Wedding Day Do's and Don'ts

I have been a professional wedding hairstylist and makeup artist for almost 5 years now and have seen it all! When brides ask me for advice or my suggestions, I can give an honest answer because most likely I have experienced it.  I thought I would share some of my thoughts on bridal do's and don’ts.

Do

Do respect your stylist’s scheduled timeline. I can’t tell you how many times I arrive to a wedding, no one wants to be first for hair or makeup and is waiting around because they still have 5 hours until the wedding begins. Therefore, hair and makeup starts late. What happens is that last hour everyone is panicked, everything seems to be lost and out of place, and that carefree vibe that was present a few hours ago has turned to sheer panic.

                                                           
                                                                    Don't
 

By Chris Corwin (berbercarpet) (Flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)],
 via Wikimedia Commons

Don’t drink too much alcohol the night before your wedding. I had to service a wedding once where the bride was completely hungover from last night’s bar hopping and literally hugging the toilet the entire day. We could barely service her hair and makeup because she was constantly running to the bathroom. I felt horrible for her and let me tell you adding color back to that pale of skin is not easy!

 
Do

Just as I stress the importance of having a bridal trial it is equally important to have a spray tan trial if you decide to get a spray tan before your wedding. There are many formulas used by spray tanners and all are not created equal. I had a bride who had a pretty bad spray tan, it was literally orange. Thank goodness I use airbrush makeup and could completely customize my formula for her because I had to add orange pigment into the foundation formulation to match her skin. Otherwise her face would have not matched her orange body.









By amrufm (Flickr: Adri & Mira Wedding-4) [CC-BY-2.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Don’t

If you can afford it, don’t be involved in helping set up your wedding. Have friends or family decorating the reception hall or do it the night before. This added pressure is stressful for a bride. In most cases, the bride messes up her hair or makeup because she’s running all over the place and sweating up a storm. On your wedding day you should just relax, enjoy being pampered, and be able to live in the moment.