Bridesmaids Hair & Make Up

I’m having my hair and makeup done but only paying for hair for my bridesmaids. I’m using my regular hairdresser and she’s not charging silly money for styling. I’ve got 10 bridesmaids but only 5 want their hair done. Speak to them to see what their expectations are.

I’m having my hair and make up done and asked my bridesmaids that if they’d like it done would they mind paying and everyone was happy to do this I did say that they didn’t have to if they would rather do it themselves 😊

I’m only paying for my hair and makeup, my mum and sister are having theirs done too but will be paying for it them selves.


Whenever I’ve been bridesmaid I’ve always paid for my own trials and on the day and then only once has the bride paid for me to have mine done on the day (money was no object to them though 🙊)
Obviously if your asking them to have their hair and makeup a particular way (like really fancy hair) and they can’t do it themselves then maybe pay half but I reckon anyone would be happy to help out/ pay their own way

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Ok great thanks! That's good that you have someone you know as the prices are ridiculously expensive! But I definitely will speak to them and see what they want to do

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Ok great! That's good they don't mind paying as that helps with the budget so i'll definitely speak to them!

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I've only been bridesmaid once and it was 9 years ago now! and having hair & Make up professional done wasn't mentioned so ended up doing my own so wasn't sure what the protocol with it was lol

I don't have anything in particular that I want them to have done/look so will speak to them, thanks!

I’ve been a bridesmaid three times and only once had my hair done and paid for. The other times I did my own or paid for it. I can understand it could end up being very expensive particularly if you have quite a few bridesmaids.

I’m paying for my bridesmaid hair and they are either doing their own make up or are paying themselves for their make up. Im maid of honour for my best friend this month and am paying for my own make up and she is paying for my hair

I also had the same shock when looking at hair and makeup costs! Definitely look around though, in the end I spoke with a friends sister who is a makeup artist and her prices are much lower than what I had seen online! So going for a more local MUA/hairdresser may end up cheaper than someone who specialises in weddings.

I'm thinking i'm probably going to give me bridesmaids the choice of either having their hair or makeup done which i'll pay for, then if they want to pay for the other they can do (although i'll probably pay for both for my maid of honour as I know she'll be helping me out a lot on the lead up to the wedding and the day itself!)

X

I am MoH in my best friend's wedding next month and she is paying for my hair and makeup. However, I bought my dress which was the bigger expense. I am asking my bridesmaids and my MoH to do exactly the same. I don't know if this is an American attitude, but it's what I've understood to be the norm amongst my friends. I agree it's expensive and hopefully by using the same hairstylist in two weddings as a referral from my friend I can keep costs down.

You could mention you can’t afford to pay for both hair and make up and ask if they want to contribute? You could pay for hair and they pay for make up? X

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Yea it is very expensive, i didn't think of that when I asked my bridesmaid lol but I think I will see if they mind paying or doing it themselves

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Thats a good idea! I might look into just paying for their make up and they can decide if they want to do their hair themselves or pay someone to do it

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Yea it definitely helps with the budget if you have connections to people who can help lower the cost! Anything that has wedding in the name the prices just jump up drastically! I will look around and see if I can find someone local and hopefully they are cheaper.

Yeah I'm going to talk to my bridesmaids and see what they think about paying a bit towards it or happy to do it themselves

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Yeah I think there is a difference between American and English weddings as the bride tends to pay for the bridesmaid dresses here. Thats why I want to keep the costs down with hair and make up as paying for the dresses and shoes. Either way it is all very expensive lol

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It's not that I can't afford to do it, its more I do want to keep the costs down as much as possible as it was going to cost over £1,000 for hair & make up which i thought was a bit OTT.

But I'm going to talk them and see how they feel about contributing or doing it themselves

View quoted message I figured as much, apologies I am actually in the UK but am both British and American so my experience with weddings is 50/50. Honestly I think your generosity with buying dresses is significant enough to warrant you asking your friends to pay for the extras. I would never expect hair and makeup even after paying for a dress so I consider me sorting that for my party a bare minimum especially if I want everyone with a similar look. The way I see these things is if your wedding party is a group of your close friends/family they should understand a request that’s quite reasonable given all your other expenses

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That is all very true, thank you! I just wasn't sure if it was cheeky or not to ask my bridesmaids if they mind paying for their hair and make up but im glad to see that it isn't and is quite common so im glad I asked on here!

View quoted message Wow! That’s so expensive! Hope you get sorted x

I have had the exact same situation. I decided that I would pay for my own hair and makeup and tell my bridesmaids (I have 6) that if they want to have it done they will have to pay for it and just explain that I really can’t afford it. I have planned a quite simple hair idea that we will be able to do if they decide against it which I would probably do if it was me!
With makeup we talked about all just using the same eyeshadow or something like that

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Yeah I have 5 but I have spoken to them and they are all happy to pay for make up and do their own hair as I don't have a certain way I want their hair to look. Glad I spoke to them as I felt much better knowing they were happy with paying for themselves

I have 6 bridesmaids! And I’m the same didn’t take into account the cost for hair and makeup! I was thinking of asking for them to chip in towards both if they want it done professionally x