As a wedding photographer, I play an active role in helping my clients create a wedding day timeline based around photography.  When I create timelines for my clients, I usually start backwards from the ceremony start time and budget enough time for everything from bridal details, getting the bride into her gown, any transportation needed, the First Look, portraits, bridal party photos + family formals to come up with a start time for photography.  I usually arrive 90 minutes before the bride needs to get into her gown – and by this time, most of the bridesmaids are already done with their hair + makeup and the bride is in the chair, excited to finish up her own hair + makeup.

Often, clients ask me what time hair + makeup should begin on their wedding day… and honestly, that’s not something I can answer myself!  Every hair + makeup artist works at a different speed and requires a different amount of time to complete their work on the wedding day.  Therefore, only they can determine how much time they need to work their magic on your wedding day.

What I can tell you is what time you need to get into your gown.  And you can tell your hair + makeup artists what time you need to be done with your hair + makeup so that you can get dressed and stay on schedule.  If you want to be extra careful, tell them that you need to be ready 30 minutes before the timeline says you’re scheduled to get into your gown.  That way, if things are running late, you don’t need to stress out about it because you’ve given us an extra 30 minute cushion.

One other tip – when determining an order for wedding day hair + makeup, please make sure that anyone who needs to help you into your dress (like your mom, Maid of Honor, sister, etc) have their hair + makeup done early.  That way, they’ll be able to get into their dresses with their hair + makeup done for photos of you getting into your gown!  I hope this blog post was helpful and if you have any questions about your own wedding day timeline, please feel free to ask!