Plus, chefs and plumbers are taking up influencing Some brides are offsetting the eye-watering costs of hosting weddings in 2026 with financial support from family or taking out loans. Others are doing brand collabs. Spending on weddings rose 8.5% the first half of this year compared with last year, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Chavie Lieber, who cited a recent Bank of America Institute study.

Last year, the average cost of a wedding was $34,200, according to a study involving more than 10,000 couples from the wedding-planning platform The Knot. That means even brides without massive social-media followings are promoting companies online in exchange for free booze, engagement party dresses and favors for bridesmaid goody bags. (Last summer I actually wrote about the trend of brides-to-be querying brands for free stuff for their bachelorette parties, to the dismay of some very overwhelmed small companies). As a 2027 bride, I must admit I get it: I have been gobsmacked by the extreme upcharging of all things wedding-adjacent.

Chavie’s story mentions [PERSON_NAME], a 29-year-old influencer (known on the internet as “Acquired Style”) with 1.8 million [PERSON_NAME] followers. She made waves on [PERSON_NAME] for a luxe bachelorette sponsored by AI mirror seller [PERSON_NAME], which equipped her guests with a private jet to St. Barts and other over-the-top freebies. [PERSON_NAME] actual wedding was earlier this month in [ADDRESS], [ADDRESS]—the same week my fiancé and I were there trying to escape our own wedding-planning stresses. The Acquired wedding and related festivities (including closing down a location of the ultra-popular coffee joint Nitro Bar for the wedding’s morning-after brunch) was the talk of every Pilates class I took all week.

Her wedding featured brand partnerships such as L’Oréal for her setting spray and [ADDRESS] for her bridal nails.