The weddings bonanza is nigh. Here are two dozen ways to cash in
Fear, infections and COVID restrictions kept millions of couples away from the altar over the last two years. But now that COVID is receding and restrictions are beginning to lapse, many experts expect a Wedding Palooza — a year of nearly incessant nuptials and all the lavish celebrations that come with them.
Want to cash in on the Wedding Palooza? If you have the right skills — social, artistic or organizational — you may be able to make a mint and have fun while doing it.
Wedding Palooza 2022
The thing to keep in mind when contemplating how you can make money in the wedding industry is that the typical wedding is not only one event. There are engagement parties, bridal showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties and rehearsal dinners before the actual nuptials. Many of those events will need a staff or catering, as well as photographs to commemorate them.
Moreover, each of these mini-events may require planning, invitations and party favors. Busy brides and grooms also may want help with scheduling, negotiating hotel room blocks and providing tourism information for out-of-town guests.
Here are two dozen side hustle platforms that can help you cash in on 2022’s Wedding Palooza.
Bartenders, caterers and servers
If you make food, wait tables or make drinks, your services are in high demand at bars and restaurants, and at a wide array of venues where weddings and rehearsals are hosted.
For bartenders and servers, the platforms that can help you find this work include Jitjatjo, Qwick, Instawork, Wonolo, GigSmart and Steady.
Caterers can find jobs through ezCater. Meanwhile, if you want to cook or host pre-events, such as rehearsal dinners and showers, list your services with EatWith and CozyMeal.
Beauty
Cosmetologists, who can take their hairstyling, makeup and nail styling on the road, can find wedding gigs through a site called Priv. Priv, which used to be known as BeGlammed, connects people needing a wide range of personal care services with the professionals willing to travel to their homes, offices or wedding venues. The site takes a substantial fee for arranging bookings and collecting payment. But expected pay remains generous, particularly for wedding parties at which the cosmetologists are likely to book back-to-back assignments.
Another site, called GlamSquad, also books beauticians for weddings and other special events. However, workers say that this site pays cosmetologists far less generously.
Entertainment
Part-time DJs and bands are best off listing their availability on free social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and Nextdoor. That’s mainly because entertainment listing sites are often so expensive that they make sense only for full-time entertainers.
Consider TheBash. The site charges from $299 to $499 per year to simply list your band or DJ service. If you book a gig, it charges an additional 5% commission. A similar listing service called GigSalad charges $359 to $479 per year, plus a small commission. Meanwhile, TheKnot charges advertising fees that range from $75 to $1,800 per month, depending on the market and the service.
Side hustlers who observe etiquette are likely to get more referrals and repeat business. And well-mannered customers often get better service and occasional no-cost extras.
If you manage to book multiple lucrative gigs through these sites each year, the listing fees may be worth the cost. But, if your availability is limited or your rates are low, these listing fees are prohibitive.
Invites
You have a talent for making inviting invitations? There are several sites that can help you get paid to create paper products, such as “save-the-date” cards, and wedding and engagement party invitations. Specifically:
Zazzle is a print-on-demand site that allows you to upload your designs. Zazzle sets the prices, handles manufacturing and shipping, paying you a royalty on sales. What makes the site stand out is that customers are able to customize your design. This can spur sales without adding to your workload.
Minted requires artists to win a design contest to open a store on the site. If you win a design contest, you’ll get a cash payment as your prize and the ability to create your own Minted store. Minted will make and mail the items you sell there, paying you a 6% royalty on each sale. But you give up the right to sell the designs you sell through Minted anywhere else.
Etsy, a massive retailer of handmade items, also can market and sell your custom card designs. However, unlike the other two, you do the manufacturing and mailing. But, you also set your own prices and keep the bulk of the sales proceeds.
Hosting
With many official venues booked solid this year, there’s a good opportunity for people with nice homes to list them for rent for special events. Even if your home isn’t large enough to host a large wedding, it might be perfect for a bridal shower or rehearsal dinner — or even just for an engagement shoot.
Several sites, including Giggster, PeerSpace, Splacer and Avvay, allow homeowners to list their space to rent by the hour for weddings, parties, corporate meetings, movies and advertising shoots. You set the rates and the rules. However, homes are commonly listed for rates ranging from $50 to $500 per hour.
Gifts and mementos
Whether it’s “Mr. & Mrs.” coffee mugs, bachelor party T-shirts, wedding favors or bridal gifts, Etsy is the top choice to market handmade wedding mementos and gifts. The site charges a modest listing fee and a commission on each sale. You determine what to sell and how much to charge.
Photos and videos
Wedding photographers and videographers are likely to find that the sites wanting to advertise their services are costly. However, it is fairly easy to design your own wedding photography or videography website, paying as little as $100 annually for hosting.
Additionally, if you want to sell photos without launching your own e-commerce site, you can set up a store at Snapped4U for a small one-time fee. The site also takes a small commission on each sale.
Scheduling
If your skill is organization, you may want to advertise your ability to help with wedding planning as a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants do everything from scheduling meetings and handling email to posting on social media sites.
Wedding-oriented virtual assistants work with brides and grooms to schedule venue tours, cake tastings, wedding showers and take care of RSVPs and seating charts. The best place to advertise this type of service is on Fiverr, where you can create and set your prices for different wedding planning “packages.”
Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an independent site that reviews hundreds of money-making opportunities in the gig economy.
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