Your wedding day is all about you, as it should be! Often, though Bride's get the attitude of 'they can't start the day without me.' This is the wrong mindset. Yes, the ceremony can't start without the Bride and Groom physically there but being late really does put a damper on things.
**This wedding party started on time and we finished with extra time. Everything ran smoothly which led to a nice relaxing and fun morning for these beauties.**
Ok so 5 minutes isn't going to make or break anything but 20 minutes plus can cause chaos for all the vendors involved, not to mention your own Bridal party. Here at Shimmer For You we ask key questions to determine the best start time for the day. Trust us we are the pros. We build in time for touch-ups and unexpected issues. Don't forget you need time to get dressed. You aren't dressing in your normal clothes that take you 5 minutes to put on. You are often putting on shape wear, zipping, and buttoning that take longer than typical clothing. Every once in a while a zipper breaks or a button falls off. Don't you want the time to have a quick fix? Instead of walking down the aisle with a broken zipper.
Sometimes people challenge us with time. I've had Brides tell us my ceremony is at 4pm so you can work until 3:30pm. That is a terrible plan. You need to take into account how far your venue is from where you are getting ready and factor in possible traffic. If you are getting ready at your venue that is ideal but working up until the last minute to do your beauty services is stressful. You need to remember that you and your bridal party need adequate time to get dressed. Clean up and put their bags together etc.
Most Bride's have a photographer come before hand to take getting ready photos and pictures of your accessories etc. We plan to finish at the photographer's arrival for several reasons. One you don't want to see all of our makeup and hair mess in the background of your pictures. When the photographer comes it is show time. The photographer will begin asking where items are. If I'm in the middle of working on your hair then you stop me to go find your accessories for the photographer. This can put us behind causing stress for all.
But I want pictures of me getting my hair and makeup done so I want you to still be working on us when the photographer comes. Here is a little secret.. these photos are often mock ups. We have your hair and makeup completed and when the photographer comes we do a few quick shots pretending to apply your lipstick and such.
Still don't believe me on how important timing is? Let me give you an example.
Your hair and makeup team arrives to your venue to start at 8am. You arrive at 8:15am but you have to bring all of your items in from the car which takes another 10 minutes and then you stop to talk to the Bridal coordinator and before you know it it's 8:30am. As stylists we are freaking out in our heads because we know we won't be on time and will feel rushed but on the outside we are smiling and kind because it is your big day. Not to mention we may have plans scheduled after your wedding. Now the Bridesmaid's start coming in and we quickly say ok we are ready for someone but no one wants to go or we get oh I need to put my contacts in or get something out of my car. Before you know it we are now starting 45 minutes behind schedule.
Now when the photographer arrives and realizes hair and makeup is behind schedule we feel their frustration. Photographers are often stuck cutting out photos because they lost the time to do them or photographers begin taking photos but you have one or two bridesmaids getting photographed with no hair or makeup done. Now the Bridesmaid's aren't going to say no because it's your day but I'm sure they aren't thrilled that their services are not completed for some of the photos.
Now you are behind getting dressed and your wedding coordinator is ready to get you to the location of the ceremony but everyone is scrambling to get dressed quickly. Someone can't find their shoes. A zipper breaks but there is no time to fix it. Everyone is stressed at this point. If you are not getting ready at the venue you often have a limo driver anxiously pacing out front praying there's no traffic when he finally gets everyone
in the car.
All of this just creates chaos. It becomes stressful for all of the vendors and the bridal party. We have seen it happen too often. I can not tell you enough on how important it is to be on time and to be organized the day of your wedding. I often recommend having someone else take care of the details of getting ready and taking all of your calls the morning of your wedding. You want to enjoy your day!