Plan Your Central Florida Wedding

Understanding the Process of Hiring a Hair and Makeup Artist

April 08, 2020 Orange Blossom Bride Season 2 Episode 20
Plan Your Central Florida Wedding
Understanding the Process of Hiring a Hair and Makeup Artist
Show Notes Transcript

From the dress to your accessories, you’ve probably envisioned your wedding day look.  However, it’s your hair and makeup that will really pull the whole look together. Even if you have gotten your hair and makeup professionally done in the past, let say for prom or another special event or maybe you were a bridesmaid in the past, getting these services done as a bride is a little bit different.

In this episode, we are going to be talking to Mandi of Beauty Brigade about the process of hiring a hair and makeup artist for your wedding day.

Mandi Neuhardt:   0:00
I like to find their natural beauty and simply enhance it. That's one of my major things that I like to tell brides. I'm like, I'm just creating a better version of you. I don't want to completely change how you look.

Amanda Schmidt:   0:22
Welcome to the plan. Your Central Florida Wedding podcasts. I'm your host. Manish Mint, editor of Greater Orlando's top wedding publication, Orange Blossom Bride. I'm sure when you said yes, you had no idea you were jumping on this roller coaster. That is what I'm planning. The goal of this podcast is to make the wedding planning process less stressful and more fun. We'll provide you with great tips and ideas, along with expert advice from some of the areas. Top wedding pros. So let's get started planning your Central Florida wedding From the dress to your accessories, you've probably envisioned your wedding day look. However, it's really your hair and makeup that will pull it all together. Even if you have gotten your hair makeup professionally done in the past, let's say for prom or another special event. Or maybe you're bridesmaid for a friend in the past, getting these service is done as a bride is a little bit different. In this episode, we're gonna be talking to Mandy of Beauty Brigade, about the process of hiring a hair and makeup artist for your wedding day. Beauty Brigade is a team of license beauty professionals providing hairstyling and makeup applications for special events in the Orlando in central Florida areas. It's owned by our guest today, Mandy Newhart, who has been in the wedding industry for over nine years. Her mission is to help find that natural beauty of all of her clients and simply enhance it. So welcome, Mandy.

Mandi Neuhardt:   1:48
Hi. Thank you so much for having me

Amanda Schmidt:   1:52
very excited to have you. Because we get to talk about beauty today.

Mandi Neuhardt:   1:55
Yeah, one of my favorite things, of course.

Amanda Schmidt:   1:59
So the whole process, like I said, you know, people may have. Our brides may have gotten their hair and makeup done for a special event in the past, but it is different for a bride when it's their wedding day. Correct?

Mandi Neuhardt:   2:11
Yes, it is so much different. Um, there's a lot more details. I feel that go into a wedding look and, ah, lot of behind the scenes that people don't fully know that's going on before the big day comes. So yeah, it's a whole different process than just going and having it done at, say, the mall for at Mac cosmetics or something like that.

Amanda Schmidt:   2:36
Absolutely. So let's start with the whole inquiry process because they know they want to hair and makeup done. So how do they get started with that?

Mandi Neuhardt:   2:45
So most of my clients reach out through, you know, several different platforms. Um, all the wedding websites, not wedding wire. Orange Blossom Bride. They find thinking it through those platforms, and they'll usually reach out via email or phone call. So I really tried to get back to my client's Let's say they email me sometime in the afternoon if I'm not in the middle of doing a wedding. I try to get back to my clients with in 24 hours. But really, I tried to email them back within 30 minutes to an hour of their initial email. I feel like that prompt to reply really grabs a lot of attention to some of the clients they like. Like that I'm showing initiative and responding quickly. Um, my first initial response. I'll go over any specific questions they asked me in their initial email, And I also include a list of service is with their prices and a little frequently asked questions. Um, information packet. It goes from over basic questions, like Does it cost to travel to me? Um, what is a trial? Because some people don't even know what a trial run is. Um, does it cost extra for other artists to be present? Like if they have a really large wedding party? And we need four artists as a cost extra for that, it just goes over basic questions that most brides are gonna ask eventually. So I feel like it's better just to send them that list. So they have those basic questions answered initially, and then they can ask me more specific questions as the time goes on.

Amanda Schmidt:   4:38
Now, with that, you have mentioned trials, and I would think, Yes, a lot of people have no idea why they need a trial or anything like that. So talk about first of all, the importance of a trial as a bride and that whole process of getting your trial makeup done for your wedding day.

Mandi Neuhardt:   4:54
Sure. So a trial is the practice run hair and makeup. So a bride usually comes to me, and usually they have photos that they like. So we'll do. A mini-consultation will schedule a time and a date. Um, I usually suggest at least 3 to 4 months before the wedding date, But some brides, um, they'll have theirs done a year in advanced. It's just it's kind of up to the bride. But I do suggest at least 3 to 4 months before the wedding date. Um, So what

Amanda Schmidt:   5:31
now is that in case they change their mind?

Mandi Neuhardt:   5:34
Yeah, in case they change their mind on some of the look options that we did for them during the trial or just to have enough time also to configure timeline and adding service is taking away service is there's so many more emails that go after the trial, specifically back and forth between the artist and the client. Um, after the trial, up to the wedding date. So during the trial, we scheduled a specific day in time, and we meet usually for trials. Brides like Thio travel to me, so they usually travel to my studio. I have here, um and we'll go over the pictures. They have. I like to ask them specific questions. Um, what does the dress look like? Because you need to determine if it's a gorgeous back of a dress, you'll want to see that. So you probably want to have their hair up or to the side out of the way. So you're definitely gonna see the back of that dress? Um, is there a theme for the wedding? You know, some weddings have a very specific theme. So you want the hair and makeup to go along with that theme? What is the color palette of the wedding? You want to make sure the makeup just looks well with the colors that they're choosing. You don't wanna have it clashing in any way. Um, and then we'll go through certain photos. Most brides, you know, Pinterest is all the rage. They have holder photos available, and we just kind of pick apart the looks like, Do you like the shimmery eye versus a mat? I and, like, go through the photos and what I'm seeing and I'll explain to them This is what I'm seeing in this photo. Are you seeing this? Do you like this? Do you want to tweak this? So then will go through the process. Will style the Harrell asked them, You know, do you want to leave some down? Do you wanna Do you want to keep your natural part, those air Really important questions to ask, Um, most brides if you change their part up, it really throws them off.

Amanda Schmidt:   7:44
yeah, because they're used to seeing themselves that way.

Mandi Neuhardt:   7:47
Exactly exactly, which is my biggest. Um, like you said, I like to find their natural beauty and simply enhance it. That's one of the major things that I like to tell brides. I'm like, I'm just creating a better version of you. I don't want to completely change how you look when you walk down the aisle, and your fiance, soon to be husband, is like, Who's that? You know. So we'll go through all the questions, and then we'll move throughout the trial. I'll show them what I'm doing. Do like as I'm going through the process of their hair and their makeup. You like it this way? Do you want to change it this way? And then at the end of the trial, we have some time Thio go over the entire. Look, I'll ask them, Do you like everything? Do you want to change the lip color? Do you wanna tweak the hair so they'll give me some feedback there? Um, we only create one hairstyle look and one makeup look with room for improvements at the trial. It's not like we're doing six different up do's and six different makeup applications for like or five hours. It's a usually our process, Um, and then at the end of the trial, I usually just tell them that I'll follow up in a day or so just to ask them how the makeup and hair wore throughout the day. Did your curls drop? Do we need to make them tighter on the day up? Things like that, they'll get back to me. Sometimes everything is perfect. They don't want to change a thing. Sometimes they wanna Oh, let's just darken the eyes slightly. The curls did drop a little more than I thought they would. So on the day of yet, let's Carl him a little tighter. So and then we just kind of go from there after that. So that is the whole trial. US is from beginning to end that's

Amanda Schmidt:   9:45
interesting what you say, because I never thought of it that you like, recommend they wear the look the whole day so they can really get a vision of it. That's crazy, but I never thought of it like that

Mandi Neuhardt:   9:58
Yeah, it is definitely recommended. They were through the whole day because when you're getting your hair done on wedding day, you're wearing that hair and makeup for probably usually about 10 hours. So you definitely wanna wear it throughout the day to the heat, through the rain, through everything to make sure that makeup is staying and lasting. And if it's not, then we need to find a different product or something else that works better for their skin for the day off.

Amanda Schmidt:   10:27
So with us, once the trial is done, that's kind of also their trial run for whatever hair makeup artists they're considering. Correct?

Mandi Neuhardt:   10:36
Yes, correct. So whoever is performing that trial, they will be present on the day of, um so, usually, how it goes, Um, whoever performs the trial, it will be the only one that performs hair and makeup on the bride. Usually, when wedding parties have at least three or four more people receiving service is such a cz. Brides Maids, mother of the groom, mother of the bride, um, will bring about two artists for something like that. So the one artist that perform the trialled on the bride will do on Lee the bride's hair and makeup and then do everyone else's pair. And then there'll be another artist doing everyone else's makeup. So we just kind of streamlines. You're not going back and forth between Hampton holed up for everybody because that gets a little crazy and confusing because our kits are monstrous. It's have products thrown everywhere, so just easier for one artist to stick to one thing and another one to stick to another.

Amanda Schmidt:   11:41
So let's say they love their hair and you know, their hair makeup trial. Which, of course, if you go with Mandy, you will. And then so what do they do if they want to officially start the booking service or the booking process? I should say

Mandi Neuhardt:   11:55
Sure, yeah, so after the trial on, we do the follow up email and they want to go ahead and book. What they'll do is fill out a contract, um, fill out and sign a contract, which has typical information the date of the event, the location, contact, phone number, information, things of that nature. I also just added a vendor page to my contract just because I really want to give credit to those other vendors as well. When I'm utilizing their, um, photos for social media, I wanna have all the vendors tagged in the photos that I'm sharing. Um, And then they will pay a nonrefundable deposit and the contract in the deposit itself will hold their date with the artists they had the trial with. Um, from there we will, you know, email back and forth, trying to nail down a timeline usually go based off of the photographer when they need to have the bride done by a certain time because sometimes they're doing the first look. Um, and I'll work backwards from there, so each service takes about 30 to 40 minutes, so I schedule about 40 minutes. So we have, you know if it's only a 30 minute process, but we still have a lag time, so we can Some looks take 45 minutes, so it just kind of like an average timeframe for everyone. But some take longer and some take a little bit shorter time. So, um so, yeah, once we have the timeline adjusted brides have with me up until two weeks to adjust that, finalize that timeline, tweak anything, and then it's locked in two weeks before the wedding day. Um, And then comes the wedding day, So yeah, and on the day of we arrived about 15 minutes early. Um, and then we'll start, start doing all the hair and makeup, and then we we go through all the hair and makeup that were scheduled or the day off. Um, if anybody else, usually this happens, they'll see. They said, Oh, no, I don't want makeup. One of the brides made sure she wants to do her own, but then she sees what the process is and everybody like, you know, really good. And so they'll add something at the last minute. Look. Oh, well, can I had makeup now. And so how that works is we have to do all the scheduled service is because some of these people have had their hair scheduled for months, and so we have to perform all the scheduled service is first and if there's time at the very end, we will go ahead and add on those extra services is and then, um, payment is always made on the day of some brides do like to pay in advance just to get it done and over with. So they don't have to worry about that on the day of. But they do just go ahead and pay the remaining balance on their date of service. And then that is it for the wedding day.

Amanda Schmidt:   15:08
Now, with the whole wedding day process, you talked about the timeline being needed two weeks ahead of time. Like I know you know this and just to emphasize that much more about how important sticking to that timeline is for the rest of the wedding day, as far as making sure everybody who's getting those service is our present and ready to go correct?

Mandi Neuhardt:   15:30
Oh, yes, that's so you can't imagine how many weddings. Um, I try to tell brides to really, I'm like, just send me a list of names and send me their service is because this timeline is very important. It doesn't always go exactly according to plan, but it's much better to have an outline of a plan so that everyone knows where to be, when to be there. Because sometimes you have bridesmaids or weddings that are being set up by the wedding party. So there another area setting up flowers and setting up tables. And when they're not where they need to be, it becomes a little chaotic. At the very end, makeup brushes are flying and things that things can get, Um, definitely off-track if there is not a set timeline and then is not adhere D'oh!

Amanda Schmidt:   16:26
Yes, very, very important. And I know all the vendors for the rest of the day would appreciate that, too, because you guys are all working as a team and you want that, too, to run officially for your couples so very, very important. So let's say everything's done. It all goes off without a hitch. Everybody follow their timeline. So now what would you suggest they do after the wedding? Is there anything left to d'oh?

Mandi Neuhardt:   16:50
So after the wedding on the day of the wedding, I actually do provide my brides with a little, um thank you gift for choosing beauty brigade. And in that gift also comes some review cards and social media card so that once they're getting these amazing photos from all the amazing photographers here in Orlando Oh, my gosh. So many awesome colors. They can share those on social media, tag us in them, and then also supply reviews of our work because of reviews air like the number one thing that gets us more clients. Um, that's how people are finding us. They're reading our reviews. They're making sure word performing quality work. Um, we're on time. We're professional, so I can't, like, stress it enough how important those reviews are. So I really also even just giving them those cards. I do try to follow up. I usually wait about 2 to 3 weeks after the wedding date. Only because I don't wanna They just got married. Some of them are going off on their honeymoons. 4th 10 to 14 days and they're trying to come back and get back into real life. Some of them are just going straight back to work. Some of them are flying all over the country because they're not from Florida. So I try to give them a little bit of time between the wedding day justa get everything organized again so that they are sure to see the e mail and respond. Um, I just follow up and ask them how was everything? How was your artist did that? Were they on time? Did they perform? The service is to the best of your bill or availability. And, um, like, were you satisfied with everything? And I try to get them to place those reviews in public places where other people will see them.

Amanda Schmidt:   18:43
Now, how did they get in touch with you? If you've sold him now

Mandi Neuhardt:   18:46
so they can email me at my email address Info at beauty brigade l l c dot com They can find me on social media. I'm on Facebook dot com slash beauty brigade dot b b an Instagram is beauty dot brigade dot BB. So any of those ways they can also call. Um, my phone number is on all those platforms, so they just have to like that call link, and they can call me as well. So yeah,

Amanda Schmidt:   19:21
many, many ways to get in touch with you. And thank you so much for taking time out in talking a little bit with us about this topic because it's really fun. It's a fun topic to talk about.

Mandi Neuhardt:   19:32
Many people don't even know how the process works. So I'm glad I could enlighten people in, like, just share the whole wedding day and all the things that come before it process

Amanda Schmidt:   19:47
with them exactly. And you know, it's something just a little side note here before we go about brides really getting to enjoy being pampered. This is one of those opportunities to just thoroughly enjoy it.

Mandi Neuhardt:   20:02
Yes, exactly that is. I can't stress that enough, I just like to let them know it's so much better. I mean, I am a professional hair and makeup artist, and I can tell you when the day comes, it's time for me to get married. I will not be doing my own hair and makeup.

Amanda Schmidt:   20:16
No, you will not. I will not let you do that.

Mandi Neuhardt:   20:20
it's about having like a day where you don't have to worry about what's going on, and you just get to sit back and have your hair done and make sure all your other bridesmaids, your mom, your mother in law everyone's taking care of and all the other vendors are doing their thing. So by the time you're done getting beautified, it's ready to go out and enjoy your special day and the party and everything that is to come. That's what it's all about the whole experience of a wedding.

Amanda Schmidt:   20:47
Well, thank you so much for spending time with us.

Mandi Neuhardt:   20:52
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. 

Amanda Schmidt:   21:00
Thank you for listening at this episode of the Plan Your Central Florida wedding podcast. For more Orlando wedding inspiration and tips, head on over to orangeblossombride.com. And if you're looking for amazing wedding pros to help bring your wedding day together, make sure to check out our wedding vendor directory until next time, I'm happy planning!