Bridesmaid Hair & Makeup

View quoted message You are a total sweetheart. I think this is such a fun & special way to still celebrate this monumental moment in your life with your fave girls just in a different way!
I’m sorry that the lockdown has prevented the girls from being there but love your positive perception in still making it fun with your girls ✨✨

I totally agree!! I’m a girly girl so I love the idea of a professional doing my hair & makeup but I wouldn’t want to be forced to doing it especially if I didn’t have much of a say with costs.

Thank you everyone for sharing! I spoke to each of my girls to ask if getting hair and/or makeup professionally done is something they are interested in. I've reached out to several different hair stylists and makeup artists to get pricing - as a few of you mentioned, some did have a minimum. That's why i wanted to get a general consensus as to who would be interested because that will determine who I select as my MUA or Hairstylist.

I do not mind paying for my girls (debating on paying for one service & they pay the other OR I may just pay tips for both services). One of my BFF's is very particular with her hair & makeup. She's often not satisfied with any professional services & ends up fixing their work LOL...As much as I respect that, I would find it a waste of $$ if I paid for her services.

Makeup & Hair is an expression of oneself. I want my girls to feel confident & beautiful in their own skin and decide for themselves which services, if any, they'd like. How blessed are those that shared a friend/sibling does makeup/hair?

I think the general rule is if you are expecting your wedding party to have hair/makeup done by a professional then you should pay. But if you are making it optional then they would pay. Of course if I win the lottery or something, I will pay for theirs lol but because I'm happy either way I will likely be having mine pay for their own services.

View quoted message Totally understandable!!! No matter what, they are all beauties!

Pre-covid, we were going to pay for both service for the moms and bridal party. With current restrictions (no personal services where a mask can't be left on), the girls will have to do their own makeup but we're still paying for hair.

I asked all my bridesmaids to see if they are okay paying for their own hair and makeup. The hair and makeup persons I booked have a minimum # in order to book, and I'm not having a certain look that they need to have either way (hair or makeup) so I think it's more reasonable to have them pay for their own services (compared to if I had a specific hairstyle or makeup look I wanted all of them to have the same of). I may pay for the entire tip total for both hair and makeup for everyone though, I'm just not sure yet. I think this is also very dependent on the number of bridal party you have, there's a big difference between being able to budget in the hair and makeup services of 2 bridesmaids vs 12.

I am getting my bridesmaids to pay for their hair and makeup and giving them each $50 towards it as it is $150 for hair and makeup. One of them chose to do their own makeup and one is only getting their hair done.

I am paying for my own hair and makeup done by a professional and I am giving the option to my MOH and bridesmaid to either do their own hair and makeup or pay for it.

I only have 2 in my wedding party, my MOH and sister as my bridesmaid and my MOH is a professional hair stylist. So she is already doing her own hair because she is picky with it and she will help my sister out if she wants something a bit fancier. I know they are going to pay for their makeup to be professionally done. But I am gifting them with a robe to get ready in, earrings from Hillberg & Berk, and I am paying for their manicures before the wedding as a spa day with the girls.

I only have one MOH she doesn't like having someone else do her hair or makeup and she is very good at doing her own. So I don't have to pay for hers. However, I'll pay for me, my mom, my MIL and step MIL. I think if you give your girls the option of doing their hair and makeup theirselves you don't have to pay for it but if you demand that they get it done professionally then you should pay.... If you have it in your budget to pay for everyone's that always appreciated as well

I refused to let my party pay for their hair and makeup. Some of them wanted only one or the other, so that did end up making it more manageable, but I did make sure to budget just in case. They've been amazing throughout this whole process and with the postponement fiasco. Now we're not having a wedding party at all since our date now falls in the limbo of between the end of lockdown and stage 1 of opening the province. But I told my ladies that they're still welcome to get whichever service they wanted and we can still take photos together, they just won't be at the actual wedding unfortunately.
Either way, it entirely depends on the couple and their budgets. I just don't like the idea of being told that I need to have a certain look and then have no choice but to pay for it myself.

I did not make it mandatory but knew my sisters and MOH would get it done for sure. My SIL was back and forth on it, even when I did offer to pay (that wasn't the issue); ultimately she just got her hair done. I was going to pay originally but I decided to gift them personal things as I knew they weren't fretting about the cost of hair and makeup. I did pay for our mom's makeup though (I got yelled at for that 😅). I have been in a wedding party where it was a friend doing hair and makeup so there was no cost, I've been in a wedding party where it was not optional but we also had to pay for it ourselves (we were young too so that didn't sit well), and I've been in parties where it was paid for. From what I've seen from friends etc, standard practice seems to be that if the bride requires it then she pays pay, if it's optional then it can go either way.

As you mention, it varies greatly between weddings. I have a two sisters whose weddings I’ve been a bridesmaid/MOH for in the past couple years and what we’ve found worked for us is that the there was the option of having our make-up and hair done professionally, which we discussed ahead of providing numbers to the stylists, and if we chose to do we would pay for out of pocket. However as we’re pretty comfortable doing our own make up, and the hairstyles and make-up looks both sisters chose to do were pretty simple, we bridesmaids just stuck with doing our own hair and make-up and left the bride to the professionals.



I’ve also been part of a wedding where the hair stylist was a family friend, and was hired for her time, and so she was available to provide basic help to the bridesmaids after she was finished the bride’s hair, such as doing a quick curl or braid, etc.
But really I think it comes down to the look that you’re going for and the comfort level of your bridesmaids. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the bridesmaids to pitch in if they’re wanting their hair or makeup done professionally, unless it’s an overly glam or formal look that you’re going for that would be technically challenging for the average lay-person. Hopefully that helps!

When I was MOH at my MOHs wedding, she paid for everyone's hair and makeup.
At my wedding I have a bridesmaid who is a hairstylist and she will be doing my hair and helping with the bridesmaids hair. The bridesmaids will have to curl their own (or each others) hair and she will do the styling part.

I will give my bridesmaids the options of paying for their makeup or doing their own. Its not in my budget to pay for everyone's makeup but I also dont want make my bridesmaid spend extra money if they are comfortable/confident in doing their own makeup.

I only have one bridesmaid standing up for me which is my MOH and she will be paying for her makeup herself but she's able to do whatever style she wants. I have my aunt who is a hairstylist doing both of our hair for my wedding for free. But if I was getting someone else to do it, more then likely she would also be paying for it herself.