Setting Your Wedding Day Beauty Schedule

Molly Peach Photography

As your wedding day gets closer, you’re going to need to start locking in the timeline for all your vendors. There is so much to think about - what time will the flowers arrive? Will you be available to meet the florist at the door or will you be busy in hair and makeup? What about First Looks? When does the caterer need to start setting up? What about if the venue has limitations on what time you can get into the premises?

Wow. I’m overwhelmed just writing that. Y’all, planning a wedding is not easy, so I have some tips for scheduling your hair and makeup timeline on the Big Day!

First things first - ask your beauty vendors how much time they need to allot per person. Then, decide whether you’ll be doing photos before the ceremony. Will you be doing First Looks? What about photos of the family and wedding party?

Taylor Kern Photography

Here’s a few scenarios that will help dictate the timeline:

If you’re only doing First Looks but saving the wedding party photos for after the ceremony, ask your photographer what time they would like you and your fiance(e) ready for photos. Your beauty vendors can finish up your wedding party while you’re off taking pictures.

If you’re doing the wedding party photos pre-ceremony as well as First Looks, check and see what time your photographer wants everyone to be ready. Your beauty team can still finish up your wedding party while you and your fiance(e) are off doing First Looks, as long as everyone else is completed by the time the group photos will start.

If you’re not doing First Looks but you are doing group photos before the ceremony, then obviously everyone needs to be ready at a certain time, and your photographer can help you navigate what time that should be.

If you’re not doing photos before the ceremony at all, I suggest having everyone completely ready an hour before the ceremony is set to begin. This gives everybody time to change into their wedding outfits, find their shoes and jewelry (the Getting Ready suites can get messy very quickly with so many things going on!), and allows time for the beauty vendors to do touch ups if needed.

If there’s travel time involved between where you’re getting ready and the ceremony, make sure you allow for at least an hour in between. Trying to corral so many people from one place to the next can be very chaotic - someone forgets a bouquet, someone lost a shoe, etc. You want to have plenty of time so you’re not stressing if something goes awry. And remember: if something does go amiss, it’s good to be prepared, but it will be okay. Breathe. Guests will probably have no idea that something went wrong.

Kaitlyn Blake Photography

Something else you need to consider is the actual timeline of who’s getting hair and makeup done at what specific times. This is where having a separate hair and makeup person comes in handy, especially if you have more than two or three people in your wedding party who are receiving beauty services. Another advantage to having two (or more) artists working at once is that it shortens the timeline for the Big Day, so you’re not all up at the crack of dawn to make sure there’s plenty of time to get everyone done with hair and makeup. It’s a good idea to communicate a schedule between both artists, or even CC them on one email chain so everyone is on the same page. And hey, some artists will go out of their way to communicate with the other beauty vendors and coordinate a schedule without you having to put in any effort! You want to make sure the schedule is set so that someone is not supposed to be in the hair stylist’s chair and the makeup artists’s chair at the same time. Although, should this happen, it’s not the end of the world - we typically know how to work around each other as long as the space allows for it.

Another question that pops up a lot is: What time should the Soonlywed get hair and makeup done? I try to get the Soonlywed in my makeup chair either second-to-last, or third-to-last if they’re doing hair after makeup. This allows time for him/her/them to relax before changing into the wedding outfit, grab a bite to eat, let the makeup settle a bit, and then I can provide any lipstick or powder touch ups if needed.

I know this is a lot to take in, but if you’ve hired seasoned wedding vendors, they can definitely help guide you through the process. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! That’s what we’re here for (within reason) and this coordinated effort is part of what you’re paying for when you hire us.

Good luck, and congratulations!

Planning a wedding? Reach out to inquire about professional makeup services for you and your wedding party!

You'll Only Grow as Big as the Box You're In

I heard a phrase a while back, “You’ll only grow as big as the box in which you put yourself.” That one hit me like nothing else could. I don’t know why that phrase resonated with me so deeply in that moment. I mean, I thought that I already knew the basic concept and benefits of getting out of your comfort zone.

But man, it’s so true, right? You put up these walls around you and confine yourself to this little box. It’s cozy in here. It’s comfortable. It’s just right and has everything you need. Sure, you may want more money. Sure, you may want a big opportunity. But this box has everything that will get you by, so why would you chance destroying it and clawing your way out to see what may or may not be out there, outside the walls?

Well, if you’re happy in there - truly happy - then by all means, enjoy your cozy little nook. But if there is something nagging you in the back of your brain or something you day dream about, in the quiet space before you go to sleep when your mind is wandering, you’re going to have to break down that wall, dude. It’s going to be scary and feel really weird. After all, you’ve been used to a certain environment for so long, and our cave brain says, “Hey. It’s safe here. Stay.” But then… everything will stay the same if you do.

I wish there was a magic wand I could wave or a fool-proof guidebook I could spout off to you that gives you step by step instructions on how to achieve your goals without any growing pains, stress, or long periods of time passing by. I had to wrap around my head around the fact that there’s just simply… not.

I had to get used to changing things up, to get used to putting forth major effort into expanding my mindset and changing certain habits, and then doing that over and over and over. I found that I would be a on a roll, breaking out of my comfort zone and doin’ thangs, opportunities were coming my way and I was killin’ it! Then I would get complacent. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought the ball I started rolling would continue to roll forever. But then it would lose momentum and I’d be left wondering why the heck my progress had slowed down. Well, I’ll tell you why. Because it was time to build a new box.

When you find yourself stuck in an achievement limbo, take a look around you. Have you become complacent and cozy in this new nook you’ve built for yourself? It can happen so quickly that you didn’t even realize you were done building this new nook! “Give me a second!” you might say. “I’m just now hanging up some photos!” But hey, man. If you feel stuck already, you know what it’s time to do. Keep moving it along. Keep taking chances. Keep taking those leaps that terrify you. If you have no idea how you could possibly grow any more, take a deep breath in a quiet zone and listen to your inner voice telling you what the next step is. If something pops into your head, your cave brain may immediately try to shut it down. Don’t pay attention to your safe-zone-loving cave brain. It doesn’t want you to grow because growth can be uncomfortable. Follow what that inner voice says and see where it leads you, and embrace the fact that nothing amazing comes from staying the same place.

When I took the leap to go full time with freelancing, I was terrified. I could stay at my current job with a pretty steady paycheck, working for someone else and not having to worry about anything more than selling makeup, or I could take this huge jump and put to use every ounce of faith I had, and do freelance work full time. Obviously, I chose the latter, and it’s been the best decision I ever made. Stressful? Oh, absolutely. Worth the stress? Oh. Abso-freakin’-lutely. Every time I have made the decision to break down my little box in the hopes of finding something bigger, it’s worked out. It hasn’t “worked out” in the sense that it’s been super easy and smooth sailing, but looking back in hindsight, I can tell you that everything has worked out in the way I needed. Don’t let fear or discomfort stop you from going out and getting your goal. Break out of your box.

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