6 Top Tips for Choosing a Hair and Makeup Artist for your Wedding Day
Hello and welcome to the Ashwell & Co blog. We are a vintage bridal boutique based in Bristol and over the years we’ve picked up a thing or two about planning a wedding, so we’d like to share some of that wisdom with you.
We don’t believe that people getting married should have to subscribe to an unattainable beauty standard, but we also appreciate that this is a day where you are very much going to be ‘seen’ and therefore some of you may decide you want to take this opportunity to get the professionals in. We’ve compiled some tips for you to consider before booking your face wizard.
1. Compliment Your Wedding Outfit
Wedding hair especially needs to work with what you’re wearing. If you’ve opted for a high or highly decorated neckline then an “up do” would be perfect to show that off. Bare shoulders or a more relaxed feel would be complimented by a looser style. This also goes for hair accessories, if your dress has a lot of detail, you may want to keep things simple up top. Simple wedding dress? Go for it the with tiara and the veil!
2. Wedding Hair and Makeup Inspiration
The internet is packed full of wedding makeup and hair ideas, tips and tutorials and this can be totally overwhelming. Collating some themes and ideas that you like will help you and your wedding stylists create a look that you feel comfortable and confident in.
You might want to stick with a natural “barely there” look or want to go full contour and shaping. Wedding makeup artists and hair stylists have different styles and skills so finding an artist that can do the look you want is a good starting point. It is also worth discussing with your HMUA about how “on trend” your look should be. Whilst you may want to make a statement on your wedding day, it’s worth considering something a little more timeless too.
3. Be Realistic
Pinterest, Instagram and Tik Tok are all great places to start to look for wedding inspiration but take some of these looks with a pinch of salt. Remember images are often heavily photoshopped to show perfect skin with absolutely no flaws. Intricate hair styles with lots of ‘tumbling’ hair are often full of hair pieces. Be realistic about what your wedding HMUA can achieve. If you’ve got chin length, flyaway hair waterfall braids probably ain’t going to be possible but your hair stylist will be absolutely be able to create something equally as beautiful.
4. Have a Bridal Hair and Makeup Trial
Your trial (or trials) are where you will be looking at combining what you want with what your wedding stylists think would work. It’s important to roadtest your stylists as what you see online might not translate as well in real life. Having your first and only session on the day of your wedding is an added stress and we definitely recommend not creating any more stress on your wedding day!
Your wedding hair and makeup artists will have a lot of experience, so listen to them and take their advice. They will probably suggest things that you hadn’t considered and your trial is a great time to try them out.
5. Great Wedding Hair and Makeup is an Investment
Like most professional services you get what you pay for particularly when it comes to hair and makeup on your wedding day. If you want someone who knows what they are doing, remains calm under pressure, has great products and knows there stuff then be prepared to pay for it. This is a highly skilled job that takes years to perfect. Products are expensive, doing hair and makeup properly takes time and it is usually fairly exhausting getting a wedding party ready!
6. Male Groom-ing – something for the boys
It’s not just women who wear makeup, need their hair styled and want to look their best. There are plenty of things grooms can do to take their look up a notch. Makeup isn’t gendered, speak to an MUA about what you can use makeup wise that will make you feel more confident. A little concealer, colour correction and powder can go a long way.
Facial hair can work in your favour, or against! Having it professionally trimmed and shaped a few days before the big day will make a huge difference to your overall look. Add a facial to it for the ultimate pampering session!
Bristol based wedding hair and makeup artists we rate
Able Mable
Elle Hitchens
House of Bendy
Lou Mack Makeup and Hair
Kat Sanders Smith
