Congrats to @issarae who quietly we’d her longtime beau Louis in a custom @verawanggang dress Repost #issarae : A) Impromptu photo shoot in a custom @verawang dress.
B) My girls came to help me, but they all coincidentally had on the same dress! They were sooooo embarrassed.
C) Then I took a few flicks with Somebody’s Husband.
Big thanks to @whiteedenweddings for being so gracious and accommodating and making this feel so real and special.
Congratulations! You’re getting married, and are currently pondering the idea of getting your makeup done professionally. The event is going to be photographed, recorded, framed, and duplicated online. In short, it will be around forever, and you want to look as good as Cinderella the night she lost that slipper, but it turns out fairy godmothers don’t exist.
Perhaps you’re thinking your cousin Sheila can do it because she always looks good. Professional advice: Don’t use cousin Sheila unless she’s an actual makeup artist– many people can be the master of their own faces, but are clueless when it comes to any other face. Even some professional artists will ask their make-up artist friends to do their makeup at their wedding, because even the best artists are scattered day of, and want to be taken care of. Treat yourself, and trust in a professional. Exactly how do you find these professionals who will calm you down and sprinkle you in fairy dust on your wedding day?
Think of the weddings you’ve been in, or have attended. Which friend-brides makeup style did you like the most for yourself. You could have a friend who loves wearing tons of makeup and she looked like a rockstar. However– If you like a fresher look, she may not be the right person to ask. Ask married friends who you remember looked perfect on their wedding day. Chances are they had a great makeup artist they can refer. Google those artists. Look at their other images. Do their images look good? There is also Facebook, Instagram, or Google. Search artists in your region, under various hashtags. (#bridalbeauty, #weddingmakeup, #weddingglamour) Get creative with those hashtags. We are there. You will get instant access to their work. If you’re using a wedding planner, they should have an array of top-notch artists at their disposal. If you’re reading this, send an email to PreDame. This is what we do.
Once you lock in on someone, you will be given the option of a trial, which you should definitely do (more on that below), so you aren’t nervous and are prepared on the big day. You want to feel confident, and your appearance shouldn’t take up space in your brain. The time in the makeup chair should be a peaceful time– in fact, many brides find it’s their only time of calm before the exhilarating flurry of their wedding carries them away.
What is this going to cost me?
Artists have a set rate per face, with the bride paying a bit more of the overhead costs. The bride also gets a little more attention, for obvious reasons. If there are a large number of faces, the artist may need an assistant. With Pre-dame, each client receives a lip product for touch-ups. And the makeup lasts, well into the bouquet toss and after-party. Just click on the package you want, or email the artist, and they’ll pass prices onto you. A decent artist charges somewhere between $250-$350 for the bride. That’s standard rate, across the board.
OH, I was hoping it would cost a little less
Yes, that is said often. It’s good to question price, for all of the services you’ll be receiving. Small anecdote: When I was a counter girl at MAC more than 13 years ago, occasionally people would come in and say “Hey I need my make-up done this weekend can I hire you to come and do it?” and I would reply ‘Of course, yes how much?” and they’d offer me fifty to eighty bucks and I’d light up and shriek“done!” because I was young wasn’t making much and most importantly, I needed experience. I learned a lot and I did a lot of faces. I once took subway out as far as it could go for fifty bucks to put makeup on a teen bride. Was it worth it to both myself and the bride? Yes. Those are the stories and experiences artists have when they’re learning their work and building their skills. Who knows, you could gamble at a counter and get that great up and coming artist who will be charging way more in a few years. But a gamble is a gamble, and often, you pay for what you get. You want the security of having a true professional at your side.
Do I Need to Do Anything for the Trial?
I love when a bride has done research and thought seriously on how she wishes to look- or has at least begun to fantasize about her overall image. This can be done many ways: Pull images of people you like, and styles of makeup that appeal to you. Make sure you’re focusing on the makeup, not the person. If you bring in 20 pictures of Selena Gomez but her make-up looks different in every photo, and you happen to look more like Reese Witherspoon, then I’ll know you wanna look like a different person. This is a different story altogether from make-up style. However, if you bring me 10 pictures of various people in a smokey eye, then I know you want to try out a smokey eye. Are you starting out at zero and have no earthly idea what you’re doing and just need someone to show you the way? That is OK, too. A bride/client who says “I trust you I have no idea” is going to look just as good as someone with a portfolio of inspiration photos.
We ask a lot of questions at the trial, and offer to show what our idea of soft/dramatic/natural is, to insure we are all speaking the same language. We try a few different lip options, and take photos in a few different types of light. Often, we’ll ask to look at a few photos of you that you love, so we know how you feel your best. This all condenses into the wedding-day look you’ve always fantasized about. Nothing is compromised. You should be as scrutinizing as you want to be, so there are no surprises. It will simply you at your best.
How Do I Prepare Day of?
Take care of your skin. Drink lots of water. Don’t go crazy in the sun, so wear plenty of SPF. If you don’t use moisturizer, then start using one.(Professional Tip: Everyone should use a facial moisturizer) Get a facial before the big day, but not the day before– you must give your skin time to relax after a facial. The same goes for a brow appointment. Get them done a a week before, in case your skin has a reaction to the wax/threading. If you want fake lashes, then you will get them. If you use semi-permanent, and regularly get your lashes filled in, then do that a few days before the wedding. I often tell brides that if you think you’ll cry through endlessly throughout the day (which, it’s a big emotional event, and these things happen!) then semi-permanent lashes are a fabulous option. All artists should offer fake lashes at the day of the event, so know if you don’t get semi-permanent lashes, you’ll have an option for big, beautiful bambi-esque lashes at your wedding. Why? Because it’s you’re wedding, and you’re going to get whatever it is you want. Which is kind of like having a fairy godmother who shows up with mascara wands, so maybe we *do* exist, on a small scale.
I promise that if you follow these steps, you’ll look fabulous on your wedding day. It should be an un-stressful, glamorous experience that will keep you staring back at those photos, blissfully for years to come.
