Would you ever hire a professional bridesmaid?

View Quoted Comment Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to get my vendors on the dance floor. It might just be my area, but usually at some point most vendors end up dancing and hanging out. Plus I love my vendors and have had a lot of fun with some of them.


Either way, different strokes for different folks. I wouldn’t spend my money on it, but I can understand why some might.

Like Kristin, I also understood that the professional bridesmaids weren't really hired due to their looks for photos. I understood that it was a service they were providing when no other BMs would step up OR perhaps if other friends were unavailable or overseas, as others have pointed out. I believe the services/roles/duties would be kinda in between a bridesmaid and DOC. I think the idea of hiring a BP member weirds some people out, and that's ok. To me, it's an unfamiliar idea, sure, but I see nothing wrong with it.

For all the brides who have expected their BMs to do this, do that, plan this, throw that event, and even just bring extra lipstick/hairspray/nail polish on the wedding day for touch-ups...and then those brides were disappointed when the BMs didn't fulfill said expectations, I kinda see why the professional BMs are so successful in their businesses! I read an article about a professional BM a few years back, and I believe it said something like this: every bride wants someone by their side on their big day to relieve stress, take care of any unforeseen snafus, be a "hype man" so to speak, and just generally reduce stress and increase excitement on their day. So perhaps a professional BM might be a good idea for them.

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This. Although I'm not surprised it exists just reading so many people complaining about their bridesmaids and how they don't do enough. Those people SHOULD just hire props.

Agree that I would never do this.

This has been around a long time. A rumor went around my best friend's wedding in 2013 that I was a hired bridesmaid. The groom's family didn't know me, and much of the bride's extended family only knew me by name. Add to this that I was a fitness model at the time (and looked it all the time), and it spiraled out of control to where everyone was talking about the hired Disney princess bridesmaid. (This was especially hilarious to my husband, who was seated away from me, listening to everyone at his table talk.) The bride's mom had to set the record straight over the week following the wedding.

As another poster said, what I recall reading was the hired bridesmaid wasn't so much about being pretty in photos, even though that is often the perception (as it was at my friend's wedding). Many modern brides now expect a lot out of their friends, who are not party planners or personal assistants, but apparently should transform into these things overnight for their wedding. Not only would this alleviate that, but it helps to have someone unequivocally in your corner - such as, say, when your MOH wants to throw a bachelorette party that is nothing like anything you would enjoy whatsoever. It keeps you, as the bride, from being in the uncomfortable position of having to tell your girls "no penis water bottles or strippers." Not the worst idea, really.

It's a very interesting concept to me, and in some other cultures this is actually common and not seen as weird or gives the impression that the bride is shallow or a bridezilla. I personally wouldn't hire a bridesmaid, but I also think it would be kind of fun to be a hired bridesmaid. You get the whole bridesmaid experience (which I've always enjoyed for the weddings I've been in) and get paid? Sure, sign me up! I'm also the person who really enjoys planning things and making sure the person of honor is taken care of. To be fair, though, I'd definitely quite on a bridezilla. No amount of money is worth being treated like crap.

I wouldn't hire someone to do this but I don't judge others if that is their choice. I saw a local newspaper article on someone who does this in my area. She essentially serves as emotional support/cheer leader/voice of reason for the Bride and assists with the event coordination (almost like a day-of-coordinator). I could see someone who has strained family relationships or has just moved to a new area and doesn't have their friends/family close by hiring someone like this.

I could see hiring a wedding assistant who takes on the role of a bridesmaid during your big day - basically a wedding planner focused primarily on the bride. I cannot see inventing a fake friendship and elaborate backstory and making a stranger take a central role in my wedding photos.

I'm not against it. Everyone makes the marriage they want, everyone should get the wedding they want. For several years I lived in Las Vegas, where it's very romantic and many couples elope and have a glitzy, grand time. But, I can see how it's also a little lonely and they don't have anyone as witness, and not necessarily by choice. So if you find an organized, party planner/ cheerleader/ toast giver and she follows through all the way through the "I do's", then you do you. I mean it's the time of COVID, we've all been isolated and separate. Everyone can certainly define their own priorities.