When to book wedding hair and make-up, and how to plan the morning

Book your hair and make-up artist 9 to 12 months before a Saturday wedding between May and September, and 6 to 9 months ahead at other times. Have the trial two to four months before. On the morning, allow about 45 minutes a person for hair and the same for make-up, and up to 90 minutes each for you.

Every timing in this note is our guidance, from the way wedding mornings run, unless a source is named. Your artist’s own times come first, so ask for them when you book.

When should you book your wedding hair and make-up artist?

Book early for a summer Saturday. Most artists take one wedding a day, so a popular date goes once, and the season decides how early is early. Our UK wedding planning timeline puts the trial at about four months, and the table gives the range.

Before you pay a deposit, ask these questions, and keep the answers in writing:

• Does the price include the trial, the travel and an early start?
• How many people can the artist finish by your time, and will they bring an assistant?
• Can they stay after the ceremony for touch-ups, and for how long?
• Who comes in their place if they are ill on the day?

When should you have the trial, and what do you bring?

Two to four months before the wedding, once you have chosen the outfit. Earlier, and you are guessing at the neckline. Later, and there is no time for a second trial if the first look is wrong. Keep your hair close to its wedding colour and length.

Book it on a day you go out afterwards. A look that is right at eleven in the morning must still be right at eleven at night.

• Photographs of the dress or outfit, front and back, and a top with a similar neckline to wear.
• The veil, the headpiece, the hair accessories and the earrings.
• Three pictures of looks you like, and one of a look you do not.
• A list of your skincare, and of any allergy or sensitivity. Bring your own products if your skin reacts easily.
• Your phone, for photographs in daylight, indoors and with the flash.

Look at the photographs again the next morning, and say now if something bothers you. A good artist would much rather change it at the trial.

What is the beauty countdown, from twelve months to the morning?

The rule behind every line: big changes early, small ones late, and nothing new in the last month, so that any reaction has time to settle.

Who is allowed to whiten your teeth in the UK?

Only a dentist, or a dental hygienist, dental therapist or clinical dental technician working to a dentist’s prescription. The General Dental Council says so on its tooth whitening page (2026), and adds that anyone else who offers it can be prosecuted. The NHS page on teeth whitening (2026) says that whitening in a beauty salon is illegal without a dental professional present, and that it can put your oral health at risk.

So start with your dentist, six to nine months before the wedding. They check your teeth first and tell you how long the course takes. The NHS says whitening is cosmetic and generally private, so ask the practice for the price.

What about skin treatments and hair colour?

Your skin is a question for a professional, so we give no advice on treatments. For anything beyond your usual routine, see a qualified practitioner, ask how long before the day it must be, and leave the last month clear. The Professional Standards Authority’s guide to choosing a practitioner for a cosmetic procedure (2026) lists the checks to make.

If you colour your hair, have the salon’s skin test before every colour, even a colour you have had before. The NHS page on hair dye reactions (2026) advises a test at least 48 hours before you use a dye.

How long do hair and make-up take on the wedding morning?

Longer than you think: people arrive late, and a style needs pinning twice. These are the times we plan with.

How do you build the wedding morning schedule?

Work back from the time you leave for the ceremony, never forward from the time the artist arrives.

• Write down the time you leave, and take off 20 minutes of spare time.
• Take off 20 to 30 minutes to get into the dress or outfit, with the photographer there.
• Put your own hair and make-up just before that, so they are fresh.
• Fit everyone else in before you.
• Add up each artist’s minutes from the table above. Count back that far from the end of your own make-up, and that is when the artists start.

Here is a morning for a 1pm ceremony and a 15-minute drive, for you, your mother and three bridesmaids, with one artist for hair and one for make-up. It starts at half past seven.

Give the artists a room with a window and a plug. Then add the morning to your wedding day timeline in our free planner. It writes the day from the guests’ arrival onwards, and you can add a row for each part of the morning above it.

What goes in a wedding day touch-up kit?

A small bag, held by one named person who stays near you all day, usually a bridesmaid. Ask your artist for your exact lip colour and a little of the powder.

• Your lipstick or lip colour, and the lip liner.
• Powder or blotting papers, for the shine after the drinks reception.
• Concealer and cotton buds, for a smudge under the eyes.
• Hair grips in your hair colour, a small comb and a travel hairspray.
• Plasters for new shoes, safety pins and tissues.

Do one touch-up after the photographs and one before the speeches, then leave it. By the first dance, nobody is looking at your powder.