‘As if we're real guests': the startup selling strangers invitations to weddings

The Guardian

3 days ago

When Jennifer, an actor, visited a Paris wedding fair with her future husband as they planned their big day, she noticed a company offering something that seemed bizarre.
A Paris startup was proposing couples sell tickets to their wedding to a handful of strangers via an app in order to help pay their costs. In return, the paying ticket-holders, who may not otherwise be invited to many weddings, could mingle with other guests and enjoy somebody's happy day.
'I thought: 'woah, that's quite something', having people you don't know at your wedding,' said Jennifer. 'But we took the flyer, went away to think about it and decided why not? If we can see the profiles beforehand on the app and choose who to accept, it could be something quite original to do.'
Jennifer, 48, and her husband, Paulo, 50, who met on a dating app during the pandemic and have an 18-month-old son, will marry later this month at a country manor an hour east of Paris. Theirs is the first wedding to have paying guests. Their friends and family will number 80 adults and 15 children, some travelling from England, Germany and Portugal. But alongside those loved ones, there will be five paying strangers who have bought tickets.
The ticket-holders will be present for the whole day, from the afternoon wedding ceremony and vows in the garden, to outdoor drinks on the lawn with live music, then a sit-down dinner in a vast dining room, with a choice of fish or vegetarian options – no meat because the bride is vegetarian. Then there will be the traditional partying on the dancefloor. The paying guests have to abide by the dress-code – defined on the wedding invitations as 'chic and elegant' – and Jennifer and Paolo vetted their profiles before choosing who will attend.
'It's not only about the money, which is a drop on a hot stone in terms of the overall wedding cost,' said Jennifer, 'although it will help a bit in terms of the cost of things like decoration and the dress. It's also because we thought it could be fun and we're extrovert and open to sharing things.'
Jennifer, who acts on stage and TV, and Paulo, a former athlete who works in the building trade, also thought that the five paying strangers – one couple and three single men – could be a boost for their other guests. 'We have a lot more single women friends coming to our wedding than single men, so we thought this could balance things out a bit,' Jennifer said.
Laurène, 29, a toymaker living in the Paris area, and her husband, a landscape gardener, will be among the handful of strangers paying to attend. 'I thought selling tickets to your wedding to strangers sounded interesting,' Laurène said. 'I don't have a big family so I don't get to go to lots of weddings, it's great to be able to experience a wedding and different traditions, even if it's strangers. I'm keen to check out the decoration and music, and we'll be partying on the dancefloor.'
Katia Lekarski, who founded Invitin earlier this year to match wedding couples with paying guests, said six marriages so far were due to take part, mainly in the Paris area. 'I was renting my house in south-eastern France to some people who were attending a wedding, and my five-year-old daughter asked: 'Why aren't we also invited to weddings?' I thought: what if we could pay for tickets to a wedding and help the couple getting married in that way?'
Lekarski's view was that with so many apps proposing meeting up with strangers – from tour-guides to dating or dinners with groups of new people – why not add weddings into the mix. In India, the company, Join My Wedding, already connects foreign tourists with couples having traditional weddings, as a cultural experience under the line: 'You haven't been to India until you've been to an Indian wedding'. In France, the idea was for local people to attend a wedding as a day out and shared experience, with Invitin taking a commission.
Lekarski, a former fashion model who previously ran an online platform selling and distributing interior design goods for children, described the project as at a very early stage and said her biggest challenge was finding couples and guests to take part.
Couples who have shown interest in opening up their wedding to paid ticket-holders have been mostly between 25 and 35, Lekarski said, but there was one much older couple preparing to renew their vows. Only a small number of paid guests would attend – five to 10, each paying an average of €100 to €150, but tickets can be higher depending on the venue. They would have to sign up to strict rules including dressing appropriately, arriving on time, drinking with moderation, and not publishing or sharing photos without authorisation.
The wedding couple, who usually have so many of their own guests to talk to, aren't obliged to meet the paying guests and chat to them. 'A wedding has its own ecosystem where guests get chatting to each other of their own accord,' Lekarski said.
The paying guests Laurène and her husband, who got married themselves a month ago at a historic farm building south of Paris, are taking it very seriously. 'We're going to go about it as if we're real guests, we'll dress up nicely and bring a little gift.'
Laurène's grandparents met at a wedding in Dijon and she thinks weddings are the ultimate social feelgood event. 'Everyone is in a kind and happy mood, dressed up and celebrating love. This is not something you can do too often as tickets are quite expensive, but it's a great opportunity.'
The only thing they're not sure about is whether they'll be in the wedding pictures. 'We'd love to be in the group photo, but I'm not sure how that will work, it is a bit bizarre after all.'