How to get free stuff for your wedding
You don't need to be an influencer. You need to know how the game works.
I work in the brand-deal world for a living.
A bride with 750 followers got 45 packages.
Real story. She made a brand-new TikTok for her wedding, started at zero, emailed brands, and ended up with sweatsuits, robes, a $120 dress, jewelry, nail polish, energy drinks for the bach party. Not an influencer. Just asked correctly.
Brands have a budget line for exactly this. It's called seeding or gifting. Weddings are the one moment in your life where 150 people watch what you chose. Brands know it. You're the ad.
Email. Never DM.
DMs get buried under 400 'collab?' messages a day. A real email to a real inbox gets read.
Find the right inbox.
Go to the brand's website. Scroll to the footer. You're looking for one of these, in this order:
- press@ or pr@gifting lives here
- partnerships@ or collabs@second best
- 'Ambassador' or 'Creator' program pagethey WANT you to apply
- hello@ / contact formlast resort, still works
Skip the mom-and-pop shop. A 3-person Etsy brand can't eat a $200 gift. A brand with a PR department can. Aim at companies that already run ads.
The email. Copy it. Change the brackets.
Subject: Bride-to-be + [Brand] for my [bachelorette / wedding] on [date]
Hi [Name or team],
I'm getting married on [date] in [city] and I've used [Brand] for [honest specific thing, one line]. I'm documenting the whole wedding on [TikTok/Instagram @handle] for [number] followers, and I'd love to feature [specific product] in my [bachelorette boxes / getting-ready morning / welcome bags].
In exchange I'll post [1 Reel + 3 Stories] tagging you, and send you the raw photos and video to use however you want.
Happy to send my address if it's a fit. Either way, big fan.
[Your name]
The line that closes it: "send you the raw photos and video." Brands pay real money for wedding content. You're handing them a shoot for the cost of a robe.
Ask for the bachelorette before the wedding.
Brands love the bach party. Six girls, matching stuff, a weekend of content. It's the easiest yes you'll get. Lead with it, then come back for the wedding once they know you deliver.
What actually gets gifted, easiest to hardest:
- Consumablesdrinks, snacks, coffee, candy for welcome bags
- Bridal-party matching stuffrobes, sweatsuits, PJs, slippers
- Beautynail polish, skincare, pimple patches, tanning
- Accessoriesjewelry, hair pieces, veils, pasties
- Little white dressesfor shower, rehearsal, bach
- Decor + signagemany have affiliate programs, see below
- The dress, the venue, the honeymoonreal followers required, but people do it
This is a numbers game. Track it like one.
One spreadsheet: brand, email, date sent, reply, what they sent, what you owe them, posted yes/no. Send 10 a day. Expect 1 in 10 to say yes at first.
The trick from my world: get paid on top of the gift.
Most brands that gift also run an affiliate program. That means a link or code that pays YOU a percentage every time someone buys through it. Your bridesmaids buy the robe. Your cousin buys the dress. You get 10 to 20 percent.
- Search '[Brand] affiliate program'or scroll their footer
- Apply on ShareASale, Impact, Awin, or LTKthe big networks; free to join
- Ask for a code with your name on it'BRIDE15' for your guests, commission for you
- Put the link on your wedding website'where I got everything' page. Guests ask anyway.
One bride, one wedding, one "where I got it" page can pay for the honeymoon. This is the part nobody outside my industry knows.
Deliver, or don't bother.
The whole system runs on brands trusting that you'll post. Ghost one and the PR world is smaller than you think.
- Post within 2 weeks of receivingor the date you promised
- Tag them + send the link in a reply email'Posted! Here's the raw footage folder.'
- Google Drive folder of raw filesthis is what gets you the second gift
- Thank-you note after the wedding with a photoyes, really. They screenshot these.
You're already the ad. Might as well get paid for it.
Bride case study: The Guardian, 2024, "The bride-to-be proving you don't have to be an influencer to get free stuff." Affiliate mechanics: 20 years running affiliate programs. Numbers are typical, not promises.