Bride creates singles list for dateless wedding guests — but some call the gesture humiliating: ‘I'd take back my gift'
Jessica Branda's sweet effort toward helping folks find love at her wedding hit a sour note with social media naysayers, who proclaimed that plastering pics of her solo guests on a 'singles sheet' was 'humiliating' and a singleton's 'worst nightmare.'
But Branda tells The Post she has 'no regrets' about the controversial attempt to pair up her unattached pals.
'Everyone online saying it's a form of humiliation is taking it way too far,' Branda, 27, a publicist, from northern New Jersey, insisted. 'I guess it could be embarrassing if you're embarrassed about being single — but my friends thought it was hilarious.'
Viral visuals of the brunette's singles sheet, which she and a chum created on Canva, scored over one million TikTok views from a mixed audience rife with critics of the stunt.
But Branda, who tied the knot with high school sweetheart, Louis, on June 30, says it was merely a 'silly' gesture meant to 'spice up' her reception.
'It was way better than doing a singles table at the wedding,' said the newlywed. 'That can be so awkward.'
Gripes from internet trolls aside, the forward-thinking bride may be on to something.
Where dating apps and stale setups have failed, hopeless romantics on the hunt for that special someone are increasingly embracing more unconventional mating methods — especially partnerless people in and around NYC, one of the 'worst' cities for singles.
Be it rolling around Whole Foods Market in Tribeca, hoping to bump shopping carts with a man in finance (6'5', blue eyes), or being pitched to a room full of strangers at a PowerPoint speed dating event, most guys and gals on the market are open to potential meet-cutes however they come.
Branda says the loved ones featured on her singles sheet, including her groom's grandparents, were all good sports.
'I know my friends and they're not too sensitive, but after the video blew up on social media, I reached out to several people on the list like, 'Are you OK?,' 'Did you feel embarrassed?'' Branda tells The Post. 'But everyone reassured me that they didn't take it the wrong way, and they thought it was super funny.'
Digital detractors, however, were anything but amused.
'If I went to a wedding and saw myself on one of these, I'd take back my gift,' swore a killjoy commenter.
'I would absolutely hate this as a single person,' another spat.
'No sorry, this is giving humiliation,' wrote an equally unimpressed hater, in part. 'I'd walk out.'
But Branda says she and her wedding bash attendees all enjoyed a good laugh — even though none of her single guests found their match.
'No one is dating, no one hooked up that I know of,' she chuckled. 'It was just a funny little game that everyone at the wedding thought was positive.'
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