Wedding hair tips: Slay your wedding hair trial with these 10 tips

Slay your wedding hair trial with these 10 tips

When planning a wedding there aren’t a lot of things you can test run before the big day. Your hairstyle however, is definitely something you can experiment with before walking down the aisle.

Every bride’s beauty look – from hair to makeup – is unique, and it’s worth carving out the time to meet with your stylist beforehand to ensure everything is the way you envision before your big day. Most hairstylists offer wedding hair trials as part of their wedding hair packages, but if not, you can easily request one (or two).

In order to get the most out of your wedding hair trial, here are 10 tips to help you say ‘I do’ to your best look.

Angelika @angelika_fa is wearing Seamless Blonde Balayage Luxy Hair extensions. Photographed by Ulf Thausing @ulfthausing_weddings

Give yourself enough time

Book your stylist six months in advance of your wedding, especially if you’re getting married during peak season which typically runs from May to September. Schedule your wedding hair trial for at least three months ahead of your big day, this will allow you some wiggle room should you feel the need for a second trial. Avoid booking your trial too far away from your wedding, with a longer time gap trends may change and your style choice might too. Trial appointments usually run for 1-2 hours and it’s important to note how long it takes your stylist to complete your look. This will give you an idea of how long you should schedule for the day of the wedding, especially if your stylist (or stylists) will also be doing the hair for your bridesmaids and wedding party.

Discuss all the W’s

Will you go to the salon on the day of your wedding or will the hair stylist come to you? During your trial, make sure you cover all the who’s and where’s. Most stylists will offer you a schedule or timetable, especially if they’re also working with your bridal party. Discuss with your stylists if they’ll have other experts with them and how long it will take them to get your bridesmaids or other VIPs (like mom and your mother-in-law) ready. Ensure to coordinate hair time with makeup time if you have separate makeup artists. Planning the logistics of your hair stylists and makeup artists during the trial will save from headaches on the day of the wedding and will help you organize time, locations, dresses and accessories for yourself, your bridal party and your photographers and videographers.

Pia @piamuehlenbeck is wearing a mixture of Seamless Chestnut Brown and Seamless Dirty Blonde Luxy Hair extensions. Photographed by Jarrad Send @jarradseng

Wash and dry your hair the night before

To make the most out of the trial time, wash and dry your hair the night before or morning of, sans products. This will allow the stylist to dive right into experimenting your look without having to shampoo or blow-dry also. Wear your hair naturally to the appointment so your stylist can familiarize themselves with your natural length and texture and can plan accordingly for products or tools they may need. Leading up to your wedding, avoid any new haircuts or big coloring jobs, experts say getting a trim to get rid of dead or split ends will help keep the hair healthy before your big day, but any major changes should be avoided. Many brides will avoid cuts or trims to help their hair grow faster, however regular trims (every three months) can actually help to prevent breakage making hair look fuller and longer. Quick rule of thumb: A trim should be between half an inch to an inch, and no shorter.

Bring ample hair inspo

All that time on Pinterest and Instagram will certainly pay off. Gather photos of your favourite hairstyles – but not just from one angle. Ensure you have different views of different styles to give your hairstylist a full idea of what you’re looking for. With the right images, the stylist can have an open conversation with you on what will work or what won’t.

Pia @piamuehlenbeck is wearing a mixture of Seamless Chestnut Brown and Seamless Dirty Blonde Luxy Hair extensions. Photographed by Jarrad Send @jarradseng

Be open

Borrowing from wedding dress shopping advice, bringing photos of your fave examples is a must, but so is bringing an open mind. While you want to be true to your style, don’t limit yourself to just one type of look and be willing to step outside of your usual box – what’s a trial for anyway?

Don’t shy away from styles you think you can’t pull enough, especially if length or volume of your natural hair is holding you back. Hair extensions can be a bride’s best friend and hair stylists usually will recommend them should your chosen style require it. Luxy Hair Extensions can be easily incorporated into your look to help enhance the style and easily add length or volume. Whether you’re looking for a classic and elegant updo, a chunky Bohemian braid, or fuller, longer waves, hair extensions are made to help every bride achieve the hair look of their dreams. Talk with your stylist about whether they can supply hair extensions or if you need to source them yourself.  Luxy has a variety of styles, colors and lengths to choose from and if you need more visuals, check out some of our before and after looks.

Details, details, details

In wedding planning, there may be too many details to keep track of, but for your wedding hair trial you’ll only need a few. Keep in mind the color of your dress and the neckline; what style would compliment these two elements best and does it work with your vision? This is something to discuss with your stylist and will help you marry your overall wedding look. Better yet, if you have a t-shirt or top of the same color as your dress, wear it to the trial. Bring your veil, headpiece or any other accessory to your appointment if you have it already, this will allow your stylist to play with the accessories and know exactly what to do with them on the day of. If you don’t yet have them, bring a photo or examples of what you would like to wear to help your stylist prep. Also, keep in mind how you’ll be putting on your dress, most brides opt for robes or button-down shirts to preserve hair and makeup, wearing something accessible and comfortable to your trial will also help.

Pia @piamuehlenbeck is wearing a mixture of Seamless Chestnut Brown and Seamless Dirty Blonde Luxy Hair extensions. Photographed by Jarrad Send @jarradseng

Wear makeup

Give yourself the full experience. If you can schedule your makeup and hair trial the same day, you’ll be able to really see and feel your wedding look come to life. This will also allow you to make any necessary tweaks or changes to ensure hair and makeup compliment each other. If both trials can’t be harmonized, no big deal. Give yourself some time before your hair trial appointment to give yourself a little beauty glam, this will help make your hairstyle pop and also give you ideas for your makeup look too.

Document the appointment

While the stylist doing your hair trial will likely be the same stylist at your wedding it’s important to document the steps taken to create the final look. Take note of any products like serums or hair extensions as well. For destination wedding brides who may have a different stylist on site, this will especially help to recreate the look. Take photos of your hair from all angles so you get a full picture of what your hair will look like. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or try different techniques, the trial is the time to get your concerns and inquiries out of the way.

Victoria @tori_golightly is wearing 220g Dark Brown Luxy Hair extensions. Photographed by Dana Richards @dana_ann_photography

Don’t bring your entire bridal party

While it’s always fun to have a day at the salon with your girls, it might be best to have just one or two of your trusted maids (or mom, of course) come to the hair trial appointment. Just like wedding dress shopping, the last thing you need is multiple opinions being thrown out there in a limited amount of time. Bring someone you trust and who knows your style, this will help make the experience far more pleasant and will help give you insight on your options.

Take your ‘do out

You can still have your bridal party be part of your trial, even if you don’t invite them to the actual appointment. Plan a day or night out with your girls, go for dinner and dancing or even shopping. Test your hair and how it will last throughout the day, this will give you a rough idea of what it will do during your wedding day. If you have naturally frizzy hair, take note of how your hair holds a few hours after your appointment. Or, if you have straight hair that doesn’t usually hold curls, make note of this too. Testing your hair and informing your stylist will help ensure steps are taken to make your hairstyle last from your vows to cake-cutting.

19 mistakes brides make and how to avoid them

A girl’s wedding day is arguably one of the most amazing, yet stressful, days of her life. There are months of organizing and primping involved leading up to the big day, but with that, also comes quite a bit of pressure for everything to go off without a hitch. Aside from the event-planning, a bride-to-be must also strategically select her dream look for the day complete with wedding gown, hair, and makeup. Often this can be a very difficult decision, and unfortunately, some brides fall victim to a few common mistakes that they end up regretting. When it comes to bridal hair, there are a few key tips and tricks we’ve rounded up to avoid post-wedding day regret. Follow along as we share 19 common mistakes brides make with their hair on their wedding day and how to avoid them.

Candace Gulitus @candacegulitus is wearing the Seamless Blonde Balayage set. Photographed by Kate Panza Photography

1. Going all natural

While it’s often a good idea to go natural in your day-to-day life to avoid unnecessary damage, a girl’s wedding day is the one day we’d recommend the opposite! Bridal hair is all about the wow factor and adding that extra bit of glamour to your hair look. To achieve this, we suggest using Luxy Hair extensions. Despite how long or thick your hair already is, even just using one or two wefts can help a hairstyle stay put or create a solid base for the hairstylist to pin into. There’s no better time than your wedding day to invest in extensions to create added thickness to updos or to leave your hair down and get a full glamour look.

Sarah Hackett (formerly Greuter) @sarahngreuter is wearing the Seamless Blonde Balayage set. Photographed by Camille Catherine Photography.

2. Getting a last minute dye job

Many brides might think that getting their hair dyed right before the wedding is a good idea for perfect bridal hair, but in reality, this might not be the case. Sometimes getting a dye job last minute or too close to the wedding can actually be a disaster waiting to happen. We suggest getting your hair dyed at least a week or two before the wedding to make sure the dye job still looks fresh but leaves buffer room in case anything goes wrong. Another option if you want to change things up for the wedding is to opt for a set of ombre or balayage hair extensions. This adds color without the fear of commitment or potential of damage.

3. Asking for too many opinions

While it’s great to get the opinions of loved ones for your bridal hairstyle, it can also be overwhelming to have too many voices in your ear giving their differing opinions. Instead, consider asking the opinion of 3-4 trusted loved ones. This way, you’ll still be open-minded and have an outsider opinion without feeling overwhelmed.

4. Washing your hair the day of

While it might seem standard to wash your hair prior to the big day, this isn’t actually the case! A common mistake brides fall victim to is washing their hair the day of their wedding and having it be too fresh and silky to hold a style. It’s typically recommended by stylists to wash your hair the night before rather than the day of the wedding for maximum hold.

5. Rushing the hairstylist

A good rule of thumb to go by is to always give yourself more time than less, especially when it comes to your wedding day. This rule comes into play when it comes to your hair appointment as well. Instead of feeling rushed and putting your hairstylist under pressure, just be sure to schedule more than enough time for your appointment, including buffer room for any unforeseen mishaps along the way.

6. Getting a last minute cut

Similar to the problem of washing your hair the day of, cutting your hair too close to the wedding could also potentially be a problem. Sometimes when the ends of your hair are freshly cut, the style doesn’t hold in place as well. There’s also the potential for a stylist to get scissor happy, resulting in a ‘do that’s too short. It’s recommended for brides to cut their hair four to six weeks before the big day to avoid this issue. Of course, if you do find yourself in a hair-y situation, there’s always hair extensions to get your long hair back instantly.

7. Being too trendy

It’s understandable that many brides want to look fashion-forward and trendy on their big day, but it’s also important to keep in mind that trends often fade. Your wedding photos will be looked at for decades to come, so it’s likely safer to opt for a classic half-up style or soft chignon than something too trendy that might look outdated in the future.

Karlie Petry @karliepetry is wearing the Seamless Blonde Balayage set. Photographed by Gracie Meaux, Gracie Days Photography

8. Forgetting product for touch-ups

While a hairstylist can definitely do their best to use hairspray and plenty of bobby pins to hold your hairstyle in place, there is still a chance that your style may fall throughout the day. To avoid this, we suggest keeping products like bobby pins and a small hairspray on you or with one of your bridesmaids to touch-up the style throughout the day if needed.

9. Not showing enough or showing too little inspo photos

When it comes to inspiration photos for a bride’s big day, there is definitely a sweet spot when it comes to the number of photos to show your stylist. If you show too many, it might overwhelm the stylist and create confusion about exactly what you want. On the other hand, if you show too little, this could leave a lot of creative room for the stylist and the final product might not be what you expected in your head. We recommend having 3-5 inspiration photos at the most to give your stylist as a reference.

10. Not being completely open with stylist

Many brides feel nervous to voice their opinions about their hair in fear that it might offend their stylist, but being honest and open with your stylist is the absolute best way for both of you to walk out of the appointment happy and satisfied. Talk openly throughout the process and make it a collaborative effort all the way through!

11. Picking a style that doesn’t go well with their haircut or hair texture

When it comes to inspiration photos, another tip to keep in mind is to ensure the style you’re aspiring to cultivate matches your own haircut, color, and texture. Many brides fall victim to becoming attached to the image of a specific hairstyle then feeling disappointed when the style looks different on their own hair. Before settling on a look, simply make sure your style of hair matches to the model in the inspiration image.

12. Having too high of expectations

Another bridal recipe for disaster is having unrealistic expectations going into the salon appointment. While obviously, you want your wedding day to be perfect, you also have to keep in mind going into it that your hair likely won’t look exactly like the image you’ve selected. Instead, we suggest going into your salon appointment open-minded and willing to take opinions and creative ideas.

13. Forgetting to keep in mind the entire bridal ensemble

Another common problem brides make is looking at a hairstyle in isolation, rather than their entire bridal look as a whole. It’s important that the hairstyle a bride-to-be opts for flows smoothly with her entire look and theme. For example, if her dress is bohemian, perhaps a braided half-up hairstyle with a flower crown could work. If her dress is elegant and clean, maybe she should consider a smooth updo. It’s all about considering how the hairstyle works to compliment the entire look as a whole.

14. Deep conditioning their hair the night before

It’s common for brides to pamper themselves the night before their wedding. Everything from nails, to skincare to hair must be accounted for. While in theory, a hair mask sounds like a good idea for your healthiest, shiniest wedding day hair, this is actually something a bride should reconsider. If the hair is too shiny and smooth, it can actually be more difficult for the hairstylist to work with and tends to not hold a style as long. Due to this issue, we suggest skipping the hair masks and deep conditioning treatments the night before the wedding and doing them the week before instead.

15. Not considering the weather

A huge factor for a bride to consider when picking a hairstyle is what the weather will be like on her big day. Weather can be quite unpredictable, but based on the season of your wedding you can likely have a general gauge of what type of elements your hair may need to hold up against. For example, if your wedding is in the peak of summer, humidity and extreme heat could be a weather-related issue you might want to consider. In this scenario, opting for a wedding updo might be the better option to keep cool and keep your hair off your shoulders.

Candace Gulitus @candacegulitus is wearing the Seamless Blonde Balayage set. Photographed by Kate Panza Photography

16. Skipping a trial session

A trial appointment is one of the most important steps a bride can take to ensure she loves the way her hair turns out on her big day. The trial session gives both the bride and the hairstylist a chance to work together to create a look that satisfies both of them. This is the trial phase where the bride can try different looks and experiment before she settles on the final result. Skipping this trial phase and blindly trusting the hairstylist can sometimes end up being a mistake ending with an unhappy bride!

17. Crash dieting

It’s common and quite natural for brides-to-be to plan to cut calories and stick to a stricter workout schedule in the months leading up to the wedding. While losing weight in a healthy, non-extreme way by eating rich foods can be beneficial, crash dieting is not and your hair feels the effects of this. Crash dieting often involves severe calorie restrictions and an unbalanced diet, which is directly reflected in lackluster tresses and even hair loss. Crash dieting deprives the body of crucial nutrients to perform basic bodily functions, like cell regeneration in the skin, nails, and hair.

18. Not considering the veil

A bridal hairstyle is different because once the style is done, the look isn’t totally complete. A bridal hairstyle typically involves a veil, and often this is something a bride overlooks when scrolling through Pinterest looking at bridal looks. The veil is usually worn for the ceremony then removed at the reception, which has the potential to ruin an intricate hairstyle. If you’re hoping to wear a veil on your wedding day, be sure to bring extra bobby pins and product to help fix any ruffled hair from the process of removing it. Also, ask the stylist to try to attach the veil in a way that ensures it is easily removable later in the evening.

Angelika Falb @angelika_fa is wearing the Seamless Blonde Balayage set. Photographed by Ulf Thausing

19. Going too glam at the dress rehearsal

There are so many stunning wedding hairstyles that we understand why many women find it hard to settle for just one! Often brides tend to pick one intricate hairstyle for the wedding day and one for the wedding rehearsal. In reality, over-styling for the dress rehearsal is actually a big wedding trap that many brides fall into. If there’s too much product or styling the night before the wedding, this could leave your stylist with quite the mess to work with for the actual wedding. Instead, we suggest opting for a simple half-up style that doesn’t require a lot of intense hold products and is easy to brush out at night.