Become a Bridal Expert
To bolster your chances of having a busy and profitable wedding season, HOT editors combed the country in search of the best tips and tricks of topnotch wedding specialists. Here's what they had to say.
Are you banking on brides? If not, heed the advice from these beauty pros who have made weddings their business. Go ahead and make her day—and yours—with these gems of advice.
Get Digital
In today’s world, introductions to your bridal services begin online. By the time a bride contacts your salon for a consultation appointment, she’s already researched your business online. She knows at least a few things about your wedding programs, your work and what brides have posted about you and your salon on review sites.
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If you’re aren’t receiving a flood of inquiries about bridal services, you need to take a serious look at how your online presence can be improved. Here are a few suggestions for you to consider:
● Actively post about brides, bridal services and wedding trends on social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
● Create a dedicated wedding section on your website that’s filled with useful information and pictures. Regarding the latter, refrain from posting snapshots that a bridesmaid took with her iPhone, as they could actually deter brides from calling your salon. Instead, only post professional wedding pictures of your work.
● Promote catering services during brides’ beauty services. We have menus from several neighboring restaurants, which brides can choose from in advance of their big day. This not only makes their appointments more festive, but also prevents the wedding party from being on edge due to too much bubbly and not enough food. (SalonKarmaSC.com)
Photographer: Zoe Christou Welsh;
Hairstylist: Danielle Keasling;
MUAs: Lauren Ajlani and Ms Rita Janay
Refine Your Styling Skills
Sherri Jessee (SherriJessee.com) uses simple rope braids and soft curls to create a salonworthy style for brides.
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“When doing hair and makeup for bridal editorials, I usually create looks that are larger-than-life by working with extreme textures and super-tight curls.
Although these images can be gorgeous and inspiring to hair and makeup artists, real brides usually prefer toned-down versions for their weddings.
My goal for this look was to create a beautiful yet very realistic photo shoot.
Starting with a base of soft curls and twisted braids, I crafted a simple, romantic shape accented by delicate makeup and subtle accessories.”
1. Set hair with a 1 1/4” curling iron. Lightly brush out with your fingers before teasing the crown area. Create 3 rope braids on each side of the head.
2. Including the top rope braid, sweep the hair in this area to the back/center of the head, twist and pin as shown.
3. Repeat instructions in Step 2 until all 6 rope braids and the corresponding hair sections have been swept back, twisted and pinned in place.
4. Take enough hair from the side of the nape to create a thicker rope braid. Cross over and back, and pin on each side. Use one more pin to tuck and secure the braid at the back/center of the head.
Photographer: Nathan Mays;
Hairstylist and MUA: Sherri Jessee;
Model: Melanie Blankenship;
Fashion: The Bridal Path
Style It Right
Enhance Her Personal Style: If you take a bride too far outside of her comfort zone—even if she asks you to do it—chances are she won’t be happy with the results. Instead, offer her alteatives that start with her personal style and then make it more glamorous and beautiful.
Wet-to-Dry Styles: Instead of trying to save time by having the bride arrive with dry, readyto- style hair, start her appointment with a shampoo and treatment to help volumize, smooth or provide heat protection. This not only allows you to prep her hair as you see fit, but also do a blow-dry service that builds a strong foundation for the finished style.
Hair Additions: The voluminous styles that are so popular right now can rarely be done by simply using a bride’s natural tresses. Hair additions not only make lush braids and chignons possible, but they also save time while making your work look even better. In addition to doing extension services or ordering a bride’s hair additions prior to her big day, we also keep a variety of braided extensions on hand to enhance any wedding style—including those wo by bridesmaids—in a matter of minutes.
Top Volume: Use a micro-crimper at the crown to build lasting volume by ironing the hair from the root out to 1.5” of the hair shaft. Let the hair cool and then brush out the crimped area to diffuse the volume. By the time the style is finished, the crimped area will be covered up and completely undetectable. (Danielle Keasling, SalonKarmaSC.com)
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| Photographer: Zoe Christou Welsh; Hairstylist: Danielle Keasling; MUAs: Lauren Ajlani and Ms Rita Janay |