Soon after Kayla King’s fiance proposed to her on a cliff in Laguna Beach, King, 21, noticed a new kind of TikTok content filling her For You page: wedding-themed posts from influencers planning their bachelorette parties and big days. King watched these influencer brides show off tons of swag from brands – everything from venue decorations to personalized invitations – that they’d received for free in exchange for posting; some were even paid to post about the brands. Though she’s decidedly not an influencer, with just over 750 followers on her personal TikTok, King wondered: how hard could it be to get some free stuff for herself?
It couldn’t hurt to try. So King, who lives in Phoenix and works in social media management for college sports, made a new account specifically for her wedding journey and started contacting bridal- and bachelorette-friendly brands to request free goodies.
King wasn’t sneaky about her plan – she also decided to make TikTok tutorials to show other brides how they could ask for their own things. “Day one: emailing brands for products to include in my bachelorette gifts to my bridesmaids,” she wrote in the caption for a video posted in February. Sitting in her bedroom wearing a baggy red sweatshirt, King described how to reach out to the nail polish line Olive & June, pimple patch brand Good Molecules, and Celsius energy drinks. There wasn’t much to it: say you’re a fan of the brand, you’re getting married, and you’d like to receive product for your bachelorette/bridal shower/rehearsal dinner/wedding for free, in exchange for a post.
“I have eight girls, so cost-wise it gets pretty expensive,” King said. Her strategy paid off: Olive & June sent a package filled to the brim with more than enough cuticle serums, press-on sets, polishes, and nail art stickers for King and her bridal party.
Since then, she’s received free products from Bride Tribes, an Australian company that makes robes for wedding parties – they sent her two sweatsuits worth $128 each. She also received boxes of pearl jewelry from Joey Baby, pasties from Nipsey Daisy, which go for $17 each, and three white dresses from Confête, including one made from tulle that retails for $120. As more swag came in, King posted about her hauls. She estimates she’s received around 45 packages from brands.