When the bridal makeup artist becomes the Bride
I have been in the bridal industry now for over 10 years and I have always loved being a part of peoples special day. Over time you pick up so many tips and tricks that you can pass on to other brides, as well as, mentally planning all the things you would do on your own day.
It was such a crazy experience for me being the bride! It almost felt out of body as I was just so used to being the makeup artist and that being my role in the day. I will say on one hand it was very easy for me to know how I wanted my day to look and feel because I had seen so many through my work. I even visualised in the lead up to the wedding exactly how I wanted my day to feel and how it would unfold exactly as it was supposed to. It definitely worked because I had the most beautiful and perfect day I could have ever asked for.
I used to always get asked by brides “would you do your own makeup for your wedding day?” or “omg how will you find someone to do your hair and makeup?” and I have to say this was one of the hardest parts! I am not going to pretend for even a second that I am not extremely particular. I like to think that it is what makes me good at my job!! But it definitely made the process of figuring this out quite hard. My main tip for this was that I had multiple trials and was more than happy to trial and test things out. I think you don’t know until you try to look at yourself what you are going to love or hate and it was important to me that I loved that aspect of the day.
I set very realistic goals for myself in terms of my hair and makeup and thought a lot about what looks best on me, how my hair holds styles and what was going to be timeless. I’m not into doing things because they are trendy and I was really realistic about what suits me. For instance, my hair usually holds a curl well, but it can be a bit hit and miss around important events and I have almost never had my hair curled by someone else and loved it. Although having my hair down and curled felt more me, I knew there was a high chance I would regret it. I decided to go with a french roll type up do and really focused on it being soft and romantic and having hair around my face to frame the look. I even had my veil altered to suit the style. We tried this look twice to make sure on the day it was super easy and I absolutely loved my hair on the day!
For my makeup I went with something quite natural and soft and focused on blush and lashes which is similar to my everyday! I’m not a huge foundation wearer and I found in my trials where the foundation had more coverage I didn’t feel right. I love doing my own makeup especially my base makeup so I had a few trials and knew going into the day exactly what I wanted. It was almost overwhelming in the lead up trying to decide which eye look to go for because there are so many options! But in the end my whole look felt very me!
The only thing I would have changed about my morning was the timing (facepalm). I had 7 kids getting ready with me and if I could go back I would have gotten ready earlier. I always tell my brides to leave 1.5-2 hours between being ready and leaving and I only left myself an hour because I underestimated how long a limo takes to get places. I will say though, if that's the only thing then I did pretty well!!
The last thing I will leave you with is a trick that someone told me and I finally got to try myself, AND IT WORKS! When you are in your wedding dress and you need to pee, straddle the toilet seat! I promise you it made going to the bathroom through the day so easy!