Traditionally being asked by a friend or relative to be a bridesmaid has been considered an honor and something to look forward to for centuries—but in China, the job of being at a bride’s side is becoming a booming growth industry.
Professional bridesmaids are increasingly becoming the norm for Chinese women as they plan their wedding days, according to reports.
One bridesmaid and groomsman rental company based in the Chinese city of Hangzhou told state broadcaster CCTV that its number of registered members has grown to 50,000 since its February launch, and that it received 10 to 20 orders per day over the last month.
Bridesmaids can be hired through wedding planners or companies that specialize in the niche industry, but services are also advertised on social media platforms like Weibo.
On TikTok—known as Douyin in China—a hashtag that translates to “rent bridesmaids” presents users with multiple videos on the topic, and this video from a Guangdong-based bridesmaid rental studio offers professional bridesmaids who can “save worry and effort” but “will not steal the limelight.”
Brides are reportedly able to make demands about prospective bridesmaids’ looks, weight, and personality, and even their academic accomplishments.
Xie Yuke—a 22-year-old woman who has traveled more than 140,000 kilometers (around 87,000 miles) to earn a living as a professional bridesmaid all over China—told Chinese state-run news outlet Sixth Tone on Monday that the pandemic had helped the rent-a-bridesmaid industry.
China’s zero-COVID policy has led to harsh lockdowns in major cities like Shanghai this year, confining millions of people to their homes and making it impossible for many women’s first-choice bridesmaids to travel, Xie said.
However, in some cases where COVID lockdowns were not an obstacle, brides-to-be still chose to hire bridesmaids because they felt that their friends couldn’t live up to their wedding-day expectations. According to Xie, bridesmaids need to be unmarried and cannot be taller than the bride. She said an ideal height for an aspiring professional bridesmaid was between 5 feet 11 and 5 feet 8.
Generally, pro bridesmaids earn a daily rate between 500 and 2,000 yuan ($74 and $295), Xie told Sixth Tone.
A typical day on the job would see Xie wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for the wedding, and she would be expected to spend the day taking photos, entertaining guests and making toasts until the wedding banquet ends at around 8 p.m.
When she works at a wedding, Xie said, she usually pretends to be a friend or classmate of the bride.