We love being a resource to brides planning their wedding. Whether or not you choose to use TréCreative for your wedding photos and video, we believe every bride deserves the very best wedding experience! In the past we've talked about creating your perfect wedding timeline and five things bride should know before they get married, but today we wanted to talk about the importance of scheduling hair and makeup out for a smooth and successful morning on the day of the wedding. We've worked with several amazing wedding coordinators who have implemented this tip in the past, and totally see the benefit of how it keeps your wedding timeline on track for the rest of the day.

Now any wedding photographer or videographer will tell you, wedding days very rarely run completely on schedule. Although, having everything run perfectly on time will make your photographers extra happy, there is no reason to have your timeline cause you to feel extra pressure or add unneeded stress to your day. With a little pre-planning you can avoid running behind, and even if you do, there's no worries if you follow this tip below!

Our number one tip to help you plan for hair and makeup is plan out specifically when each bridesmaid is getting her hair and makeup done and when! This last weekend I was in a wedding (as a bridesmaid) and we didn't run too far behind because we had a plan. Make sure to talk to each bridesmaid and ask whether they want their hair and makeup done ahead of time. It's not very helpful if someone shows up and all of a sudden decides they want to be pampered. This surprisingly happens all the time! There's nothing wrong with squeezing last minute additions in, but it will throw things behind. If you can have a detailed timeline planned out beforehand, you can make sure there's a slot for them and everything will run just perfectly!

Talk to your makeup and hair artist. Each professional might need different amounts of time depending on how fast they are. Ask whoever your working with how much time they need and schedule out each girl accordingly.

Below is the timeline that was used at last week's wedding for hair and makeup. Since Tyler&Maddie opted to not do a first look all the girls needed to be ready to go straight into bridesmaids photos after Maddie put on her dress. Each girl knew ahead of time when they were getting their hair and makeup done so they could plan ahead and be ready when it was their time. This made things run really smooth! After each girl was done with hair or makeup, we knew exactly who was next in line. This took the guessing totally out and kept everyone on track. Oftentimes, the bride knows when she's getting her hair and makeup done, but the bridesmaids are left being squeezed in whenever possible which will most likely put things behind. Having a game plan ahead of time helps the hair and makeup artists serve you best by not having to rush through things! Plus, this will get you more time later with your photographer and videographer ;)

Sample Schedule:

Okay, so here's the schedule we helped plan out for Maddie's wedding last weekend. Every wedding is unique so definitely check with your own Hair&Makeup artists to see how long they need. This seriously felt like a math test when we put this together! Here's what we knew: Hair was going to take 45min per bridesmaid, and 1 hour for the bride. Makeup would take 1 hour for each bridesmaid and 1.5hrs for the bride. With one hair stylist and two makeup artists, what is the best way to get them all done by 12:50pm? (Does your brain hurt? Because ours did while thinking this through!)

Hair Schedule:

8:00am: Bridesmaid 1

8:45am: Bridesmaid 2

9:30am: Bridesmaid 3

10:15am: Bridesmaid 4

11:00am: Bride

12:00pm: Bridesmaid 5

Makeup Schedule:

8:15am: Bridesmaid 4&5 Makeup

9:15am: Maddie & Bridesmaid 1 Makeup

10:45am: Bridesmaid 2&3 Makeup

We hope this helps you in planning your own wedding! It seems like a lot but planning out some of the small details like this can go a long way! If you need help, let us know or ask us for our recommendations for wedding coordinators that can help you out!