Your Wedding
To most people, their wedding is by far a bigger deal than any day of their life. And I can only imagine that you would expect a far better and more personalized service on your wedding day! This rings true for ALL areas of your wedding.
If you’re only budgeting $500 for a photographer, rather than the average $5000, than you cannot expect the results of that $5000 photographer. SO, if you’re like most brides and only want to look the absolute best on "your wedding" day, remember your Hair and Makeup stylist plays a main role in how you will look on your big day.
Your stylist, however, is one of the vendors of your wedding who doesn’t usually charge a wedding surcharge. Most artists charge the same price for each person at a wedding, as they do for an individual event (do keep in mind that some artists may add a cost on to the brides, to compensate for the extra care and time spent). When you’re choosing your makeup artist, don’t be discouraged if they charge more than Lupita Gamboa down the road that uses her mothers 20yr old Aqua net hair spray and Mary Kay foundation, and only charges $50 for a service.
If you’ve been following a specific artists work for a while, and you are set on using them for your wedding, contact them at the initial stages of planning, and get them to do a personalized quote for you, so you are aware of the costs you need to incorporate in to your budget like extra hair extensions. Don’t contact them after you’ve blown your entire budget on an extravagant Vera Wang gown and Christian Louboutin pumps, and expect they will cater to you at the cheapest amount possible. I see this happening more and more, please do not expect your stylist, photographer, or ANYONE for that matter, to cost match or greatly reduce their service price simply because you don’t want to spend the extra money.
Remember: Quality over quantity! The QUALITY of hair stylist or makeup artists, also, varies greatly – so this will be reflected in their pricing. You have people who are just beginning, more experienced artists, and the people who are the very best in the industry, who will obviously charge at a higher rate. Basically, you get what you pay for. Remember, these people are providing services to YOU, and are doing their JOBS. Put your shoe on the other foot, and consider if it were you running your own business. When considering the costs of your services, you must consider (from a makeup artists point of view, specifically): - The amount of money you spend on updating your techniques and keeping current with trends - The professional quality tools you use such as brushes, disposables etc - The professional quality product you use - The quality of work you produce - The costs of advertising, website costs etc - The amount of time you spend doing quotes, invoicing, attending to inquiries, researching suitable products for people with allergies or special requests, packing your kit, on the road to your venue, finding parking, paying for parking, traveling, setting up, hanging around for touch ups, or the extra time spent waiting for your client to finish tying up loose ends on phone calls etc that delays the amount of time they are in your seat It is all TIME.... Everyone deserves to get paid for their job, right?
Vendors/MUAs have bills and living expenses, the same as anyone else. I understand that not everyone can see the art in the hair and makeup artistry – and it “all looks the same”, but trust me, the quality of work varies significantly!
If the makeup side of your wedding, really is not important to you, and you really cannot determine the difference between a good stylist and an AWESOME stylist who is an artist, or the quality of product, then yes, definitely go for your budget end MUAs! But if you are very particular, and only want to look the very best for your event AND your photos, then please do remember that good quality stylist, come at a price, they’re providing a high end service. Don’t respond with “But I can get it from ‘x person’ for so much cheaper”, if that is the case, and that fits a bit better within your budget, then definitely go with ‘x person’.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a hobby for most of us, it is their job. Our income. Our business. Hope this makes a little sense, here, I have included a very rough idea on what you can expect to pay for makeup services. Graduate artists: $60-$70pp (this is an absolute base rate, and I would seriously question the credibility, product and hygiene of any artist charging less than this!) Experienced artists: $80-$120pp Well sought after industry professionals: $150+pp – and in some cases upward of $1000pp for some celebrity artists. Travel fees are common for artists who have to travel beyond 25km .
