I can’t pretend to be an expert on makeup or hair. Most days I wear no makeup at all – I’m a simple gal. But I will share what I’ve learnt along the way about hiring a makeup artist and hair stylist for our wedding. They are very personal decisions and tastes vary widely, so I’d recommend finding someone who showcases past work with the style that you want. That way it’s much easier to be on the same page and share similar ideas.

Welcome to our 9th blog post in our series on planning a wedding. We like to start out every post by acknowledging that there is no right or wrong way to celebrate your decision to spend the rest of your life together. We want to make it clear that our opinions about our wedding are a reflection of what we value and what’s important to us. You can read the other blog posts in our planning a wedding series here. Here is some advice that we’d recommend considering when you’re looking for a hair and makeup artist.

• Research styles and looks that you like. From my own experience, I’ve found that hair and makeup artists prefer you to have an idea of what you want. Sure they’re trained professionals and they probably have their own ideas of what would suit you. But if you don’t give them a bit of direction to work with, it’s a bit like going into a shop and asking them to fit you in whatever looks good.
• Test out different looks. While you’re at it, research styles that you don’t like! Go to the MAC store, David Jones, Myers or anywhere and be open minded enough to give things a go. This is something that I didn’t do, and in hindsight I wish I had so I knew what was out there.
  Always have a trial run. It’s important for the people you’re working with to know how long it will take to create your look. It’s also a good chance to properly test your ideas.
• Think about whether you want a team who does both makeup and hair. It’s perfectly fine to work with separate people who specialise in makeup or hair. You’ll just need to make sure they can coordinate with each other and work together on the day.

Wedding Hair and Makeup Inspiration

I decided to venture away from traditional wedding hair styles. That’s not because there is anything wrong with them, but because I wanted something that was a bit more ‘me’. I was after a natural look, seeing as I normally don’t wear much makeup or spend a whole lot of time on my hair. I wanted to look like myself! You can see my Pinterest makeup inspiration board here. The style I was after for my hair was romantic, loose and unstructured, and I collected images on my Pinterest hair inspiration board. I set out to find someone who specialised in that, and found Tash Owers Hair and Makeup. When I came to Tash with my hair inspiration, she pointed out that a loose unstructured hairstyle that was designed for a 1 hour photo shoot, won’t necessarily last all day for a wedding. So be wary of pinterest as pictures can be misleading.