I’ve been a part of many a wedding morning over the years – big weddings, small weddings, destination weddings… I’ve worked in rooms where it’s just been me and the bride and others which feels like the whole wedding party has arrived!
One thing I’ve learned is that how the morning starts sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Your wedding morning is actually a big part of the wedding, so while beautiful bridal hair and makeup obviously matters to us, creating an environment in which you can actually enjoy having it done matters just as much.
Over the last 15 years, here’s what I’ve learned.
1. Stop planning the wedding before the wedding morning
One of the biggest causes of wedding morning stress is unfinished business.
Things that were going to be done “the night before” somehow find their way into the morning.
Someone needs to finish a place card.
Someone can’t find something.
Something needs to go downstairs.
Someone needs to call somebody.
And suddenly the bride is simultaneously having eyeliner applied and managing an event.
You shouldn’t be running your wedding from the makeup chair.
Get as much organised before your wedding morning as you possibly can.
Lay out your clothes and accessories the night before. Know where the rings are. Delegate responsibilities. Give questions somewhere else to go.
And if the logistics are becoming overwhelming in the run-up to your wedding, this is where a brilliant wedding planner is worth their weight in gold – we have some great reccomedations in our little purple book.
2. Build breathing room into your wedding morning timeline
Hair and makeup shouldn’t finish three minutes before you need to leave.
At CJC, we create a personalised wedding morning hair and makeup schedule based on your ceremony time, photography, bridal party, and services.
We also like a buffer.
Because things happen.
Someone disappears when it’s their turn for makeup.
A photographer needs five minutes.
A bridesmaid can’t find her earrings.
Your flowers arrive and everybody stops what they’re doing to look at them.
The aim isn’t to cram the maximum possible activity into every available minute.
The aim is to make the morning feel spacious even when there’s a lot happening.
3. Work backwards from when you really need to be ready
Your ceremony time isn’t necessarily your hair-and-makeup finish time.
Do you have a first look?
Does your photographer want getting-ready photographs?
Do you want photographs with your bridal party before leaving?
How long will getting dressed take?
How far are you travelling to the ceremony?
All of this matters.
As a general guide, where we’ve already completed a bridal preview, we usually allow around 90 minutes for the bride’s hair and makeup.
Bridesmaids, mothers and other members of the bridal party generally need around 45–60 minutes per service/person, depending on the look.
Then we work backwards.
You don’t need to calculate all of this yourself – it’s part of our job.
4. Don’t be frightened by an early start
Sometimes the maths says 6am.
Sometimes it says 5am.
I’ve started a wedding morning at 3am before.
It’s not necessarily anyone’s dream when the alarm goes off, but I’d take an early start and a lovely relaxed morning over an extra hour in bed followed by six people staring anxiously at a clock.
For larger bridal parties, we’ll often bring additional hair and makeup artists rather than starting unnecessarily early.
Generally, one artist can manage the bride plus around two or three people having both hair and makeup, although the exact requirement depends on your timings and services.
This is one of the benefits of having a team: we can build the hair and makeup schedule around the wedding instead of building the wedding around one artist.
5. The bride doesn’t necessarily need to go first
Brides sometimes assume they should be the first person in the makeup chair.
We often do the opposite.
Depending on the hairstyle, I might start by putting the bride’s hair into heated rollers and leave those to set while I work with bridesmaids or mothers.
Then I’ll return to the bride later for makeup and finish the hair afterwards.
That means she feels fresh when it’s time to dress and begin photographs rather than sitting beautifully finished for hours while everybody else gets ready.
There is no universal correct order. An experienced bridal hair and makeup team should create the schedule around your particular morning.
6. Choose the energy in the room carefully
This one has absolutely nothing to do with hair or makeup.
The people you surround yourself with matter.
Wedding days can heighten everything. There are families coming together, relatives who haven’t seen one another for years, traditions, expectations, nerves, speeches, a legal ceremony and quite possibly the most expensive outfit you’ve ever worn.
Even happy emotions can feel enormous.
So think about who you want around you while you’re getting ready.
You need people who make you feel good.
People who don’t create drama.
People who can solve a minor problem without announcing it as a national emergency.
And this applies to your suppliers too.
Skill matters, but energy matters alot.
7. Please eat something and hydrate
This is not glamorous advice.
It is, however, useful advice.
Eat.
Drink water.
Wedding mornings can start very early and lunch can disappear surprisingly quickly once ceremonies, photographs and greetings begin.
Looking after yourself physically in the weeks leading up to your wedding matters too.
There can be enormous pressure to find the perfect facial, serum or treatment before a wedding, but don’t underestimate what the basics do for your skin, energy, and confidence: good food, hydration, movement and sleep.
How you feel will affect your experience far more than one more product in the bathroom cabinet.
8. Stop planning everybody else’s wedding
This is perhaps the biggest one.
When you’re engaged, people get excited.
And excited people have opinions.
They tell you what they did at their wedding.
What their daughter did.
What you must do.
What you definitely shouldn’t do.
What flowers they’d have.
What hair they’d choose.
What time they’d get married.
And before long, you can find yourself planning a day that reflects everybody except the two people actually getting married.
Come back to one question:
How do we want our wedding to feel?
Not just how should it look.
How should it feel?
The same applies to bridal hair and makeup.
You don’t have to wear more makeup because you’re a bride.
You don’t have to wear your hair up because somebody says that’s what brides do.
You don’t have to transform yourself into somebody unrecognisable because it’s a “special occasion”.
You should feel like you on an exceptionally good day.
9. And if something does run late on the wedding morning? Don’t panic
Experienced wedding suppliers know that timelines move.
If we need to work faster, we can.
There may be slightly less chatting while the brushes move a little quicker, but our job is to manage that quietly rather than transfer the pressure onto you.
That’s why experience matters.
A calm wedding morning isn’t necessarily one where nothing goes wrong.
It’s one where you don’t have to deal with everything that does.
And that’s really the point.
Your wedding morning isn’t a rehearsal.
It’s part of your wedding day.
Pour the coffee. Put some music on. Eat something. Have a laugh and be present with the people you love – Let the professionals worry about the clock.
Let us take care of your wedding morning
CJC Hair & Makeup provides professional bridal hair and makeup for weddings across London, the UK and internationally, with individual artists and larger teams available.
EXPLORE OUR BRIDAL HAIR & MAKEUP EXPERIENCE
By Camilla Collins, Founder of CJC Hair & Makeup – Camilla founded CJC Hair & Makeup in 2010 and has spent more than 15 years working with brides and wedding parties across the UK and internationally.
