Lexi Tobin was always “the planner” among her siblings and friends.
In 2019, she helped her now brother-in-law plan his marriage proposal. She ordered picture frames, strung lights across an archway, put candles in paper bags and set them up at her family’s beach house in New York state.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Viral proposal video kickstarts woman’s lucrative side hustle.
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On the day, she shakily filmed her sister running into her fiance’s arms.
A year later, on a whim, she uploaded the footage to TikTok. Within 30 minutes, more than 100,000 people watched the 41-second video, Tobin said.
Now 27 and living in New York City, she said: “I think nine million people watched it in the first 48 hours. I was completely blown away by the thrill of going viral.”
Her side hustle — planning other people’s wedding proposals and posting the bride-to-be’s reactions on TikTok — was born.
Tobin brought in six figures of revenue, including roughly $13,919 ($US9,000) in median monthly revenue, in the 12 months ending last month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
In her highest-earning month, November 2023, Tobin’s side hustle brought in more than $30,931 ($US20,000).
Tobin also plans other events: bridesmaids’ proposals, engagement parties, birthday parties and, currently, her first wedding.
Some of her revenue comes from her clients, and she keeps roughly 15 per cent of her event planning fees as profit, she says.
The rest of her revenue comes from brand and affiliate marketing deals through TikTok, with nearly 330,000 followers, and Instagram.
She invests her side hustle earnings into the stock market and lives off the income she makes as an account management director of an advertising tech company.
Tobin spends up to 40 hours per week on her side hustle — a full-time job for most people — and roughly 60 hours per week at her day gig, where she earns “substantially more,” she says.
Working up to 100 hours a week is taxing, but Tobin said she sees her side gig as a long-term project that’s worth her time.
And within the broader wedding industry, narrowing in on a specific niche such as proposals is good for business, Atlanta-based upscale event planner and WeddingPro consultant Brian AM Green said.
One in four proposers now pay someone to help them pop the question, according to The Knot’s 2023 Real Wedding Study which surveyed 10,000 newlywed couples.
Right now, a proposal with five vendors could cost upwards of $15,456 ($US10,000), a number that will likely grow as the entire wedding industry gets more expensive, Green said.
Tobin typically hires one to three vendors per event but said: “It’s all trial and error.”
Her business took “a really long time to build up, I constantly have to remind my friends I’ve been doing this for five years and it took time to get followers, to monetise content, to have an actual business”.
In March, Tobin got married. Under twinkling lights, she walked down a candle-lined aisle in an embroidered gown with her parents on each arm. She took a deep breath as she reached her husband. Her beaming smile never wavered.
She posted it all to TikTok, where more than 19 million people watched on.