Make Up and Hair Timings

I was in a similar situation, me and 6 bridesmaids, wedding at 3. The first lady I spoke to said for her to do us all by herself she would arrive at 6am which did not suit me at all!!!. The second lady said with 2 of them doing it, she would arrive at 9am. I think it is usual for 1 hour per person... so if she is on her own, I would want her there no later than 7am to be done for 1pm. All you have to think is that she won't be allowing much time for people... which will affect the quality of her work, but also if anything at all goes wrong there's no extra time to be on the safe side. I think you have to fit in breakfast with the bridesmaids while people are being done, personally... I think it's the only way to do it. Hope this helps x

Thanks, I'm considering whether to basically tell her that she's not doing hair and force the situation where I will then have 2 people sorting us all out.

I have mentioned having someone to help her but it's been met with some resistance x

I've researched and contacted a lot of MUA and hair teams, and most of them have said that bridesmaid hair & make up will generally take around 45 mins per person, then the bride will take about 90 minutes. So with 5 bridesmaids plus yourself you would be looking at around 5-5.5 hours, but I personally always think it's good to have a bit of a buffer so say 6 hours. If you really want everyone ready by 1pm then it will have to be an early start for you at 7am as suggested by your friend... or if I was in your position I would put my foot down and insist on having an extra artist there to share the workload. You could then very comfortably start at 9:30 / 10am and have a nice relaxing morning beforehand.

Professional artists should send a very detailed schedule using their experience and knowledge on exactly how long everything takes - maybe you could ask your friend to do this for you so that you can see exactly how she plans on structuring the morning? Then if you don't feel comfortable with the timings, be firm and say that you'd prefer 2 artists instead of 1.

Just remember that it's your wedding, not your friend's - it's not up to her how you do things, it's up to you! You deserve to be totally relaxed on the morning of your big day and it should be an enjoyable time. Do what's right for you.

Hope this helps!

Georgie