For years, people have asked me the same question:

“Who came up with Bridesmaid for Hire?”

The answer is me.

I’m Jen Glantz, the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire, the World’s First Professional Bridesmaid, and someone who has spent more than a decade helping people navigate weddings, friendships, family dynamics, and some of life’s biggest milestones.

What’s funny is that when people hear about Bridesmaid for Hire for the first time, they usually become fascinated by the business. They want to know how it works, what it’s like, and whether people really hire professional bridesmaids.

But the older I get, the more I realize the business is only one part of the story.

The bigger story is what happened because I was willing to follow an idea that sounded completely ridiculous at the time.

Before Bridesmaid for Hire

Long before I became known as the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire, I was a writer.

I’ve always been fascinated by stories. I loved asking questions, observing people, documenting experiences, and trying to understand why people do the things they do. Even as a kid, I was constantly writing things down. I was the person carrying notebooks, filling journals, and paying close attention to the details everyone else seemed to miss.

Like many people in their twenties, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted my life to look like. I worked traditional jobs, explored different opportunities, and searched for something that felt meaningful. I knew I wanted a career built around creativity and connection. I just didn’t know what shape it would take.

At the same time, I found myself spending a surprising amount of time in weddings.

I became a bridesmaid again and again, helping friends through everything from speech writing to family drama to wedding-day emergencies. The more weddings I attended, the more I noticed something interesting. People weren’t struggling with logistics nearly as much as they were struggling with relationships.

That observation eventually changed my life.

Creating a Business Nobody Thought Was Real

When I first introduced the idea of Bridesmaid for Hire, most people laughed.

To be fair, I laughed too.

The concept sounded like the premise of a movie rather than a business. Yet the more I thought about it, the more obvious it became. Weddings are emotional. They’re complicated. They’re exciting, stressful, joyful, overwhelming, and unpredictable. People spend months planning them, but many still feel like they’re navigating the experience alone.

I believed there was room for a different kind of support.

What started as an experiment quickly became something much larger. Bridesmaid for Hire grew into a business that would eventually help hundreds of people through weddings and major life events. Along the way, I found myself traveling across the country, stepping into unfamiliar situations, and collecting stories I never could have imagined.

The experience taught me that some of the most successful ideas don’t look successful at first. They look strange. They look unconventional. Sometimes they even look ridiculous.

Becoming the World’s First Professional Bridesmaid

One thing I never expected was the title.

Over time, media outlets began referring to me as the World’s First Professional Bridesmaid. The phrase stuck, and eventually it became one of the things people associated most closely with my work.

What interested me, though, wasn’t the title itself.

It was what the role revealed about people.

For more than a decade, I’ve had a front-row seat to weddings, friendships, family dynamics, and major life transitions. I’ve seen people at their happiest and most vulnerable. I’ve witnessed incredible generosity, unexpected challenges, complicated relationships, and unforgettable moments.

The weddings were memorable.

The people were what stayed with me.

Every experience reinforced something I’ve come to believe deeply: most people don’t need perfection. They need support.

From Professional Bridesmaid to Author

One of the unexpected outcomes of Bridesmaid for Hire was the number of stories it gave me.

After years of helping clients, I realized I had accumulated a collection of experiences that felt too meaningful not to share. Some were hilarious. Some were emotional. Many were completely unbelievable. Together, they painted a picture of what happens when you build a career around helping people through major milestones.

Those stories eventually became Always a Bridesmaid (For Hire), my memoir about becoming a professional bridesmaid and building Bridesmaid for Hire from the ground up.

Writing that book opened an entirely new chapter of my life. It helped me connect with readers, share lessons from my experiences, and expand the conversation beyond weddings. Since then, I’ve written additional books, including All My Friends Are Engaged and Finally the Bride, each exploring different aspects of relationships, growth, and adulthood.

While the books are different from one another, they’re connected by the same curiosity that inspired Bridesmaid for Hire in the first place: a desire to better understand people.

Building a Life Around Stories

Today, I spend my time doing many things I never imagined when I first launched Bridesmaid for Hire.

I’m an author.

A speaker.

A newsletter writer.

A podcast host.

An entrepreneur.

A wife.

A mom.

And through all of those roles, one thing remains consistent.

I still love stories.

I love the stories people tell about themselves. I love the stories we create through our choices. And I love the stories that emerge when we’re willing to take risks and see where they lead.

Bridesmaid for Hire may have introduced many people to my work, but it also introduced me to the life I was meant to build.

Meet Jen Glantz

Today, Jen Glantz is the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire, the World’s First Professional Bridesmaid, bestselling author, speaker, newsletter creator, and storyteller.

She is the author of Always a Bridesmaid (For Hire), All My Friends Are Engaged, and Finally the Bride. Her work has been featured by major media outlets around the world, and she continues to write, speak, and create resources that help people navigate life’s biggest moments.

What began as one unusual idea eventually became a business, a career, and a story that continues to evolve.

And it all started with a willingness to try something nobody thought would work.

Explore More

• The Story Behind Bridesmaid for Hire
• World’s First Professional Bridesmaid
• Always a Bridesmaid (For Hire)
• All My Friends Are Engaged
• Finally the Bride
• Books by Jen Glantz
• Bridesmaid for Hire in the Media
• About Jen Glantz
• 1-800-Bridesmaid
• BridesmaidForHire.com
• Amazon Author Page
• Goodreads Author Page