Hair and Makeup: The Trial, the Timeline, the Kit
How to book it, how to run the trial, how long the morning really takes, and what to keep in your bag for the rest of the day.
Hair and makeup take more planning than almost anyone expects, because the morning is a relay: several people, one or two artists, a strict finish time and a photographer who arrives expecting everyone to be ready. Get the timings right and the morning is the calmest, happiest part of the day. Get them wrong and it’s the part you remember for the wrong reasons.
Booking
Good hair and makeup artists book up six to nine months ahead in peak season. Look at their portfolios for weddings — not editorial shoots — and particularly for people whose hair texture, skin tone and age are similar to yours. Ask:
- Whether they come to you, and whether there’s a travel fee.
- How many people they can do in a morning, and whether they bring an assistant.
- What’s included: lashes, a touch-up kit, staying for the ceremony.
- Whether the trial is separate and how it’s charged.
The trial
Two to three months before the wedding, after you’ve chosen the dress and ideally the veil or headpiece.
Bring: photographs of looks you love and, just as useful, ones you don’t; a photograph of the dress; the veil, hair accessories and earrings; and a white or ivory top so you can see the look against something close to the dress color.
Plan something for afterwards — dinner, a drinks date — so you can see how it lasts and how it feels after four hours.
Take photographs in daylight, in indoor light and with a flash. Makeup that looks perfect in a mirror can look flat in daylight or ghostly in flash photography — some sunscreens and setting powders contain ingredients that bounce flash back as white.
Say what you think. If you don’t feel like yourself, say so at the trial. That’s what it’s for.
Bring photographs of looks you love — and, just as useful, of the ones you don’t.
The final month
- No new skincare, no new treatments, no facials in the last two weeks. Anything new can cause a reaction at the worst moment.
- Hair color and cuts should be done two to three weeks before, so they settle.
- Brows and waxing a few days before, not the day before.
- Sleep and water do more than any product.
The morning
The whole schedule should work backwards from the moment you need to leave for the ceremony, including photographs of getting ready and getting dressed. As a rough guide:
- Hair: 45–60 minutes per person; longer for complex styles or very long or thick hair.
- Makeup: 30–45 minutes per person.
- The bride: allow 90 minutes to two hours in total.
Order matters. Mothers and bridesmaids go first. The bride usually goes last but one — finished in plenty of time, but not so early that she waits for hours. Leave the final slot for a simple look that can slip if things run late.
Build in thirty minutes of slack. Something always runs over.
Wear a button-down shirt or robe so you can change without disturbing your hair.
Eat. A real breakfast before hair begins, and something to eat through a straw while you wait. The emergency kit checklist covers the rest.
The touch-up bag
Give a small bag to the maid of honor or keep it with your things at the reception:
- Lipstick or lip color you’re wearing, and a lip pencil
- Blotting papers
- Pressed powder and a small brush
- Waterproof mascara, if you might cry
- Cotton buds and tissues
- Bobby pins, a small comb and a travel hairspray
- Lash glue, if you’re wearing strip lashes
For everyone else
Grooms and groomsmen benefit from a haircut a week before (not the day before), a clean shave or trimmed beard, and a little blotting paper against shine in photographs. For what to wear, see the groom’s suit; for the dress and veil, see The Wedding Dress, Decoded.
Written and edited by the Today’s Weddings editors. How we research and check what we publish is set out in our editorial standards. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
