What It's Like To Be A Professional Bridesmaid For A Living
I know the in's and the out's of how to make your wedding day flawless.
LightField Studios / Shutterstock Within 48 hours, two of my dearest friends both asked me the very same question. It was the kind of question that made little pellets of sweat dance down their foreheads and splash onto the collar of their shirts. It was the kind of question that made me run home and check the contents of my bank account, praying that the zeroes I kept seeing would magically turn into 8's.
"Jen," they both kicked it off with, fiddling the tips of their freshly manicured fingers, "Will you be my bridesmaid?"
And without even swallowing the nervous saliva that was building up in my mouth, I said yes. The first time and the second time.
Being a professional bridesmaid and having the chance to stand beside someone who means something so significant to you in your life, on their special day, is one of the greatest honors.
It's something I'm willing to dip into my savings account to do or earn a couple of blisters on the edge of my pinky toes from dancing the night away in my Guess silver pumps (my go-to wedding shoes).
It's also something I've become quite familiar with these days.
This is why this past Friday I posted an ad on craigslist about being a professional bridesmaid. Pick me — I want to tell these brides. I know the ins and the outs of how to make your wedding day — and the months leading up to it, flawless. I know how to rally up the guests to dance the Hora or how to give a speech at the rehearsal dinner that won't sound like it's being read straight off a Hallmark card.
Since posting, I've received quite a few messages. Some from past brides write in to say how cool it is that I'm offering this service and am willing to put 100 percent into being a bridesmaid.
And then, of course, I receive some very strange messages that I'm almost tempted to put into Google translator to help me figure out because they are not relevant to my ad and contain only one or two words and a whole lot of winky faces. ( I sometimes forget I posted it on Craigslist!)
If someone wrote me with a serious request, I'd love to get to know them and be a part of their special day. Finding friends once you've graduated college and entered the real world is quite a daunting task. This is just one of those very, very out-of-the-box ways of connecting with someone new. If a bride is in need of a new best friend or an extra bridesmaid so her numbers match up with the groomsmen, why wouldn't I offer up my expertise?
Jen Glantz is the author of All My Friends Are Engaged, a book of dating disaster stories. She's also the heart behind the website The Things I Learned From.
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