So you're getting married, your head is in the clouds, your marrying the man of your dreams and your tummy is doing all sorts of flips due to excitement for your big day. You go dress shopping, you look for a photographer to capture your special day, you're willing to pay "whatever" to make your day as special as possible. The photographer is gonna cost you 7 - 10k, the dress 3 - 5k (or maybe more depending on your taste and if you're getting more than one dress)...still you dont flinch at the price. It's your big day after all, this only happens once, it needs to be perfect.
All the things are starting to come together, 2 - 3 months left before your wedding and you think "[gasp]...I need a makeup artist!!! I need to look gorgeous!!!" You search the internet and an amazing artist catches your eye. The work is beautiful...you want to look just like that...you ask for a quote...and you get a quote of about $300 - $500 not including the rest of your party (depending on your area you're in and the level of expertise of the artist)...you RUN for the hills.
Whoa...wait, what?!?!?! So, let me get this straight, you can pay thousands for flowers (which are gonna die in a few hours anyways) and cake (which is going to be eaten in a few hours anyways) and your dress (which you're going to only wear once anyways) but you can't pay a makeup artist for makeup services?!?! It's one of the top 5 more important things for your wedding! YOUR FACE is important!! If you go "cheap" you will get "cheap".
Why do we charge what we charge?
Most makeup artist who do weddings (among other things) are full time freelance makeup artist. What does that mean? It means that this is what we do for a living, this is how we pay our rent, feed our families, give to our children etc. $100 (especially in NYC) is nothing. $100 is gone in 2 days. When we give you a quote, we quote you according to the occasion, location, number of people and just an overall service. If you book us for that day, that is the only thing we do for that day so it has to be worth getting out of bed and leaving our husbands and children behind. There is no way I'm going to YOU at [insert time here], leave my husband behind or skip out on a friends birthday and come back with $100 in my pocket.
What's the difference between the makeup you use and the makeup we ARTISTS use?
First of all, its all pro. Whether is NARS or Make Up For Ever or Vincent Longo...its pro. Second of all, it's not drug store related. Drug store products and pro products (which we use for film and print) are two completely different things. The application and texture are different. Even the tools we use are different.
So, next time you're looking to book an artist for your special day, take what I just posted above into consideration. Please do not insult us with your cheap offers and ridiculous "discount" questions. You don't ask your doctor for a discount when you go see him/her right? Then don't do it to us.
Thank youuuuuuuuu for this post darling!
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how people think we charge nothing...
I was recently asked by an old friend how much my services were, I told her the price, she never came back at me. What a shame, a thank you for your answer email would have been appreciated o_0
Or this girl who was refered to me by my sister who was totally out of the league when she asked me if I could do a 1 hour and a half car ride to her hotel the day of the wedding, including a test, for 50$!!!!
Go back to your cheap local salon that ask you 50$ and when you'll receive your pictures, you'll cry for years for taking the wrong option...
You know we talk about this all the time, but I just wanted to put it out there: as a bride, you will have pictures taken. These pictures will last FOREVER. You will show them to your kids and your grandkids. After you are gone, the future generations will have them in their albums and maybe on their mantles in frames. Do you really want to look jacked up?
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you, I have a very close friend who did her own makeup for her wedding. She didn't want to pay an artist (I didn't offer my services because I knew she wouldn't pay my rate). She looked cheap. She knows is. Her marriage has since fallen apart, but she still regrets looking like crap in her wedding pictures. You're paying a photographer thousands of dollars for these images. Don't you want to look AMAZING in them?
Think about it.
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/help-am-i-crazyor-just-cheap
ReplyDeleteI should stop reading that board; but occasionally I could get referrals from that website so that's why I stop by once in a while..........but ugh...I would put it on my website, but I responded that:
[How much was your wedding dress, shoes/accessories videographer and photographer each?How much were the flowers? Add up the first 4, (ignore the flowers for now) and then look at your budget for makeup/hair. Just to put things in perspective, you spent X much on making yourself look PERFECT and X much to be immortalized in film and video so you can remember how beautiful and happy you were on your big day, and then think about what you think is reasonable for hair and makeup. I just threw in the florist aspect because I'm fairly certain that the florist vendor costs you more than $800............and they wilt within a day.]
the cost of the flowers itself is more than $800! nevermind the labor~~~~~!
Thank you for posting this. I'm totally on board w/ you on this one. I say to my brides - your face is the centerpiece of your pictures and therefore your memories...not your flowers, or the food or the invitations but YOUR FACE. When it's all said and done don't you want to look back and think my god I've never looked and felt more beautiful then I did that day....not wow my bouquet sure was nice lol.
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