The stress of planning a wedding came in waves. There were things I would get oddly hung up on- transportation, what Kendall would be wearing (more on that in a later post), how do deal with kids, and hair were all included in this anxiety. For some reason, the hair thing really freaked me out, although my makeup artist was one of the first vendors I booked (or so I thought…)
My Maryland stylist, Jenn, is basically like a cousin and we actually asked her if she wanted to do it or if she’d prefer to not have to work on me that day and just come as a guest. She chose the latter. My Amanda at Illusions, who did my hair for our engagement session and who made me wedding-ready blonde, was obviously at the top of my list but I really couldn’t afford the travel fee for them to come to us and was worried about taking my girls, MIL, mom, and I offsite on an already crazy day. The stylist recommended by my venue started at $300 a head. I’m so low-maintenance with my hair- Amanda will tell you that- and I just couldn’t justify some of the crazy prices, but I wanted my girls and I to all look polished for pictures.
One of my dear friends has a stylist SIL. But when I went to book Heather, I found out she would be away the weekend of my wedding. Womp womp. It wasn’t all bad though because she had a recommendation for me and ohmagosh I am so happy she led me to the lifesaver of all lifesavers, Veronica.
I met Veronica in person the weekend of my shower/ bachelorette party. We decided to do my trial then so it would be up and fancy for my big weekend. We talked prices, styles for the other ladies, and our mutual love of rose gold. We were comfortable working with each other and I loved my ‘do. I’d made the right choice.
Fast forward to the week of my wedding. My MUA had a family emergency and we were worried that she might not make it to the wedding. I felt bad for thinking like that because, obviously, family first, and my wedding should be way down on the list of her priorities, but Tabitha said and I agreed that we should delicately tell my original MUA that her services would no longer be needed and she should focus on her family situation.
With less than a week before my wedding to go and not doing a makeup trial with me, Veronica stepped up AGAIN. We only needed makeup for my MIL, mother, and me but to save time since we hadn’t color matched, she asked us to please bring our own foundation and a lip color we liked, as well as a few pictures of the look I was going for. My SIL helped my MIL get hers, my mom got hers at Progressions for the rehearsal dinner, and I went to Sephora to find my perfect foundation match. (PS- highly recommend GIVENCHY Photo’Perfexion Fluid Foundation)
The day of the wedding, Veronica and her partner got their early, accounting for more traffic than they had. We rearranged the room for lighting and had girls in chairs 15 minutes earlier than we had originally planned. #efficient.
Veronica also helped keep me calm when I started really stressing. She sent the bridesmaids away while my mom and I got our makeup done and wouldn’t let them back until I was all done and more serine. She brought a calming, sweet energy to the day and the only stress I felt was when my girls were trying to force me to eat and I just did. not. want. to. We were ahead of schedule all day.
Despite never having done my makeup, Veronica did an amazing job. Kendall liked it, that’s what was important to me. In his words, “I could tell you were wearing makeup but that’s not what I noticed.” He’s seen it where it’s been too much and I wanted to avoid that. With my hair, we had to switch up my idea a little bit. My crown originally had ribbons attached that I wanted woven into my hair. The ribbons were too short for that so we cut them off, tied them around my bun, and pinned the crown portion in. (Veronica’s solution!) I felt like a princess and isn’t that the goal of every bride?
While picking your glam-squad (or glam-fairy-Godmother) for you wedding, keep these things in mind:
- If you have a budget, stick to it. Your friends at the salon will understand. (Or they should. If they don’t, you should make new salon friends!)
- Also money related- I used Venmo to pay Veronica for 3 people’s makeup and 10 updos. This totally depends on your situation but keep in mind that large transactions like that take a couple extra days on Venmo, so I had a small panic attack when I thought my money wasn’t going through.
- Third money related piece: tip your stylists the day of your wedding the same as you would in a salon.
- Recommendations from friends and family are your best bet. Thank you Heather for sending me Veronica’s way!
- Have a look or looks in mind, but be flexible if your hair/ hair pieces just won’t cooperate.
- This probably isn’t common advice but have backups! Life happens, and I’m so thankful that Veronica could step in not once, but twice for ladies who couldn’t make it to my day.
- Roll with it. This goes for every step of the wedding process. I probably could have gone bridezilla on everyone when my original plans fell through, but what would be the point of that? That would mean more stress for me, more stress for everyone, nothing solved. I had someone who could step in a she did amazingly!
photos by Darrell McDavid Photography
If you would like to see more of Veronica’s work or would like to contact her, please check out her Instagram!
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