Your Wedding Day:
How do you figure out what your “getting ready" timeline needs to be?
The last thing any bride wants to feel on her wedding day is stressed and rushed. It’s so important to work together with your hair and makeup artist and the rest of your vendor teams to put together a timeline for getting ready. While it is another task on your already jam-packed to-do list, it will help your wedding day flow smoothly and give you a much needed break to be able to sit back, relax, and be pampered before your walk down the aisle.
Photographer: Moses Cruz
Brides who don’t want to be stressed on their wedding day prepare in advance and work with the right people.
Okay, so I can’t emphasize this enough, do the work ahead of time, make sure you have the right team of people in place to help execute your plans, and ask questions!
Hair and Makeup is a big investment, but one worth making to achieve the perfect look that when you look back at your wedding photos, it is with delight rather than distain. Choosing the right team to work with is very important, hair and makeup artists not only make you look and feel amazing, but they will help you plan your timeline to ensure everyone is ready on time, make sure that you have a cohesive look in line with your wedding vision, and communicate clearly with you about what they can and can’t do in a given timeframe so you can start your plan.
If you don’t know how to start planning your timeline, ask the pros
That's why we are here, so ask your artist! We can give you a timeline on how long it will take to complete the hair and makeup services for everyone in your bridal party and we can offer suggestions on who else you should consult. I always recommend asking the photographer when they will be arriving, so you, the bride, can be done for any BTS (behind the scenes) photos! You also want to consult with your hotel or venue about when they will be ready for your wedding party. One of the worst things that could happen is we all show up on time to get started with hair and makeup and the door is locked or the hotel doesn't have your room available yet! So talk with your venue or hotel coordinator to make sure the timelines align.
Photographer: Moses Cruz
Work Backwards
Figure out the time when your photographer wants to start taking photos of you and your bridal party and start from there and work backwards based on your artists timeline.
Considerations
Two things to consider when making your timeline is what is the earliest you are willing to start hair and makeup and how many artist will you have working on your bridal party.
When talking with your HMU artist, make sure to ask them questions about their capabilities and their team. Make sure that they can communicate with you if they will need additional artists to complete everyone’s hair and makeup looks on time. Additional artists being added to your hair and makeup bill might seem scary, but it will 100% be worth it when you finish on time or early and everyone is thrilled with their looks.
Put it on Paper… or digital paper
Write it down! I promise you, putting it down on paper will help you figure out any holes or overlaps that are bound to happen when coordinating your plan.
Writing it out will help you visualize who is arriving and when and everyone’s start and end times.
Communication
Once you get everything down on paper and figure out all of the pieces for the day, communicate it back to your vendors so they know what your expectations are. This will ensure that we all know where we need to be, what time, and who is responsible for what, and if there are any changes that need to be made they can be communicated back to you so you can adjust accordingly and know what will be happening.
Do it Early
The sooner you can start working with your vendors on your timeline, the better! This will save you headaches later on when you have other things to do like working on the dreaded seating chart or picking out and tasting your yummy menu!
Have you started your wedding day timeline yet?
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Cristin
