Happy Wedding Wednesday lovely ladies! Before I even dive into all things hair and makeup for your wedding day, I wanted to point out that The Pink Bride Wedding Show will be in Chattanooga this weekend, and I’ll be there! I’d absolutely love to see you and chat with all of you gorgeous brides-to be! Let me know if you are planning to attend. 🙂
Now, to dig into wedding day glam!
If there’s one question that I have gotten almost more than any other wedding-related questions, it’s been about hair and makeup. But, of course that is a really important part of your big day, so I totally get it! There are sooo many details to think about and you obviously want someone who you trust (in a big way) on your ‘glam squad’ for the most special day of your life. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing beauty team take care of my girls and me on the big day, so take a peek into how I decided on this company & how great all of the looks turned out – all thanks to Bangs & Blush!
When you have approximately 15 ladies getting makeup and (different) hairstyles done, an inspirational vision board is a must! Thanks for the idea, Jamie & Wendy — I like the way y’all think 😉
And when you ask for a super challenging hairstyle but then she nails it – high fives all around!!
This is my hairstylist, Wendy, who is literally a hair whisperer. She’s truly amazing & has such a gift! I’ve never in my life seen a hairstylist so talented, and I’m so proud to now call her a friend. 🙂
Here is Jamie, the owner of Bangs & Blush, who I wish could come do my makeup daily! She really knows how to make a girl feel pretty! So incredibly thankful for this woman.
Heather was such a wonderful help on our big day! With around 15 of my ladies needing hair and/or makeup services, all hands were constantly on deck, and Heather did such a beautiful job – not to mention she is such a fun person to be around anytime I see her!
If you have followed along with love ‘n’ labels for awhile, then you know that I attended The Pink Bride Wedding Show back in January of 2016 before my wedding day arrived. It was so beneficial because it was like I got to finish up the rest of my wedding planning all in one day – under one roof. (Read more about why you should attend a wedding show HERE.) At that bridal show is where I found Bangs & Blush. Any bride, of course, wants someone who they can trust and they are comfortable with when it comes to choosing a person to do her hair and makeup (for what I would like to call) the most special day of her life.
After all, the day is all about you and your groom, so all eyes are on you for the entire day! It’s definitely the time that you want to feel beautiful inside and out. Being involved in the fashion and beauty industries, this was a big importance to me. Not to mention, my girls are all huge girly girls just like myself, so I wanted them to all feel just as beautiful on that day! We’ll take any excuse to get pampered and dolled up. 😉
When I first met the B&B staff, I instantly fell in love (+ I had already fallen in love with their work), so I knew I had to book them for our wedding day. And fast. Did y’all know that hair and makeup artists fill up super quick just like your DJ? (Read about our wedding musicians and DJ here!) If you have a really popular wedding date or you are getting married on the weekend, I’d suggest definitely booking your glam team sooner rather than later to be sure that you get the people that you really want! I booked B&B at The Pink Bride Show because I wanted them that badly, and what was great about that is that they were running a show special – as do a lot of vendors at the show – so I booked with the company at a discounted rate. Score!
Fast forward to the day of my bridal portraits. I had scheduled my trial hair and makeup for that day. My biggest advice in this post is to schedule a trial run for your hair and makeup. It may be a little extra money, but it is totally worth it – plus, you can schedule your bridal portraits or your boudoir shoot for the same day that way it’s not a ‘waste’ of hair and makeup. At my trial, I got to see a few things that I wanted to critique and fix on the day of the wedding. Had I not had a trial done, I wouldn’t have known this and it would have been too late to fix what I wanted to be done on the big day. For example, I was asking for a very challenging hairstyle. I had a picture and vision of what I wanted and, as you can see from the photos, it’s probably not the most popular & easiest hairstyle that a lot of brides have chosen in the past. *Poor Wendy* At my trial, Jamie, Wendy & I noticed that I would actually need more hair to achieve the look I was wanting .. so, that meant extensions. It never even crossed my mind that I would need extensions for an updo that was practically on top of my head, lol. Basically, I just needed more volume and extra hair for Wendy to get a smooth finish with the look that I was aiming for. Thankfully, she was able to make do for my trial so that I was set for my bridal portraits and I still really liked the look for that day.
So, here we go about a week later to the supply house to buy extensions. Disclaimer: I’ve never in my life worn or bought extensions before my wedding, so I basically had to have Wendy go with me to show me what to buy, haha! After we got the extensions and I got them colored to match my natural hair (Thanks to my Uncle at LeCoop Salon!!), Wendy asked if she could meet with me the week before my wedding to make sure she could get the exact look I wanted with the extensions – I mean, how precious is she?! I couldn’t believe that someone would do something like that for me, just to make sure that I was a happy bride on the day of the wedding. She came to my house, we ate dinner & had some girl talk and then we were all set for the big day! I had absolutely zero doubts on my wedding day regarding hair and makeup for me or for my girls. The main thing that I wanted out of Bangs & Blush was for everyone to feel beautiful. And they did just that! I couldn’t say enough good things about them, so if you are a bride in search of a wedding day hair and makeup team, definitely check them out. Their hearts are as equally great as their artistic abilities!
Okay I know this is a super long post, but before I sign off of here, I wanted to share a few hair and makeup tips with my pretty bride friends out there:
1. Choose your glam looks based off of what YOU are comfortable with. Pay attention to your own individual style.
2. This day really is all about you … But, your girlfriends will love you forever if you make sure that they feel pretty too. They are your very best friends, your sisters, your cousins. Don’t be one of those brides who purposefully tries to make your ‘maids look .. well, like real maids. I actually chose different hairstyles for my girls based off of their personal style and how they like to wear their hair. I think they all were very pleased and felt pretty, which really made my heart even happier on that day.
3. Pay attention to your wedding day environment and time of year. Example: If it’s mid-June and your entire wedding is outdoors, you will probably be more comfortable with an updo of some sort than an all-down hairstyle. Not to mention, you then won’t have to worry about your curls falling or your hair looking stringy and being all over the place after sweating half of the day.
4. Hire someone to do your makeup that truly knows the right products to use on your face so that you don’t have to worry about rain or sweat ruining your makeup. If you are doing it yourself, just be sure that you have tested out the products under the conditions of rain and sweat to make sure that your makeup stays in place.
5. Schedule a trial run. I said this earlier and I’d like to say it 10 more times because it is important – especially if you have a challenging hairstyle or if you aren’t quite sure what style of hair and makeup that you want.
6. Decide if you want a regular makeup application or airbrush. Bangs & Blush used airbrush on me and my girls and I personally loved it. Jamie and Heather were absolutely amazing with this. They knew how to apply it evenly and then ‘bake’ it to make sure it stayed in place all day. And I will say with confidence that my makeup (& hair for that matter) did not budge all day long during my wedding. (ps – I got married in June (in a huge, heavy dress) so the makeup definitely passed the sweaty test, lol.)
7. Don’t forget about the mothers! Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up and forget about asking if your mom, your groom’s mom & your grandmothers want hair and makeup done too. This is just as special for them, so definitely be sure to include them in the beauty process so that they feel pampered and beautiful.
8. Along with number 7, don’t forget about your littles – aka flower girls and junior bridesmaids! They may not want any or as much makeup, but a lot of times, they still want their hair done like the ‘big girls’. My juniors and my petal patrol all got their hair done, and the juniors wore some makeup!
9. Allot plenty of time for hair and makeup in your wedding day schedule. This is crucial! Let’s just put it this way … do you like being rushed when you are doing your own hair and makeup at home? Nope, me either – actually if you know me, you know that I despise being rushed. Well, same goes for your glam squad. Give them plenty of time to get you looking fab for your groom!
10. If you don’t like something, SPEAK UP. It’s so much easier for your beauty team to fix something right then and there than to wait until the end and then they have to back track – resulting in an extra 30 minutes that you probably didn’t leave room for in your wedding day timeline. But, again (this time for the final time), if you schedule a trial, then hopefully you can work out all the kinks during that time and not on the actual day of the wedding.
I hope this post was very informative for you and helps all of you gorgeous brides out there decide on your beauty teams for your special day. Again, if you are still in search for one, definitely check out my friends at Bangs & Blush!! If you have any questions regarding B&B or just wedding hair and makeup in general, please comment below, message me here, or shoot me a message on Insta.
Thanks for stopping by today! I know that you will all look drop dead gorgeous on your big days!!
xo, P
*All photos by Katherine Birkbeck Photography. Read more about my experience with her HERE.