Finding Your Style: 9 Top Tips For Achieving Your Perfect Wedding Hair Style

BRINGING YOU EXPERT ADVICE

As a Stylist here at the Little Lace Flower Company, I’m all about helping you find and achieve your perfect wedding style. Whilst I love to help couples with things like decor, florals and creating an amazing guest experience, your wedding style includes so much more: hair, makeup, attire, accessories, vows, entertainment, and so on. I can give you general advice in these areas, such as what types of dresses might suit your wedding theme best, but I’m no expert in these areas.

To bring you this expert advice, I’ll be interviewing a whole range of New Zealand wedding pros and writing blogs from these interviews over the next few months - the “Finding Your Style” blog series. 

This, the first of these blogs, looks at how to find your perfect wedding hair style. This Blog is based on an interview with the gorgeous and talented Antoinette Kavanagh (antoinette.kavanagh@gmail.com), a freelance hair specialist for weddings and events. Antoinette is based in Wellington. 

Check out her work @antoinette4hair. I have worked with Antoinette on two Styled Shoots. The images in this blog are of her and her work on these shoots.

1. BE PREPARED FOR YOUR TRIAL RUN

When you first get engaged you’ll probably be hitting-up Pinterest and those Wedding Magazine Blogs pretty hard. As you start saving images, make sure you include plenty of ones about hair. If you are hiring a stylist – such as myself – they will be able to help you identify which of the images would work best with the overall look and feel of your wedding; after which, it’s then time to see the professional...

If you want perfect wedding hair, booking a Bridal Hair Trial is invaluable. This will give you a chance to see the style (or styles) that you have pictured come to life.

A trial is especially important if you are thinking of having a style that is radically different than how you wear you hair on a daily basis. You can see if it actually works on you. As Antoinette said, that’s what trials are for – trying out ideas and finding what works best.

Leading up to your Hair Trial, Antoinette suggested sending your chosen inspiration photos to your stylist. This helps give them an idea of the looks you like. She also stressed the importance of including a range of styling options. Don’t get stuck on one set idea – just in case it’s not achievable.

It’s also important to show your hairstylist the dress you will be wearing so that they can edit your hair style to suit the dress. The neckline in particular will influence what style will compliment your dress the best. As Antoinette mentioned, if you spend $2000 on a high-necked dress, you don’t want to cover up all the beautiful details with you hair!

Bring any hair accessories you are thinking of using to your Hair Trial so you can test them out and see if you actually like them in your hair. If it isn’t possible to bring along your accessories, at least bring along photos so that you can discuss how they could be included on your big day.

Don’t be too concerned about whether your face-shape will suit a hair style you like. Your hairstylist can edit the style to suit. 

What is more important is whether your hair will need to be cut, coloured and styled to achieve the look you want (for example, creating a fringe) - this was something which Antoinette expressed strongly in the interview.

Other styles may require hair extensions. Extensions can be clipped in just for the day, but this will take extra time and pricing will reflect this.

If you know what your makeup will be, it’s useful to tell your hairstylist. For example, if you’re going to have a very glam makeup look, it’s better to keep the hair super simple.

Finally, at your Hair Trial, it is useful to talk about what your Bridesmaids will be wearing and any ideas you may have for their hair styling. As Antoinette pointed out, this will ensure your stylist has everything they need in her kit for the day.

2. TAKE A LONG-TERM VIEW WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING A STYLE

When you look back at your wedding photos in 10 years time, you want to still love your hair. People from the ‘80s look back at their permed, ‘boofy’ hair-styles and cringe. Antoinette astutely recommended opting for either a softer look or a classic style. Both age well. Stay away from overly hair-sprayed looks.

A very popular style right now is the half-up/half-down look. Teamed with relaxed, loose waves, it is a style that looks good in photos. If you are unsure about what look to go for, perhaps consider this as an option.

If you have strongly coloured hair, consider opting to a pared-back look. Let your hair colour be the star. Antoinette create this elegant pony tail for Xan and her contrasting green and black hair.

3. BE REALISTIC

When I asked Antoinette about the most important message she wanted to share, it was to be realistic about what type of hair you have and what can be achieved with it.

In addition, brides can get so stressed about wanting their hair to look exactly like a particular photo, but as she pointed out, their hair will never look exactly the same. 

Further, if the photo comes from a wedding photo-shoot, the model in the photo will be heavily styled and her hair will have been attended to all day. This isn’t possible for a real wedding - there is only so much your hairstylist can do!

4. TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS AT YOUR HAIR TRIAL

Another helpful tip I received from Antoinette: at the end of your Hair Trial, get your hairstylist to take photographs of your hair from all the different angles. 

Even with mirrors, it’s hard for you to see the back of your hair as others will see it. You want to be able to see what other people are going to see. Photographs are the perfect solution.

Photographs also help you remember what your hair style looked like. By the time you have make-up trails and dress fittings, it’s hard to remember everything. 

In an ideal world, you would schedule your makeup trial and dress-fitting on the same day so that you can see everything together. In reality, this is difficult to juggle – which is why photographs are so important.

On the day, those photographs will also help to ensure that you get exactly the style that you fell in love with at your Trial. AND I think it’s fun to get pics so you can share ‘sneak peeks’ with your Bride Tribe!

5. CONSIDER CHANGING YOUR HAIR COLOUR

You may need to change your hair colour to achieve your ideal wedding hair look: for example, sun-kissed highlights for your Beachy Boho wedding.

You may also want to change your hair colour to better show off the styling you are having on your wedding day, Antoinette told me. If you have very dark hair and you want a detailed style, you might want to consider adding a little colour. This is because you can’t see details easily with very dark hair. The colour doesn’t have to be intense, adding just a little colour tone can make all the difference.

If you are going to change your hair colour, make sure you leave enough time to do this and to make any adjustments until you get the colour just right.

If your wedding-day hairstylist isn’t your regular hairdresser, it may be helpful to have them involved in your colouring. This will ensure that the colour is placed accurately to achieve your wedding day style. The same goes with any new cutting or styling you may need.

6. LOOK AFTER YOUR HAIR

Antoinette recommended that, leading up to your wedding day, you schedule regular treatments for your hair. For example, if Sunday evenings are your movie night time, get into the habit of putting in a treatment before the movie starts.

She also recommends investing in good hair care – just as you would for your skin. Stay away from shampoos with silicone in them.

The most important thing, according to Antoinette, is to have regular trims. Even if you are growing your hair for your wedding, regular trims – maybe every 6 weeks – will ensure that your ends look good.  

At the very least, get a trim 4 weeks out from your wedding. This is especially important if you are wearing your hair down. This trim need not be very big, but will make a big difference to how your hair will look.

7. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A REALISTIC TIMELINE

Having gone to all the effort to select a style, trial it and get your hair into the best possible shape for achieving it, you don’t want to mess it all up by not having enough time on the day to create it!

When you are working out your Wedding Day timeline, set aside an hour each for your hair and makeup. Bridesmaids will need 45 minutes. Seems like a lot doesn't it? It did to me when I organised my first styled shoot, but believe me, by the time you have your hair curled, pinned and finished, you'll need every second!

From her experience, Antoinette recommends that you also give yourself at least an hour after hair and makeup to then get into your dress, have a glass of bubbles, do final touch-ups and relax. You want to enjoy this special time and not be rushed.

When it comes to creating a realistic timeline, Antoinette always starts by asking what time the ceremony is and then subtracts an hour. That is the time that she said all the hair-styling should be finished by. This gives time to do touch-ups, add a final mist of hairspray and put in the veil/hair accessories. If these can’t be attached before your hairstylist leaves, this also gives them time to show someone else how to to it.

8. BE AWARE OF PRICING

When you are organising your wedding budget, most wedding hair stylists have a set base rate for their styling work. 

However, as Antoinette pointed out, you need to be aware of other costs. For example, having super early (e.g. 5 am) starts may incur an additional fee.

If you want a very elaborate style and it’s going to take 2 hours to do, you will have to add on an extra fee for the time. Make sure you discuss this at your Hair Trial.

Finally, you may also have to pay a travel fee. If your wedding is in a remote location, or a long way from your hairstylist’s home base, you may have to pay for the extra time to get there (and back), as well as the fuel needed to get there.

9. BE FLEXIBLE

Antoinette really emphasised the importance of being open-minded and flexible with your hair styling choice. This first applies to your hair trial where you might find your hair simply doesn’t suit the style you want. It then applies to your hair style on the day. In particular, your chosen hair style may need to be altered to suit the weather conditions.

Here in ‘Windy Wellington’, brides have to be realistic about having a windy wedding. A lot of the time, brides want their hair down. But if it’s a windy day, your hair will end up flapping around and it’s going to get very weathered looking. 

So, on the day, if the weather is bad and you were planning on having your hair down, you might be better to opt for putting it up. If you are prepared for this as an option, are open-minded and flexible, you’ll be able to better take a last minute change in your stride. Talk about a ‘bad weather’ styling option at your Hair Trial.

One option for bad weather is to go for a hair style that is put up for the first, formal, part of your wedding, then taken down. 

Antoinette said this is easy to achieve if you have a someone to help take all your bobby-pins out and gently comb out the hair with a wide comb or fingers. 90% of the time, your hair will be fully curled before it is pinned up, so there will be a good base for when it’s down. As she points out, lots of brides like that they have curls the next day after their wedding. So, unpinning your hair will give you a loose, relaxed curl look. If unpinning your hair is something you’d like to do, Antoinette recommended that you tell your hairdresser and then schedule 15 minutes in your timeline to slip out and adjust your hair.

SO THERE WE HAVE IT...

Antoinette shared so much great information and advice that this Blog actually contains DOZENS of amazing tips wrestled into nine subject headings. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch:

Antoinette: antoinette.kavanagh@gmail.com

Me: Lyndal@littlelaceflowercompany.co.nz

Want to lean more about how Little Lace Flower Company can help you plan, design and style your wedding? Have a look at our website: 

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Thanks to Jo Moore Photographer for the images used in this blog.