Backstage | The Williford Wedding

The Results: Hair and Makeup Trial

Ponytails and pops of color. That’s what I was after for my wedding day look. Inspired by Olivia Palermo‘s bridal style, I wanted hair that was laid-back and a little messy, with dramatic eyes and a bit of bright color on my lips.

So how did my trial go?

Even after years running a blog and promoting my personal brand on social media, I still feel a little strange just talking about myself. Weirder still is posting a bunch of photos of my face and asking you guys to comment on it. But it’s important to share things like a bridal beauty trial, especially for the brides looking to find advice for working with hair and makeup artists. For me, it helps to remember we’re talking about a hairstyle and makeup and not the hair and face beneath it.

So… here’s my face. The makeup on my face here was done by the lovely and talented Brielle Brenner.

The decision to hire a makeup pro was not taken lightly. Anyone who’s seen a price sheet from any sort of bridal beauty specialist knows that the cost is steep. On a random Thursday, I would never even consider spending $100+ for someone to paint my face. But this is my wedding day. And for a handful of reasons, Roo finally let me we decided to hire pros for hair and makeup. And I’m so glad.

Brielle was recommended to me by another makeup artist I found online and reached out to. She was unavailable for our day, but sent over a few of her favorite people for me to check out. The lesson as a bride? You can always ask for referrals. The lesson for vendors? Make friends with your fellow professionals.

The hairstyle here was done by Brielle‘s equally sweet and talented sister, Brittany. (Please excuse those wisps who managed to escape heat and hair spray.) I had so much fun during the trial just hanging out in their studio and chatting about beer and Baltimore (they lived there for a while). I think it’s important to find vendors that you get along with, especially when it comes to the people who will be close to you on your wedding day.

Thanks to these talented artists, our awesome photographer and my lovely bridesmaids, I’m looking forward to the morning of the wedding almost as much as the wedding itself. In my experiences as a bridesmaid, getting ready is always my favorite part of the wedding weekend. It’s a fun time to get pampered and relax with your friends. If I’m being honest, that’s probably the number two reason why I came around to hiring pros for hair and makeup: So we can get ready in the hotel room, primping and sipping champagne along the way.

The number one reason? Here’s my face again.

As soon as I got home from the trial, I put on my wedding dress and pranced around the guest room snapping photos in the mirror (for much longer than I needed to). I’ll pretend that my selfie session was all for the blog, but the truth is, I just felt beautiful. I can’t put a price tag on that.

You know what else is priceless? Perfect winged eyeliner.

This would have taken me two tubes of eyeliner, three boxes of tissues and about six or seven hours. And yes, I went for the giant falsies. Go big or go home, girls.

I know this was a trial, but I’m pretty set on this look. One thing I might change up a bit is the color of the lips. This poppy shade was strange at first (since I’m a girl who’s signature lip shade is “Chapstick”), but it felt really comfortable after a while. So I’m feeling a little more confident that I can maybe pull off the orangey-coral lip of my dreams (and match those neon Kate Spade cluster earrings in the photos above).

If you’re looking forward to your bridal hair and makeup trial, here’s a bit of wisdom from my experience:

• You want to look like the best version of yourself, so don’t feel like you have to step outside of your comfort zone. If you’re a ponytail girl, be a ponytail bride. If you wear long, flowing locks on the daily, don’t feel like you need a blingy updo to say “I do.”
• Think about accessories. (Your earrings and veil, mostly.) My jewelry plan is just a pair of statement earrings, so I want to show them off with a hair style that doesn’t cover my ears. Your accessories can inform your hair choice, like in my case, or the other way around.
• Know what you don’t know. My main motivation in hiring a pro makeup artist was how little I actually know about applying my own makeup. I gave Brielle some direction with inspiration photos, but I trusted her judgement about what does and doesn’t work.
• Just do it. The red lips. The big false eyelashes. Your trial is a good opportunity to try on a daring look you’ve been excited about but maybe too timid to wear.

Did you hire a hair or makeup pro? How did your trial go?

14. August 2014 by Taryn
Categories: Hair and Beauty | 1 comment