Before we get started, no, I won’t tell you to resell your wedding gifts to make money, although I am partial to selling one’s dress, after only one use :).
The wedding industry is BIG, and if you look around, it is pretty easy to get a share of the pie. Here are a few ideas of how you can make money with weddings.
Cater
I went to a wedding where the bride had made her own pie, and it was pretty awesome. But most brides don’t have the time to cook themselves, and many don’t have the budget to get a professional caterer. If you know how to cook, you are good to go.
Be a waiter
I used to be a waitress for weddings thanks to a local temp agency in the UK. It was fun because all the customers were happy, drinking and eating for free, dancing around… and the rate was pretty good, although we didn’t get tips. I would make around $150 for the whole night. It is also generally a Saturday afternoon gig so you can sleep on Sunday and be back in class or at work on Monday.
Be a DJ
I had a guest post recently from Evan, talking about how he made $50,000 as a DJ. Check it out for details, now that you can get all your music in a small mp3 player, and prepare the playlists at home, DJ-ing has never seemed so easy.
Make wedding dresses
If you know how to saw, how about trying to make the maid of honor’s dresses? My mum used to make the same dress for her, my sister and I, which would drive me crazy, but it was really about going to buy a nice piece of fabric and putting pieces together. Well, it looked that easy, I am completely useless with my hands so I won’t go into details. I know a few gifted people who could try it as a side hustle though.
Make flower arrangements
Another thing that is pretty expensive for the bride and groom is the decoration of the room. For a spring or summer wedding, you can easily pick up nice flowers and make bouquets and arrangements yourself.
One of the best part of working a wedding is that your work will be shown to at least 100 people, many of which about to get married, like the bride and groom’s friends who are the same age. When you reach your mid 20s it is like there is an epidemic of weddings all around and it lasts for about 10 years. Enjoy. Bring presentation cards, and if you hear someone complimenting your work, leave your details with them.
On a related topic, you can make money by renting your car to the newly couple!
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I agree on making wedding dress is one of the big potential to make money. Our dressmaker who made my bride (wife) dress earned huge money. She made all sets of dress from the sponsors to the maid of honor and including to my mother and my mother in-law’s dress. It’s whole package for our wedding.
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Sounds like a great side job if you are talented, I know I am completely useless lol.
Great ideas. Being a DJ is a viable option for many people because technology has made it so accessible now. Another option is to perform live music. It could range from a violin solo to a group presentation. I have a friend who’s in a local band. He’s always on the look out for gigs at weddings 🙂 The wedding industry has grown to an empire of $40 billion a year in the US alone so yup, it’s pretty big.
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Thank you for providing the data I was too lazy to research 🙂
Great to be co-hosting with you on this giveaway! My wife and I both really want to own a wedding venue someday. It seems like a lot of work but you can also bring in so much revenue each year that we should be able to turn a decent profit. That’s down the road, though 😉
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I know a guy who started with a big backyard and a few tables and he was hosting basic weddings, then with the money started building toilets, a gazebo etc, now he is booked solid and has zero commute!
I’m surprised you didn’t tell people to go buy a camera and start taking wedding photos, too.
*sigh*
As someone who makes her living in the wedding industry, lists like this – how to make “easy” money in weddings – always depress me. It just feeds fuel to the fire that all wedding vendors are scammers who are out ot make a buck and don’t actually care about their clients or the industry. We’re just a bunch of hacks who have “side hustles” to make more money.
OR … Possibly, DJs put a lot of time and thought into playlists and how to manage a party and keep things going and MC the events of a wedding and spends thousands upon thousands of $$ on equipment and backups in case of failure in the middle of a reception or ceremony. Possibly caterers don’t just “know how to cook” but they know how to portion food for large groups at a reasonable cost, how to keep food safe, how to simultaneously serve 100 people, and spend thousands upon thousands of dollars getting all the professional cooking equipment they need and the proper health and safety licenses.
I’m not saying that you can’t find some good side jobs in the industry, but be realistic please and don’t tell people “if you can cook you can cater” or “if you like music you can DJ”. There’s more to it than that.
Hi Kara, you are right, if you want a professional wedding, hiring your cousin to DJ and your brother in law to take pictures is not a good idea. However this post was meant for people looking to make a little extra money here and there, not to start a career in the wedding industry. I know many couples who hired a relative to take care of part of their wedding, and were more forgiving with the few glitches because the rate was low, they had lower expectations.
If you enjoy planning, look into being a wedding coordinator. I think more and more weddings are having day-of coordinators who direct all the vendors so the bride can relax and enjoy herself.
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A friend of mine does that, charging 10% of all purchases. If you think an average wedding costs $20,000 she makes $2,000 per wedding (after a few you just hire the same flowers, caterers etc so it has to be easier), one wedding per week from April to September makes $48,000 annually!
Nice point about a wedding being a good place to feature your work. It’s always nice to be paid and be able to market to new clients, all at the same time.
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It is like a free trade show! The only thing is how many guests are locals and able to hire you, nowadays many people travel to a wedding.
Weddings are great places to feature your work. I have a friend that broke into photography by doing weddings. It really worked out for her. Like Matt has said, many of the guests at the wedding are potential clients or at least referrals.
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My mom did most of the flowers and food for my wedding and I really do think she could do it for a living. She did an amazing job and did most of it really cheap. She even designed our cake.
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If she had fun doing it that would be a great side hustle!
Cool post Pauline 🙂
As a full time musician, I’ve had my share of playing at weddings and for the most part, a great time is had by all. It’s a great way to enjoy some good food and have plenty of fun, plus the pay is quite decent. If you are in a top-notch wedding band that is playing a lot you could make a very decent living akin to a full-time mid-manager level salary.
Take care and all the best.
Lyle
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The rate is really good but there is a lot of practice to be had before, although if you have a basic set for all weddings after a while you just do it automatically. I can see how it is a great way to make more in just one night per week and have time to work on your own music the rest of the time.
Weddings are definitely big business and offer quite a few different ways to make money. And like you said – a great, happy captive audience to showoff your skills too. There does seem to be a 10 year span where everyone gets married. Then another span where everyone has kids! LOL! I don’t know if I could sell my dress though. I know plenty of people do but I guess I’m too sentimental. 🙂
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A few of my friends wore their mother’s dress so you could pass it on too!
I wonder if you could “rent” your wedding dress. I guess everyone needs different alterations so that could get tricky fast.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…GIVEAWAY!!! And the Etiquette of Midweek Weddings.
With dry cleaning, delivery etc I guess you are better off just selling it and the next person can deal with it. I would freak out if I rented a dress that the person would bail at the last minute and if there is another rental the previous weekend you can’t have it before!
I make money from weddings by not getting married! Okay, but seriously, I have two friends that make a killing playing at weddings.
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I just wanted to add about wedding make up services. I used to be a bridal make up artist and it can be quite a lucrative business. If someone has flair for applying make up, they could start off doing make up for friends in order to build a portfolio. Qualifications aren’t that necessary (here in the UK anyway!). This is how I got started and once I had a few happy brides in my portfolio, it was quite easy to get bookings!
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I have a friend who does that for a living full time. She is booked solid by referrals, and often does bridesmaids and other attendants so one wedding can get really lucrative.
I have every intention of re-selling my dress – I don’t plan on wearing it again, and if it can make someone else happy, then that would make me happy. Great ideas, Pauline – I loved planning mine, so after it’s done I would consider exploring options going into the industry (or event planning in general).
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You can definitely start helping your friends who are getting married, if you save them a ton of time, they won’t mind a fee.
What a great avenue to make money. People willing to spend tons of money, whether they can afford to or not, based on the notion that this is the most special time of life where what they want matters more than what they need!
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You forgot the side hustle that brings me side income. Wedding videography/filmmaking . Believe me as much as some people do not get videos at their weddings, there is still many who do invest in a wedding video. And also photography. However, these hustles need skills but you can easily train yourself.
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Photographers make anywhere from 500-5000 for weddings. I always found photography interesting, I just never really pursued it as a side gig. Getting the right equipment, training on how to shoot pictures, and marketing yourself might be a great future side gig with weddings.
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I always wonder how much is true now that everyone has a decent camera on their phone, and people just want pics to upload on instagram. I went to a few weddings where the photographer would just be there for mass and half an hour shoot in a park after that, but not at the dinner or party.
I think if you’re organized and love helping people and good with people, you can be a wedding planner or coordinator. If you don’t have the time to plan the whole wedding, maybe you can offer only day of coordinator service.
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All very good points. I don’t like the idea of the wedding industry and how it’s gotten out of hand, but if you can at least work it to your advantage then you are golden!
You could also register to be the wedding officiant. I’m performing the ceremony for my friends who are getting married next year, and I’m obviously not charging them. But you can make a side hustle just out of actually marrying people once you have the license.
Also, photographer is a big one! People pay big bucks for the photographer so if you have the skills, it’s a great way to make money.
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Another great way to make money in the wedding industry is to film weddings! People are willing to pay a lot of money to relive their special day in high quality, and it’s especially great to see how satisfied they are with the results!
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Waitering at weddings sounds like a good weekend gig for people with busy schedules. However, it does sound like it could be exhausting. Maneuvering in and out of a huge catering hall and trying to deliver quality service in a timely manor is probably harder than it seems! But I thoroughly agree that working an event such as a wedding is indeed a great networking opportunity.
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My sister is a professional photographer and has done many weddings in the past. It can be good money, but it takes a good bit of equipment to get started. Plus, since this is a very important day for most they expect really high quality pictures.
I think the idea of filming a wedding is great for someone looking for a side income. You can get great quality video recording equipment for pretty cheap these days, and since everything is digital you can do the editing on your home computer.
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I’m going to be the day-of coordinator for my friend this month. It’s another good way to make money at weddings!
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It is, thank you for the suggestion!
Those are great ideas. With the advancements of DSLR cameras, you could also throw Photographer onto your list!
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The service is available every where nowadays, so we forget that we can do many thing ourselves. It is good to make our own wedding dress or arrange the wedding flowers ourselves.
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