Would you hire a wedding content creator?

A new generation of brides are employing wedding content creators to capture and post the most important day of their life, in real time.

It’s Saturday morning in a regional town in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Emma* is sitting in a black director’s chair, wearing the white, ostrich-feather trimmed Daily Sleeper pyjamas that epitomise wedding day luxury.

Surrounding her are a mix of bridesmaids, close friends, her mother and mother-in-law-to-be, a photographer and a videographer – all staples of a bride’s morning-of entourage. Of all the people in the room, there’s one she only met in person that day.

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She’s recognisable by the phone permanently fixed to her hand, racing to find the best iPhone lighting so she can capture the most organic, real-time content that money can buy. She’s the wedding content creator, guiding bridesmaids on the best angles and TikTok transitions, suggesting trending songs that would be perfect for the moment.

Completely separate from the traditional roles of a photographer and videographer, wedding content creators are being employed to document the candid moments that occur throughout a wedding day, with the sole purpose of promptly sharing them on both Instagram and TikTok. Either in real-time or in the days to fill the gap between the photographer’s highly-curated, edited shots arriving.

I first encountered wedding content creators through a couple of random TikToks on my Explore page. ‘POV: you hire me as your wedding day content creator and walk away with 700-plus raw videos/photos knowing your bridal party and parents were able to be fully present with you’ read a viral video by American-based content creator Taylor Bivey.

Her comments were filled with affirmation from young people, hoping to hire the same services if and when the time comes. Then, when 2023’s it-girl Sofia Richie Grainge got married earlier this year, the whole world knew about it.

Perhaps put off by the TMZ-hounded brides of the past, she instead chose to enlist the help of a wedding-content creator, giving fans and followers a real-time glimpse at the behind-the-scenes action of her day on Instagram Stories and TikTok.

A complete contrast to the intentional secrecy of her contemporaries, this one decision lamented her as the chicest thing since Vogue cigarettes (an ironic choice of simile, considering she also decided to hard-launch the entire thing on Vogue.com). 

Fascinated by the intersection of highly-curated authenticity and the IRL manifestation of aspiration culture, the concept of a wedding content creator played on my mind for weeks. I was hooked and turned my attention closer to home to investigate.

Ariana Tapsell is the Melbourne-based owner of Maid Of Socials, a wedding content creation company that was founded “with the vision of revolutionising wedding content creation in Australia by seamlessly blending authenticity, convenience and speed”.

Part “storyteller” part “memory-catcher” and part “emotion-seeker”, according to Tapsell, the rise (and rise) of services like hers feels natural in the evolving digital landscape that blurs the lines between social media and everyday life. “We capture and share our lives through the lens of our iPhones, which has created a growing demand for captivating and genuine content. I saw the gap in the market for brides to be a part of this movement.”

Offering flexible packages that adhere to different needs and preferences – “from six-hour coverage to full-day 12-hour packages” – couples receive a selection of edited, optimised social content (in Instagram Reels, Story and TikTok format) as well as all the raw content from the day (ranging from 1200 to 2000 plus pieces). 

With full respect to Tapsell’s girlbossification of this space, it seems like hiring a social-specific content creator is at odds with what we’ve come to understand of where wedding culture is headed.

Data from one of a bride’s most reliable resources, Pinterest, reveals that given the economic climate, their members are searching for non-traditional, alternative wedding ideas that “deviate from the ‘norm’”. This allows them to create a wedding that reflects their unique values and interests.

Alongside these stats, the rise of elopements, unplugged ceremonies and ‘anti-bride’ rhetoric welcomes a pared-back, enjoyment-driven experience which is at odds with the ceremonies of many millennial brides before them. 

When considering all of the above information, I wonder where the content creator fits into future wedding budgets. Different strokes for different folks, of course, and we can’t paint an entire generation with the same brush, but is it a painfully artificial display of authenticity?

Does it make sense to communicate to your friends and family that you don’t care much for a high-maintenance wedding day while paying someone to capture these moments so you can curate exactly how people perceive it online? 

As someone who thinks about the commodification of the trend cycle, paired with the human ability to constantly create things online that we cringe at later, my conclusion lies at the intersection of two questions. Does a wedding content creator lack the personal touch of someone who knows and loves the bride capturing these moments, or does it give your friends and family a welcome respite? Is it aspiration culture gone wrong, or simply not that deep?

While it may be too soon to answer these questions, there is one thing I can tell you. Emma*, the bride whose wedding I used to open this article, affirmed that she wouldn’t want anyone to know that she used a content creator at her wedding. “While I 100 per cent back my decision, I don’t really want anyone to know I hired her. I’d rather people think I asked a friend or family member to take that footage.” 

An interesting sentiment. Perhaps the reality is that people want curated authenticity on their big day, but only when others don’t know they’ve paid for it.

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons.

For tips on planning a wedding on a budget, head here.