'I'm a bridesmaid for hire. There are 2 different types of women who book me.'

Jen Glantz is a professional bridesmaid and on her website, Bridesmaid For Hire, you can do just that. Hire a bridesmaid, which is kind of like hiring a best friend or a personal cheerleader/bodyguard. 

And after being a bridesmaid over 125 times, she has seen it all — the drama, the cold feet, the arguments, the romance, the disasters…

Back in her 20s, Glantz was the single woman among all her friends, who were busily getting engaged and married. She was often asked to be a bridemaid — even to distant friends who hardly knew her past their college days.

"I was always a bridesmaid and it was fun for a while until it wasn't," she tells Mamamia's No Filter.

"I didn't realise how much it actually costs to be a bridesmaid. Before you know it, you're spending $400 on a bridesmaid dress, you're taking time off work. It felt like being an unpaid intern. It feels like a job."

Watch: Mamamia Confessions: The worst request I received as a bridesmaid. Post continues below.

After lots of money spent and countless hours assisting brides, Glantz came to a realisation.

If she was willing to be a bridesmaid for acquaintances she hadn't spoken to in months or years, why not do this for strangers... and be paid for it?

"I posted an ad on the Internet offering my services as a hired bridesmaid for strangers. And the ad received hundreds of responses from people all over the world," says Glantz, who lives in America.

"They were like, 'We need to hire you.' And that's when I realised there was a business here that nobody else had tried before. That was 10 years ago now."

There are two types of women who request her services. 

"One group are honest and say, 'Jen I'm at the point in my life where I just don't have many friends.' Then the second category of people are reaching out because they have friends, but their friends are a mess, are busy or they can't rely on them. In those cases I'm often then one of multiple bridesmaids, there to help with the organisational details."

With her bridemaid packages starting around $3,800, the price varies depending on the services Glantz provides.

Glantz has rules for herself on the job. 

First, she never drinks. Second, she doesn't date or 'get with' anyone at the wedding. 

"I'm married now but back in the day I was single at these weddings. I had a rule not to flirt with potential suitors, just because that's not really what I was there for," she says.

Third was to set firm boundaries with the bride.

"Over the years working with clients, I would have people call me and text me at 3am and expect responses. I had somebody fire me as their bridesmaid because she mistook the role as being her personal assistant. She wanted me to make her dentist appointment, reconcile her bank accounts, things like that."

There's one big reason she won't accept a job though. And it comes down to 'aesthetics'.

"There's times I've had to decline work, especially when people reach out for the wrong reasons. I've had brides say, 'I want to hire a bridesmaid who looks a certain way. We want someone who is short, blonde, etc.' So if they ask for things like that, I'll turn them down. This isn't a modelling place, we don't do that. That's never been part of my purpose," says Glantz.

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Glantz has also learned a thing or two about love. 

"It has affected my view of everything. I learned that you can never be so sure that you are marrying the right person. Because people change, things happen. Even if you look at what you think is a perfect couple, they might not make it to the first year of marriage. Because marriage is so complicated," she explains on No Filter.

"People spend so much time worrying about the wedding and no time focusing on the marriage part. I don't like this idea of like marriages forever, because it just might not be and that's also okay. It's just made it more realistic."

There's one example of this that has stuck in Glantz's mind over the years.

The bride had hired her and then confided in Glantz that she was no longer in love with her to-be husband. This woman didn't know what to do with her feelings and the wedding was fast approaching. 

"My job as the hired bridesmaid is never to judge you, so I don't care what you end up doing. It's just to listen to you and help you process this. This bride processed her feelings and realised she was not in love with this person anymore. And they called it off."

"I've had people who have hired me strictly to help them figure out how to call off their engagement."

There's been plenty of other memorable wedding moments too.

"I've had mothers of the bride screaming at me or blaming me for things that have gone wrong. I've had people have cold feet and want to back out, hysterically crying."

It hasn't stopped Glantz's appreciation for weddings. Though her own special day was far more chill than many of the extravagant events she's been a part of.

"Our wedding was a disaster, but beautiful. It was when COVID hit and we had to cancel this whole wedding. We ultimately decided to just elope — so we eloped outside of the coffee shop where we had our first date. We did it five years to the day of our first date," she says.

"We had about five people there and then we Zoomed everybody else in. I never thought that's what I wanted, but it was so beautiful and so perfect."

Feature Image: Instagram @jenglantz.