When you tell me what time your ceremony is, the first thing I do is count backwards. That shows what time the morning has to start so that nobody is rushed.
How long hair and makeup take per person
Each guest needs around an hour and forty minutes: forty minutes for hair and an hour for makeup. You need more, about two hours and twenty minutes: an hour for hair, twenty minutes of skin preparation, which begins with a massage and a more relaxing skincare routine, and an hour for makeup. Once you are dressed, I place your veil, which takes about ten minutes more.
The margins before and after the service
Before starting there is always half an hour to arrive, park and set up all the equipment. And between the makeup and the veil it is worth leaving time for you to get dressed and have the first photos taken with your family and bridesmaids without watching the clock.
A sample bridal party schedule, worked out from the ceremony time
With a bride, her mother, four more guests and the ceremony at two in the afternoon, it works out like this. I arrive at half past eight to set up. From nine to twenty to eleven I get the mother ready, and from twenty to eleven to one, the bride. Between one and half past one she gets dressed and has the first photos taken, and at half past one I place the veil. Meanwhile, two team members, who arrive at nine, prepare the other four guests, two each, and finish before one. By twenty to two the whole group is ready.
