Today on Wedding Secrets Unveiled!, Keri Sweet-Ziak and Krista Mancini of Pro Radiance Artistry are sharing the stage to pull back the curtain to unveil what your beauty team wishes you knew to prepare for the big day. Keri and Krista share from their years of experience circumstances that could lead to awkward moments or delayed timelines on your big day. Whether you are a bride, bridesmaid, or mother of the bride, check out this episode to avoid these faux pas. Learn how to work with your stylists and what questions to ask them to achieve the look of your dreams!
Meet Keri and Krista.
We have a business in East Greenwich that’s 10 years old now. We offer hair, makeup spray tans, facials, eyelash lifts and tinting. It’s all encompassing beauty here at Pro Radiance Artistry. Krista and I met through a woman I worked with years ago and now she’s our hair stylist. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs as a business and personally, but we do it together.
So, today we wanted to talk about what your beauty experts want you to know! Let’s just jump right in. What’s the first thing on your list?
If you’re getting your hair done on the day of your wedding, do not show up with wet hair – unless you’re specifically signed up to get a blowout. It’s really because of time constraints. If we have to take the time to dry your hair, it really hasn’t been allocated for in the timeline. It will set us backward in the timeline.
What about dirty hair or “fake” hair?
Especially this season, a lot of them were wearing them down or half up, half down. So, a lot of them had clip in extensions or halo extensions. It adds time to your styling. It’s okay if you use them, but please give us a head’s up. If you’re handing them to us and they’re not in good shape, it takes time for us to restyle the extension.
So basically if you’re not walking in with clean, dry hair to have it styled, you need to let your hairstylist know about those things in advance (like the extensions). It’s a lot easier to dirty clean hair then to try and get dirty hair clean.
What about eyelashes? What’s the deal with them?
I think the issues with eyelashes can be that people show up with lashes they’ve already used with glue on them, or they’re squished. So, just throw them in the garbage. It’s not sanitary and it’s not going to look good anyway. Get new ones. People always ask us if they should even use eyelashes. The truth is YES – everyone needs lashes. It just looks way better.
I figured so! I kind of set you up for that, ha. As a photographer, I can tell you: the fake lashes make a difference. What about eyelash extensions?
I love extensions. The aesthetic of them is beautiful and they’re great for your honeymoon. But, for a wedding day – I don’t like them. When you’re doing your eyeshadow, it falls into the extensions and they go from being really black, highlighting your eyes to being gray. You can put mascara on them, but you’re not really supposed to so the color just gets messed up. And if you’re doing any eyebrow tinting, that will mess with the coloring too. If you’re going to sit in that makeup chair on your wedding day, just remove the extensions, but you’d like the eyebrow tinting.
It seems like a lot to remember.
Yeah, I think maybe the takeaway is that when you go for your trial, they just need to ask you these questions.
What about coloring your hair? When should you do that before the wedding?
I guess it depends when they’re getting married. I do recommend that you don’t change your color completely right before the wedding. You may not like it. Around 2 weeks before the wedding, you should get your touchups done. Don’t forget, if you’re doing extensions and coloring your hair, you have to be cognizant that the extensions actually match.
What happens if someone has their hair done the day of the wedding and they don’t like it?
Well, with the bride, chances are that they’re not going to have an issue with the day of the wedding look because they’ve been in for their trial. We try multiple styles during their trial, so we’re all pretty set. The only time they’ll change it the day of the wedding is if they want a few more pieces out in front or it’s more windy that day. Otherwise, it’s usually the bridesmaid who’s unhappy.
It gets tricky because they don’t do trials but they are paying money leading up to the wedding day. They want to look their best, of course! But, it’s important to remember: it’s not your day. You get 30-40 minutes, so show up prepared, bring your Pinterest picture and let’s get it done. If you don’t like it and we have to redo it, we’ll be charging for an additional service. It’s just the way it is. We always welcome people sending pictures in advance to figure out what will work best for them, too.
Time is money – so that makes sense. It brings us to wedding cancellations. Talk to me about that!
Well, I think over the last 2 years with COVID, we’ve had more cancellations than before. Brides are cancelling because of COVID, someone’s health, all sorts of scenarios. But, I don’t think people understand that cancellations mean we don’t get paid. As business owners, we don’t get paid time off or sick days. So, when we’re reserving this time for a wedding, we have cancellation policies – and ours are that they’ll still be charged the same amount.
I’m really happy that you brought this up. I just want to weigh in on that. People need to understand about the wedding industry in general – we’re selling a service for a specific day. I get that when you cancel, the thought is that you’re not using the service anymore. But, the reality is that we have turned down other people for that day and now that you’re not doing your wedding, you’ve stopped my income. We completely sympathize with the change or cancellation, but the reality is that you booked our services and we had to reject other income to accept – so we lose out twice when you cancel – which is why we still have the policies that we do based on when you cancel.
Can you talk to me about tipping? (PS. We have a whole episode about the etiquette of tipping!)
So, people don’t usually tip us.
What?! I’m so surprised by that.
I would say maybe 50% of the time, we get tipped. If that. I’ve always wondered about industry standards for this. When you go see your hair stylist for your personal appointments, a lot of us tip 20%. But, we don’t often get that. So, we’ve actually started to include gratuity as a separate line item in our contract. I felt bad about it at first, but we bust our asses to make sure everyone is taken care of. We’re running a tight ship, make everyone feel good, and keep on time. Not being tipped? It doesn’t feel good. Honestly, when you’re planning – you should just plan to tip all of your vendors, include it in your budget.
And to reiterate, the money we get isn’t just going into our pockets. It’s going to pay our bills, cover our insurance, and all of those things, too.
So how do you feel about when people show you pictures for hair and makeup?
I think Krista and I have different thoughts about this from the hair and makeup perspective. For makeup, I think the look right now is no make up – which I can wholeheartedly appreciate. But, I think that they think there’s no makeup on their face. It’s actually quite the opposite. They have a ton of makeup on to make it look like they don’t. I am happy to make you look natural, but just know that there will be more makeup involved than you think.
What about hair?
I love pictures – I think they’re a great reference and I’m a visual person. But again, the expectations aren’t the same. The pictures show you a model where their hair was perfectly prepped to have the exact right amount. Just remember whatever we do will be a modification of the picture for your wedding look as a bridesmaid. Even the color of their hair will change the look you’re seeing. It’s just important to understand.
It’s the same with makeup – people want a certain look but maybe their eye shape is different. So we modify to fit their face. But, it’s important to let them know as they’re holding up the photo next to their face.
So it seems like it’s really about setting expectations.
I think that the photos are great inspiration, but it’s not the end all be all of the look we’re creating.
Alright, so let’s talk about a little bit about the day of the event. What are some myths about the day of the wedding? Talk to me about that energy.
Sometimes you walk in there, you can hear a pin drop. Then there’s other events that you feel so welcomed. I think it’s so different – and you never quite know what you’re walking into.
Something else to mention is that timeline appointments never work out. I feel like planners work so hard on this, but it almost never works out. Someone’s in the bathroom or ran to Starbucks. Or their hair is wet and dirty. But, seriously – makeup and hair artists need to know their buffer. If a bride’s hair should be done by 1pm, it actually needs to be done by 1230pm. It’s not because we run behind – it’s because the bridal party can mess up the timeline. There’s nothing worse than watching a client sit in the chair first thing in the morning and then have the rest of the day run behind. So, I always find out from the photographer when we need things done and work from there.
What about the space you need on the day of the wedding?
I feel like hair and makeup is a little different. Hair might need a little less space. We need at least 3 feet of space. We walk into these hotel rooms and there’s a tiny nightstand and I wonder how I’m going to do my job. Is it doable? 100% but I get really cranky once there’s 8 girls in there that need their hair done, too. I just want the space to be able to do my job. So, it’s really nice to have brides check in with us beforehand and find out what we need. The other thing to throw out there is that we’re often chasing the same light in the same area. Hair and makeup people often want natural light. Sometimes they’ll bring lights, but a lot of us want natural light. Again, just talk to your hair and makeup team to find out what they need.
Before we get to our wrap-up question, is there anything else you want our listeners to know?
The one last thing I want to say? Definitely feed us! We try to bring our own snacks and water, but we’re often working super hard and we forget. So, just offer if you can. It’s less awkward that way.
Wrap-Up Question
What are some key points that couples should be thinking and asking about when they’re planning for hair and makeup?
If you want a natural look, you’re still going to have to have a decent amount of make up.
When in doubt, tip your vendors!
Make sure you look over the contract – it’s important to know the cancellation policy. Show up when you’re assigned to for your appointments. It matters when you’re supposed to be there for your appointments and trails.
We need space to work on the day of your event – at least three feet of space per artist. Please come with clean hair, too!
Finally, just let us do our thing. Trust us. We’ve been doing this for a while. We’ll make sure that you look your best!
What We Discussed
All about eyelash extensions (11:44)
When should you color your hair before your wedding (15:34)
Cancelling wedding days (20:18)
Tipping your HMUA (26:37)
Setting expectations (36:07)
How to find out what your HMUA needs (48:26)
Wrap-Up Question (49:54)
Links Mentioned in the Episode
You can find Pro Radiance Artistry: Website | Instagram | Facebook
How to Hire the Perfect Hair & Makeup Artist for Your Wedding
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