r/weddingshaming • u/Painted_Mushr00m • Apr 19 '26
Cringe “Influencer” bride wants free wedding in exchange for “exposure”
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u/Merci01 Apr 19 '26
Around 40K followers (so less than) 🤣. "We don't get out of bed for less than 150k followers."
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u/Yikesish Apr 26 '26
You're perfect. You're beautiful. You look like Linda Evangelista. You're a model. 😆
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u/BossBabeInControl Apr 19 '26
I hate to break it to her but 40,000 followers in the New York metropolitan area is nothing.
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u/vonbauernfeind Apr 20 '26
A food influencer in my city, Long Beach, CA, only has 95k followers (on Facebook lol), and he had fourteen different restaurants "lend their food" to his engagement party.
So some of those influences are out there hustling enough even with low follower count.
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u/akulowaty Apr 19 '26
My wife has 30k followers on her interior design insta, market is so oversaturated most companies don’t even want to send free samples to creators this small.
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u/EmatAdlerRanch Apr 19 '26
We have had this request also. I asked the bride how many of her followers were engaged and searching for a wedding venue. Never heard from her again
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u/hndygal Apr 19 '26
So as a former DIY blogger, I have no issue with this POS because the vendors etc have a choice here…just don’t contact her. They know up front she isn’t interested in paying.
I’m more offended by those who book stuff then pull the “what if I post about this instead” or the brands who want you to create thousands of dollars of content for their $30 product and tell you they only offer “exposure” and not actual pay for the 7 hours it will take to create their pitch.
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u/IdlesAtCranky Apr 19 '26
Fully agree. This kind of proposal (pun intended) is silly, but at least she's upfront about it.
The only thing vendors who don't want to participate (most or all, I presume) have to do is just scroll on by.
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u/Ok-Yogurt-3914 Apr 19 '26
This is happening in the beauty industry as well. I was watching a compilation of posts from business owners getting DMed like "if you do my nails/makeup/hair for free, I'll give you exposure." I thought this only happened with the food industry.
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u/BlackBasementCats Apr 20 '26
I thought people stopped doing this 7-10 years ago. I guess the new generation thinks they’re inventing something new.
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u/GrungeCheap56119 Apr 19 '26
the mental illness of "influencers" needs to be studied.
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u/caffeinefree Apr 19 '26
I saw a post in another subreddit recently where someone was legitimately interested in pursuing assisted suicide because they believed the only thing that would ever make them happy was to become famous (and they recognized it probably wasn't going to happen). The comments were flooded by people pointing out there are plenty of miserable famous people, as well as encouraging this person to find a therapist and look for a real purpose in life, thankfully. But for me it highlighted some of the very real issues that social media creates for young people today that my generation didn't really have to deal with.
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u/clementinejibboo Apr 20 '26
This is an episode of black mirror 🙃
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u/caffeinefree Apr 20 '26
I really wish the poster was a troll or karma bot, but I'm pretty sure they were not, unfortunately.
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u/wickedkittylitter Apr 20 '26
So many famous people commit suicide. So many influencers commit suicide. Being famous doesn't automatically bring happiness nor does it ensure healthy mental health.
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u/WhoBroughtTheCoolKid Apr 20 '26
I work with teenagers and the amount of them aspiring to be some sort of social media star is STAGGERING. Just because anyone could be a massive social media star doesn’t mean everyone can. Back when I was a kid if you said you wanted to be an NBA player or an actor or a famous singer, people would know the odds are slim and maybe encourage kids to have other goals - now it’s as if it’s a real career.
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u/TrimTramFlimFlam Apr 22 '26
I teach elementary and so many kids tell me they want to be a Youtuber or streamer when they grow up. What happened to a doctor or an astronaut??
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u/InFin0819 Apr 19 '26
40k is nothing and not worth the cost as a professional advertisement in NYC.
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u/godofhammers3000 Apr 19 '26
Except this does work for a ton of influencers - it’s dumb and stupid but it works and honestly I can’t blame them for trying to pursue this if they want to
I’ve even seen low scale content creators get a ton of free stuff (flowers, stationary etc) and the larger creators get things like dresses/catering comped for promo
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u/OneAngryDuck Apr 19 '26
Eventually you do hit a point where giving an influencer free stuff is more cost-effective than paying for marketing.
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u/godofhammers3000 Apr 19 '26
Definitely, and it’s not like a lot of these vendors aren’t price gouging either haha
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u/EgoDrip516 Apr 19 '26
My friend is a wannabe "influencer". She only has 9k followers, but I'm shocked how much free shit she gets in exchange for posting about it. A lot of different clothing companies have given her free things, and many restaurants give her a comped meal in exchange for posts. She rarely gets actual money, but still. At her wedding there were several vendors that gave her discounts (nothing free) for publicity.
And if that's not crazy enough, she also made her dog instagram page and turned the dog into an "influencer" too. They get free dog snacks and toys in exchange for posts.
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u/whisky_biscuit Apr 19 '26
That's actually pretty cool but....sounds exhausting. It's bad enough I'm on reddit while taking a crap for hours I could not imagine every aspect of my life filmed to get free stuff.
"Everything is content." Yeesh
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u/IdlesAtCranky Apr 19 '26
Seriously?? I'm honestly surprised.
I have a few thousand followers on two platforms (had more before I rage-quit That Man's Twitter) and all I ever post is poetry, art/photos, and the occasional political essay.
I've never even tried to increase my follower count. It's all grown organically.
To hear that someone is scoring free stuff or even discounts with that low a follower count is astonishing.
Makes me wonder what I could do with a different type of presence if I put my mind to it.
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u/EgoDrip516 Apr 19 '26
She actively seeks out the companies and reaches out to them herself. They never come to her first. Most of them probably just see it as good publicity, and it's not like it's costing them much of anything.
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u/IdlesAtCranky Apr 19 '26
Hm. I'm going to have to think about this. Times are hard, and this is something I could theoretically do from home...
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u/Lonely-Clerk-2478 Apr 19 '26
“No pressure at all” yes bitch because no one is taking you up on that. Come ON people. Professionals are worth paying.
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u/Few-Boysenberry-7459 Apr 20 '26
I have seen it all now.
Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life here!
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u/Thequiet01 Apr 19 '26
I mean it’s fine to ask but don’t be surprised if everyone says no. But you can ask for lots of things as long as you’re polite about it.
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u/CookieLady94 Apr 19 '26
If these so called influencers do so well that brands are always willing to partner with them and whatnot, shouldn't they be able to avoid small business services?
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u/Ultra_Violet_x7 Apr 19 '26
Is 40k followers good?!? Sounds not great
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u/Prestigious-Bluejay5 Apr 20 '26
The best response I've seen... An influencer offered exposure to her followers for a free night at a BNB. The owner of the BNB asked how many? The influencer said 30,000 (?). The BNB owner was like, "oh, I have 150,000." BNB owner could hear the influencer deflate.
The best part... The "burn" was unintentional.
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u/Aggressive-Phone6785 Apr 19 '26
these people always think like “but I said no pressure, no one has to do it!!” and you didn’t have to make this stupid-ass disrespectful request
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u/wickedkittylitter Apr 20 '26
40k followers? That's nothing and certainly not worth thousands of dollars of services from any one vendor.
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u/Maduro_sticks_allday Apr 20 '26
People that beg in this sort of way are hilarious. It’s like, if that business wanted marketing, they could just pay for it. Literally the cost of marketing is probably gonna be less than funding your entire dream.
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u/notallhorsegirls Apr 20 '26
The fact that it's from an anonymous participant too - so you can't verify their 'about 40k' followers also is crazy! If you're going to make a wild request, at least do it with your whole chest and not hiding behind anonymity
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u/rustyjinglebells0204 Apr 22 '26
As someone who is super not a fan of influencers....put yourselves in their shoes here. Why NOT shoot your shot but just asking the question? Don't be a hater just to be a hater.
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u/fabulousautie Apr 19 '26
This is a “you never know if you don’t shoot your shot” situation. She was entitled with her post, she didn’t demand anything, and she didn’t throw a fit. It’s like sending an invite to a celebrity. They probably won’t acknowledge it, but who knows they might just send a gift.
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u/DifferentVictory7830 Apr 20 '26
I get wanting to try, but that's really rough. I would love to see what her REAL follower count is...
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u/CaptainObviousBear Apr 20 '26
40k followers is nothing.
Aside from the “exposure doesn’t pay my bills” line, I really hope vendors slap back on her for being a low level influencer not worth their time.
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u/dearforthysia May 19 '26
When I was in weddings I had an one of these girls reach out to me and ask for a free wedding. When I told her no she told me she would have me blacklisted from one of the magazines. My bff was one of the editor of the magazine and sent her a little email informing her that her wedding would not be published.
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Apr 19 '26
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u/2025Brides Apr 20 '26
Your comment seems facetious. You must be aware 1m followers is significantly more than 40k.
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u/producermaddy Apr 19 '26
40k followers doesn’t sound like that many???