I’m on a bit of a wedding kick after yesterday’s post, so I thought what better way to let the wedding wisdom flow than to review some of the vendors from my own wedding day! During the next few weeks, I’ll discuss each of my vendors, my experience with them and some lessons I learned (some the hard way!) during my bride-to-be experience.

One of the most important, and also fun, decisions to make is the one about your “beauty team.” When I was going through the process of choosing a hair and makeup team, I can’t deny that I felt a bit egotistical doing so much research and putting so much effort into my appearance. However, after seeing pictures, ladies  you have full license to be a diva. This is your Oscars; your Grammys; your fifteen minutes of fame! Go for it – spare NO expense to feel good and look perfect.

So, where do you begin your search for the team of beauty geniuses that are going to make you rival Heidi Klum? First, make a few decisions:

  1. Do you want to travel to a salon or have your services on-site?
  2. Do you want hair and makeup or just one of these services?
  3. Are you going to offer hair and makeup services to your bridesmaids? Your mother? Your soon-to-be Mother in law?
  4. What kind of look do you want for your bridesmaids? Hair up or down? Heavy makeup or a more natural look?
  5. Are you going to pay for any or all of these services for your bridesmaids?
  6. What is your budget? *Be sure to account for gratuity.
A snapshot of my wedding day hair.

Once you know what you want from your hair and makeup services, you can begin deciding where you should look. Start with what you know:

  1. Do you have any recently married friends who can provide you with some recommendations?
  2. Does your venue have any recommendations?
  3. What vendors are local to the area in which you are getting married?

Due to my desire to have hair and makeup on-site, I immediately eliminated a majority of the vendors because they required brides to come to the salon for services. I further limited my choices given that my venue, Rosemont Manor, was more than an hour outside of the DC-Metro area in Berryville, VA. I finally decided, after hours upon hours of researching options, to check out my venue’s recommendation,  The Special Event Salon at the Cottage in Stephenson, VA. Looking back, I should have saved myself the headache and trusted my venue, not my hopes of finding a hidden gem! The Special Event Salon was my hidden gem. After meeting with their salon manager to address my questions, as well as pricing, I scheduled the all important hair and makeup trial – which is an entirely different topic and post related to choosing your hair and makeup vendor, and arguably the most important aspect.

However, you can’t get to the trial without narrowing your choices, so start out by exploring the questions above!