But wedding planners are very different: They work on setting up the wedding and coordinating details of the look and feel of the whole celebration.
Monday, August 31, 2020
Job diary: A day in the life of a professional bridesmaid
But wedding planners are very different: They work on setting up the wedding and coordinating details of the look and feel of the whole celebration.
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4 comments:
This article brought me in with its eye-catching headline. I have heard of people turning to the internet to seek out wedding dates, but I had never before heard of people being hired to be in the bridal party. Truthfully, I think it is a fantastic idea, but there are some underlying issues which this article brought to mind. While the bridesmaids for hire serve many purposes, such as navigating and mitigating wedding drama, I think they also call attention to an issue with societal pressures surrounding weddings. There is an unspoken guideline that your bridesmaids can be a symbolic representation of your popularity status, which is something I would have preferred to have died out in high schools. Homecoming royalty and other popularity symbols do not serve much of a healthy purpose in their stereotypical format (with some exceptions). At the same time, I am aware of my biases as a stereotypical nerd who was far from popular and would love a bridesmaid for hire for her makeup skills alone. I also find it interesting that the pricing scale is not mentioned in the article or readily available on the company’s website itself. You have to make an inquiry and have your identity verified before finding out how much their service would set you back. I totally respect this, especially as it likely varies with what you want, but I would be interested to know what the starting rate is out of curiosity and having grown up in a household with a Professor of Economics.
I don’t know a lot about weddings as I have only been to like 2 and I was young when they happened, but I have watched a lot of the show Four Weddings and Say Yes to the Dress, so all I really know is based on that. But I read this article and have now been thinking about it for like 10 minutes before I wrote this comment because I cannot decide what I think about this job. It does sound like a good idea to have someone there to help with these issues that come up but I’m also thinking that the bridal party if they really are good friends would help with these things? I also just don’t know how I would feel as a bride with someone in my bridal party who I don’t know and is only there because I hired them to be. I just think I would want the first person to see me on my wedding day to be a family member or one of my close friends. It also seems odd to me that they essentially make up a story for how the bride knows this woman. But the idea there still makes sense to me because it does seem helpful to have an outside person who is able to just listen to everyone’s problems and does not have a selfish motive in anything. I don’t know maybe the idea is good but if I was a bride, I really don’t think I would want this. But it was really interesting to read about this job that I had never heard of.
Professional Bridesmaid or Stage Manger of the Wedding? The way the author of the article talks about the weddings she has worked on sounds really similar to how a stage manager, or assistant stage manager, would talk about shows they have run. Her description also reminded me that a ritual, such as a wedding, is one of the many origins of theater. A wedding and a show have quite a lot of similarities; bridal party getting ready could be actors getting into costume, cocktail hour could be considered intermission, dance floor time could be curtain call, etc. This professional bridesmaid is a master at keep weddings moving, making sure everything is running on time, and thinking of solutions fast on her feet. All of these traits are also requirements for any type of management team backstage, minus helping the actors with their lavatory issues perhaps. If Jen Glantz ever gets tired of always being a bridesmaid and never a bride, she could potentially have a great career in the theater!
The title of this article was eye-catching and I definitely found myself fascinated for the entire read. First of all, I am very curious if I have ever been to a wedding with a professional bridesmaid. Second, I am fascinated by how someone would get into this business. It was impossible to read this article and not compare the professional bridesmaid to a stage manager. When people ask me what a stage manager does, I often compare it to an event planner, essentially someone who makes everything run smoothly. Certainly the best description for this woman’s job is someone who makes sure everything goes as planned. Any event, from a wedding to a musical, needs someone who knows it is their responsibility to make sure the event goes off without any significant issue; and more importantly when there is an issue, that person resolves it before other people even know about it.
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