6 Reasons You Should Hire a Glam Squad for the Wedding
One week to the day after my sister’s wedding, she posted a picture on Instagram - not to wax poetic on how amazing the last 7 days had been since marrying the man of her dreams ((although of course they were)), but to thank her makeup artist and hairstylist for doing THE MOST with her wedding day look. It literally made me laugh out loud, because one of the most basic things for a newlywed bride to do post-wedding is post a celebratory - one week married #soblessed 😍 - photo of the wedding and her new mister or missus. Instead, my sister took the opportunity to love on her glam squad hard. 😂😂😂.
“Words can’t express how much these two ladies meant to me on my big day. I have never felt more like a princess! Not only did every single girl obsess over their look, but they truly made my morning relaxing and memorable, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team.” ~ Steph
She wasn’t kidding, though, they did an exceptional job with her hair and makeup, and she looked stunningly gorgeous. We all did! Truly, I have never seen a group of girls DIE over their looks as much as my sister’s 11-girl-gang did. Selfies on selfies on selfiessssss. Lashes for days. So, anyway, it got me thinking about the whole makeup artist and hairstylist situation and whether or not hiring a team to take care of the pretty is totally necessary.
My verdict.
If 💄💁🏼 are 👍 line items on your budget spreadsheet, then YES. YES. YES. A million times, yes.
Not even saying that a bride needs to get glam before getting married. That bridal glow guarantees she’s good to go, but there’s just something about getting your makeup and hair done by pros that make a girl feel her best. And for your wedding day, arguably the biggest day of your life so far, you should feel your best. Your absolute best.
We chatted amongst ourselves and to some of our bride friends, past and present tense, to pull together some reasons why hiring a glam squad is a serious must - and here’s what we came up with.
They squash the stress.
No matter how much planning a bride and her MOH+MOB can do prior to wedding AM, there will still be a million things (if not terrifying thoughts, just as scary/stressful) to take care of the morning before you get married. Knowing that you also have to curl your hair, put on foundation, contour like a boss, and get your lashes in Ashley Iaconetti shape - she is my lash muse, no words - is anxiety-provoking as f***. Having a crew come in to beautify you and the girls in a relaxed and organized manner is everything. You can literally wash your hands of the stress, without having to wash your hands - you’re not applying, so you don’t have to worry about cakey makeup, sticky lipgloss or black on black on black mascara getting on those perfectly-manicured hands of yours.
They come prepared.
It’s a great thought to think about all of your girls doing their makeup and hair together - pre-going-out college-style - but let’s consider the reality of it a bit more. If you’re all DIY-ing the glam, your bridal suite is going to end up trashed and chaotic. You’ll be fighting over mirrors, fighting over outlets, fighting over where the best natural lighting is to apply your makeup (and of course the bride should get it, but she won’t), it will be a shit show. A professional team does this on the reg - they come in, bring all the tools, hair ties, bobby pins, hair sprays and setting sprays, extra power strips, ALL of it - so that they can do what they need to do, keep things clean and routine, make every girl a queen, get paid, kiss the bride and wish her good luck, and then ✌️. If you have zero clue whether your venue or wherever you’re getting ready is equipped with whatever your beauty team needs, they’ll often connect with the venue and straighten out the deets. They’ll make sure you girls are golden before you all get bronzed.
They know what’s at stake, so they don’t make mistakes.
This one is HUGE. Your big day is a big deal. Even if you don’t consider it as such (“It’s alright, I know I’m a bride, but if I can do my makeup any other day, I can do it now.”), your makeup artist and hairstylist do. They know that you want and need to look your best, because you’ll be hella unhappy if you’re looking at your wedding pictures in a few months and contemplating lots of retouching. And you deserve to be your happiest and most confident. So, they’re going to make sure they do you justice. They’ll do your trial, they’ll answer your panicked texts, they’ll brush up on any/everything they may need to practice or familiarize themselves with to ensure you’re flawless and beyond satisfied with your semblance. Sure, they’ll do it in service of a nice tip, good reviews, and 👌👌👌 word-of-mouth referrals after the event, but really, they’re doing it because they want to see a bride and her maids looking and feeling major for such a momentous occasion.
They have epic celebrity looks committed to memory.
Like the whole ‘prepared’ thing, professional hair and makeup artists are just good at their crafts - they research trends, they probably have sick followings on social media impressing with all of their work, and they do their own fangirling too. Following celebrity hairstylists and makeup artists who work on the hottest, most beautiful women in Hollywood. So, when you come to your girl with a photo of Mandy Moore and her metallic confetti hairdo a la Ashley Streicher, she’ll know exactly what you’re talking about and what to do with some eyelash glue… Same goes for your makeup artist. She stalks the greats and she’ll have all the know-how when you ask her to recreate ANY one of Emma Stone’s recent glam looks (courtesy of Rachel Goodwin) for the red carpet for your own aisle style.
They know what works.
You certainly might think you know enough about doing your makeup or hair for your wedding day - but if you don’t have the training or the testimonials to back you up, then you probably don’t have everything you need to pull of a picture-perfect bride look. And that’s okay - that’s why you pay people who do know what they’re doing. My sister is awesome doing her own hair AND her friends’ hair, mine too, but she still wanted someone who knows hair like a goddess to do hers on her wedding day. She knew how to set her curls perfectly and how much volume to tease out of it and how much hair spray was needed to hold it altogether for 14+ hours, she knew how to style her hanging tendrils and exactly where to position her veil. As for her makeup artist, she took all of my sister’s feedback to heart, but also worked her own kind of magic, because that’s what makeup artists do, they do miraculous things with makeup to make us all go ‘OMFG, I’m stunning. And if I cry like a total baby when I see my boo, it’s okay, because this makeup is going NOWHERE.’ She did that!
They usually come with stories (and songs).
And if all of the above doesn’t convince you, just know that most makeup artists and hairstylists have the best bridezilla stories… Just in case you worried you were one, they’ll have you beat. PROMISE!! They also usually have the best bridal suite playlists, since that’s where they are on most weekends. Best kept secret: they come with the jams.
**Front page feature photo courtesy of REVEAL Hair & Makeup (shot by 4Corners Photo).**