bride once. I had to touch poison ivy for the sake of a picture. I did a wedding outdoors once and down the aisle there was animal droppings. I had to scoop up the droppings with my bare hands for the wedding. I’m still grossed out.”

Jen does provide a huge service to the bride and the family, working up to 18 months before the wedding, helping them with every detail. But she’s not a “rent a best friend” business. She the bride’s personal assistant, on-call therapist, social director, and peacekeeper, making sure that everyone is having a good time and that no punches are being thrown. She also works with brides virtually, behind the scenes, and often times up at the altar as a true bridesmaid.

And of course it’s not always easy, after all, weddings can be stressful, “you can’t blame a bride or a mother of the bride when they go a little bonkers. There’s a lot of emotion, stress, and pressure that’s sprinkled on top of a wedding day. But that’s what I’m hired for – I’m their human Xanax,” said Jen.

Sometimes Jen’s job is kept a secret from the bride’s family, “But sometimes they do know and of course they look at me like why is she here? Why did she hire her? When they realize I’m there to do the dirty work so they can get to the bar faster. They’re often like, oh my God thank God she was hired and thank God she is here,” Jen explained.

Jen is still getting a ton of clients today, and sometimes she has to be selective. “If you e-mail me and say I want five girls all 5’7”, skinny. I’m going to say no. I’m not a modeling service.”

One would think that Jen’s life is like a real life 27 Dresses. And to some extent it is. Minus the hunky romantic interest.

“Most of the guys I meet [at weddings] are 65-year-old drunk uncles who grab my hand and twirl me around on the dance floor. I don’t think weddings are a wonderful place to meet guys or find love. They are a place to enjoy the open bar and the dance floor. I’d rather go to a wedding and score an extra piece of cake at the end of the night. But maybe that’s why I’m still single!” Jen laughs. I feel you Jen, most people at weddings are usually taken or weird – from the one wedding I went to. But Jen’s mom (her number one supporter) is still hopeful that she’ll meet “Mr. Forever” at a wedding.

I’m also optimistic for Jen. She’s one of those people that when you talk to her, you feel like you’ve known her your whole life – which is either a sorority thing, or why she’s so good at her job.

Bridesmaid for Hire is growing. She currently has a team of three professional bridesmaids who work at weddings for her and two interns. She also has had over 5,000 people apply to work for her.

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