In my 13 Years as a Professional Makeup Artist I don’t think I’ve ever met a bride who did not want her wedding day to be absolutely perfect to the last confetti throwing detail. They all want to look breathtakingly beautiful with gorgeous hair, beautiful skin and their dream dress. They spend thousands of Rand’s on the perfect photographer and dress but yet when booking a makeup artist and hairstylist they do not want to pay a “arm and a leg”.
Brides seem to forget that these two aspects of your wedding day look is always featured on your photos throughout your whole wedding day, start to finish.
Here are some of my tips to selecting the perfect Makeup Artist and Hair stylist for your wedding day.
1. Book in Advance
Don’t assume that all Makeup Artists and Hair Stylist will be able to assist you at a drop of a hat, for most of us who do this for a living we are booked up to 18 months in advance especially on all those very popular wedding months.
2. Start early
You cant expect that you will have amazingly perfect, flawless makeup on your wedding day, but your skin has never seen or got in contact with a skin care product ever. Find a good skin care product and stick to it. Drink a lot of water as that is the magic ingredient for good, hydrated skin. Now is also a good time to start waxing or threading that uni brow, eye brows and mustage, no amount of product will cover that.
About eight months prior to your wedding, start taking note of makeup artists and their works. Look at work before you start asking for prices. Do not pick your Makeup artist because they are cheap, book them because you love their work. If you’ve recently attended a wedding and you liked the makeup style on the bride, ask for the name of the makeup artist and do some research on their portfolio to assess whether you like what they do.
3. Do your research
Don’t choose your makeup artist and hair stylist because they are cheep, choose them because they are going to make you look like the absolute best version of yourself.
To every makeup artist that I know who takes their craft very seriously positive feedback from previous brides are extremely important, make sure to have a look at the Facebook reviews or Hello Peter to see if there are any red lights. Choose someone that takes your wedding day just as seriously as their craft. I have heard so many horror stories of brides going for the cheaper artists (Must say that not all hobbyist makeup artists do this) just to be let down last minute, because they were invited away for the weekend… When paying someone R250.00 for a mornings work, don’t expect to much commitment as this is not their livelihood.
4. Go for Makeup Previews
So you have found a couple of makeup artists and your not sure which one to choose, have a chat to each of them ask your questions like which products they use, do you get a touch up kit for the wedding day, do they travel to the venue on the wedding day etc. etc. in that way you can eliminate all the ones that don’t seem to be a good fit.
Make very sure that the person doing your Bridal makeup and Hair preview is the person that will be working on you, on the day of the wedding.
Now if you still have one or two to choose from go for a Makeup preview (Makeup Trial) not only to see if you are happy with the Makeup artist style of work and the products that they use but most importantly you and your artist need to feel comfortable with each other, he or she is going to be one of the last people with you just before you walk down the isle. You want someone that will have a calming effect on you and not someone that’s driving you up the wall. Make sure that even on the day of the Makeup preview you are very clear with your expectations and don’t be shy to voice your opinion good or bad. All we want is a happy client, and would much rather like the option of rectifying something that you are not happy about rather than loosing a client.
Take note though, that trials usually come at a fee, but finding your perfect Makeup Artist will be worth it.
5. Don’t forget about your hair
Your wedding look is incomplete without styled hair, and here’s a valuable tip, it helps when your makeup artist and hairstylist can work well together. Schedule a preview session when both stylist and artist can work concurrently on you, so that you can preempt possible clashes in opinions or flare-ups. Remember that weddings can sometimes be high-pressure work environments, and when big families or wedding entourages come into play, it really helps to know you’ve got people who’ve got your back no matter what.
On the other hand, if your makeup artist is doubling up as your hairstylist, it will be a good idea to check out his or her hair portfolio too, to make sure you like the hair styling as much as you like the makeup style.
Make sure that you meet everyone that will be a key stylist on the day of your wedding, your wedding day is not the time for surprises.
6. Bridal Retinue
Make sure to let your Makeup Artist and Hairstylist know how many people will be requiring this service on the wedding day so that a schedule can be worked out to ensure that all goes very smoothly.
7. Budget for this service
You have budgeted and saved for everyting else, dont forget about this very important aspect of your wedding day along with your photographer and dress this service is very important.
Always work out a budget before meeting your makeup artist and hair stylist. A good starting point would be to aim for quality and not cost.
Ask your makeup artist to help you understand what products they will be using, and what essentially you will be paying for some makeup artist apply makeup traditionally and others use Airbrush there might be a price difference.
Some brides go as far as to engage standby makeup artists in the unlikely event that their key makeup artist cannot turn up on the actual day. While costly, this will give the bride peace of mind and the confidence to know that she has a contingency plan in place.
When this is the case ask to see the Stand by makeup artists portfolio so that you can make 100% sure that you like their work.
With all this said, I do hope that you find the perfect artist for yourself and your budget 😉
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me Madeleine@makeupbymb.co.za / http://www.makeupbymb.co.za
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