Breaking Down How Influencer Brides Are Making Money Off Their Weddings With Brand Deals

“It’s the most effective way of marketing,” Briana Severson, CMO of the wedding planning platform Zola, told the WSJ, adding that when a couple announces they’re engaged, “it’s like they’ve set up a giant billboard.”

In fact, Zola even paid 25-year-old Indianapolis bride Naomi Hege—who has 3,000 Instagram followers—$350 to post about her wedding on their platform. 

And that wasn’t all Hege was able to get, as she told WSJ she was being paid $600 per post from her local nail salon and waxing parlor for content related to her wedding. 

“Every partnership that comes in where I get money is going to the wedding,” Hege explained. “After that, it’ll go to buying a house.”

Of course, the bigger a bride’s following, the bigger her brand deals, like Brigette McHale, better known by her online moniker Acquired Style. The 29-year-old boasts almost three million followers across her social platforms and had her bachelorette party sponsored by AI mirror seller Swan Beauty. The company provided her with a private jet to St. Barts and a villa, among other free items. And for an influencer with as large a following as McHale, she could easily earn between $50,000 and $150,000 for brand collabs, according to WSJ.