Stacie Goodwin does the best wedding hair, she’s ace. Creative, efficient and time aware, Stacie is someone we love to work with as she’s a no-drama team player with top tier skills and a down to earth approach.
We asked Stacie if she’d share some useful tips on wedding hair and planning to help our Brides get the best from the day.
Hey! I’m Stacie from Stacie Goodwin Bridal Hair and I’ve been in the wedding industry for 12 years. Funnily enough I actually used to hate putting hair up when I started my career in hairdressing. Iwould hide in the staff room if I was asked to help out with wedding hair in the salon I used to work at. Fast forward to today and I absolutely love it! I love helping my brides to get ready for their big day and just being one of the girls (except I look like shit in comparison haha ). But it’s always so much fun and we generally just have a super chilled morning.
Being realistic/open minded. Those Pinterest inspired pics I guarantee have extensions in. Be opened minded and don’t be surprised if I tell you they’re needed to achieve your hair goals.
“My hair doesn’t hold a curl” and then wanting hair down and curly is probably not going to work for you. Your hair needs to last for a good 8 hours so consider this when thinking about your wedding hair. You definitely don’t want to be worrying about it before you’ve even got to the church!
Find inspiration pics that are the same or similar colour hair as your own. If your hair is dark brown and you bring me an updo with bleach blonde balayage – it just won’t look like that. But also – inspiration pics should be just that – inspiration. Every stylist has their own style and you can never copy someone else’s work exactly. So if you fall in love with a pic and want that exact style then you’ll need to find the stylist who did it.
I typically get booked up 18 months in advance, especially during peak wedding season. I only take on one wedding a day, so don’t delay if you have a supplier in mind, make that enquiry and snap them up!
On average, you need to be getting dressed at least 1 hour prior to the ceremony. Sometimes earlier if you have to travel or you want certain pics (girls in robes, bridesmaid reveal, Dad reveal etc). So think about that when deciding on a ceremony time and how many people require hair. On average, a bridal party of bride + 3 bridesmaids takes me around 4.5 hours. If you have a large bridal party you may end up needing 2 hair and 2 make up artists. If there’s an early ceremony time or the venue don’t allow entry until 10.30/11am (soo annoying ), factor this into your budget and planning.
I think it’s really important to have a trial. Firstly it’s a chance for us to get to know each other. Imagine having a supplier with you all morning that you didn’t gel with?! #awkward
For me it’s also about managing expectations. Say you had this dream style in mind, and on the day it turned out that you had too much or too little hair? Or time wise your style took 2 hours + and we only had 90 minutes? This is exactly the kind of thing we’ll discuss at your trial so there are no surprises on the day!
Speaking of too much hair, this is definitely something that isn’t talked about. You often hear us saying “this style needs hair extensions or padding” but actually, having thick, long, one length hair and wanting a sleek little knot bun is equally as impossible as wanting a high textured bun with short thin hair!
Luckily for me I haven’t really had a bad experience with any other suppliers on the wedding day – god how awkward would that be? I guess the only time it was a little bit stressful was a photographer asked me to move and set up in a window so they could get some great shots of the bride having her hair done. The only thing was there were no plugs nearby or anywhere to put my tools/products. We had to move this great big table with all of my equipment on and I had to just pretend I was curling the hair. It was a completely fake shot haha. It also ate up about 15 minutes of my time with the bride which was a tad stressful for me.
If all venues could install a lift for us hairdressers and makeup artists that would be great haha
In all seriousness a big one would be to communicate and stick to your timings! There is nothing more stressful than someone being scheduled for hair and makeup but they’re not even at the venue yet as they’re late. When I do schedules, I don’t like to put names in as it doesn’t always work out. Then you can end up feeling stressed that the schedule isn’t going to plan. As long as someone is in my seat at the times I’ve laid out, it really doesn’t matter which of your bridal party it is.
Also communicate your timings to other suppliers, especially photographers/videographers. I usually say finishing bridal prep 1 hour prior to the ceremony if you’re already at the venue. If you’ve requested certain shots from your photographer, eg; girls in dressing gowns or first look to dad/bridesmaids, then they may need you ready earlier than that.
A big thanks to Stacie for sharing. We hope if you’re planning your big day and need a pro wedding hair specialist you’ll give her a shout! Here’s Stacie’s website.
For more wedding planning tips go here or contact us, we love to chat about wedding stuff!
