Wedding Hair - Best tips in one spot

Your wedding may very well be the biggest event in your lifetime. All eyes are on the bride on her big day and the expectation is that you'll look your very best. This means working out in the months before the wedding, scoring the perfect dress and doing something fabulous with your hair.

Getting your hair right can be daunting. Should you wear it up or down? Do you choose the dress first or your hairstyle? Can you do it yourself? What is all this talk on wedding boards about a "hair trial" and how much do they cost? How far in advance are you supposed to book the stylist?

Deep breaths. I've got you covered. In the article below, I'll answer all these questions and more. And by the time you walk down the aisle your hair is going to look fantastic.

Rule No. 1: Thou Shalt Look Like You, Only Better

On your wedding day you should look like the very best version of yourself.
This means if you are a casual person in your daily life who never wears makeup, your wedding day is not the time to break out your inner Kim Kardashian. Likewise, if you walk around looking like a Kardashian in your daily life, this wedding hair experience is going to be epic for you. Start collecting pictures now.

Here's the deal: You want your groom (or bride!) and your guests to recognize you as you walk down the aisle. Even more importantly, you want to feel comfortable and supremely confident as you walk down that aisle. True beauty, after all, comes from within.

Throughout this process, check in with your gut. Does this feel right? Does this feel like you? And if I can give you a bit of advice learned from generations of brides that have come before you: you can tune out that well-meaning advice that will surely come from friends and family. If you want extensions, get them. If you don't want to grow out your short haircut, don't. If you don't want to wear that moth-eaten veil from your mother's 1978 wedding, don't.

Remember: this day is about you and your partner. This is not about what others want for you. So take that, future mother-in-law  

Picking the Right Hairstyle

Once you make the decision to have a wedding, all of a sudden life can get very, very complicated . The wedding options are endless. So are the wedding hair options. You can pull your hair up in the most amazing loop de loops, or you can wear your hair half up and half down. There are jewels you can wear in your hair or flowers .Maybe you should do a retro 50s thing with a short little Jackie O veil. Or curls spiraling down your back....

Deep breaths.

Before you do anything hair-wise, you should pick your dress. A bride's hair should complement her dress, not compete with it. Your veil is different. If you choose to wear one, you can actually choose a veil based on the hairstyle, or vice versa.

Another good rule of thumb for selecting a hairstyle is to consider your personality and the wedding theme.

As for hair texture, I recommend you don't fight your natural texture. Curly hair looks amazing either down or up. Straight hair can be curled into waves and wound into ornate updos (with the help of pins and hairspray). Wavy hair can be either straightened or curled and is the perfect texture for half-up/half-down styles as well as updos.

A few months before the wedding, start perusing magazines and online hairstyle galleries to pick out some favorites. If you are super organized, you can even pin your favorite styles to keep them in one place and show off your options to your friends. In any case, you'll want a few options to bring along to your hair consultation.

Finally, when selecting styles, think ahead 20 years. When your kids look at your wedding album will they see a classic bride or a dated bride (careful with those cascading tendrils)? You want your wedding day style to be timeless.

Extra tip: Consider if you're going to keep the veil on for the reception or take it off after the wedding ceremony. Most brides take it off, but I've read in many forums that pictures can be really romantic if you wear your veil at the reception.

See photos on wedding hairstyles.