A bridal beauty timeline, counted back from your wedding

The best wedding-day beauty is decided weeks before the wedding. On the morning itself, nobody should be choosing a lipstick. This timeline counts back from your date so that each decision is made while there is still time to change it.

Three months before

Decide the look before you book anything. Collect a few pictures of makeup and hair you like, and just as usefully, a few you do not. Think about your dress neckline, your veil or headpiece and the time of day you will be photographed: daylight and evening light ask for different makeup.

If you plan to change your hair colour or cut, do it now. It gives you time to live with it and adjust.

Two months before

Begin any skin routine now, not later. Skin takes weeks to respond, and the month before a wedding is the wrong time to try a new product. If you have facials, keep them gentle and regular.

Settle who is being looked after on the day: you, your mother, sisters, bridesmaids. The number of women decides how many therapists are needed and how early the morning starts.

Six weeks before: book your trial

Your trial is a full run-through of hair and makeup at home. With us it should be booked at least 21 days before the wedding, so there is time to change anything you are unsure of.

To make the trial useful:

• Wear a top in the colour of your dress, with a similar neckline.
• Bring your veil, headpiece and jewellery.
• Have the trial at the time of day you will be photographed, and look at yourself near a window and under indoor light.
• Take photographs, from the front and from the side.
• Keep the look on for a few hours and see how it wears.
• Say what you think. A trial exists so that you can ask for changes.

Your artist keeps notes and photographs from the trial, so the look on the day is the one you approved.

One month before

Confirm your plan: each woman, her services and her start time. A 30% deposit holds the date.

Book your last hair colour or trim for about two weeks before the wedding. Have any waxing patch tests now if you have not been waxed before.

Two weeks before

Have your last facial. After this, leave your skin alone: no new products, no peels, no extractions.

If you are having lash extensions or a lash lift for the first time, do it now, not in the last days, in case your eyes react.

One week before

The balance of your bridal booking falls due 7 days before the wedding.

Have your waxing and threading done four to five days before, so that any redness has settled. Confirm the address, parking and the room you will use with the concierge, and send the timeline to everyone in the party.

Two to three days before

This is the time for bridal henna. The stain deepens over the first two days, so henna applied now is at its richest colour on the day. Keep it away from water for as long as you can after it is applied.

Have your manicure and pedicure the day before or two days before. Gel is the safer choice for a wedding because it will not smudge.

The day before

Wash your hair unless your stylist has told you otherwise. Drink water, eat properly and sleep. Lay out your dress, veil, jewellery and shoes in the room where you will get ready.

The morning

Tell us the time you must be ready, and the morning is counted back from it. Mothers and bridesmaids are styled first. The bride goes last so that her hair and makeup are freshest for the photographs.

Have breakfast before anyone arrives. Wear a robe or a shirt that buttons at the front, so nothing has to go over your head afterwards. Keep the room cool: makeup sets better, and so do you.

When you are ready to plan, see what the Bridal Studio does.