Get A Good Makeup Artist

Ladies,

On your special day, you want to look your absolute best. You do not want to look at your wedding photos with regret. I have seen some brides wearing $2000 wedding gowns but decided to do their own makeup...oops.

You have some many thing racing through your mind. Trying to remember if you remembered everything or if you forgot something. You try holding an eyeliner pencil or, worst, a liquid eyeliner applicator and drawing a straight line across one of the most vulnerable spots on the human face. You get the idea.

Now, you can go to the fancy, over-expensive make-up salons or to an skin care/makeup school and find a recent graduate. Or find a reliable friend/family member who is capable of doing your make-up.

No brides wants to look like a paint-by-numbers picture or a Liza Minelli reject. Be sure to have the makeup artist do a practice run. Note the colours and applicators used--you may want to use them again for the final application.

Remember, your makeup should complement your dress not compete with it. Your guest have have come to see you, the bride, not your makeup from a mile away. Come on girls, you've seen those brides--beautiful simple wedding gown but with drag-queen makeup overtly applied. Yikes!

If you trust your face to a professional, trust that they have your best interest at heart. Remember, they do this for a living and depend on good word of mouth and testimonies from happy and satisfied customers.

Wedding Gown Ugly

Like every other woman, I have had different visions of wedding gowns dancing in my head from time to time. When I was younger is was more princessy or trendy, mid-30's more classy and now days none existent (keep getting nasty frogs, no Prince Charming!).

Anyways, I have had two occasions to help a bride pick her wedding gown. The first was with my cousin. Imagine 6 women piling into a mini-van and making the trek to a bridal warehouse. While 2 people assisted the bride, 3 people rummaged the warehouse seeking the bride's dream dress. After 3 hours, the actual dress was something that the bride initially refused to wear--strapless. But other than that it has everything she wanted and the price too good to pass up. We knew we had the right dress because she kept preening in it (unlike all the other dresses where she looked in the mirror and was ready to take them off within 30 seconds!). By the way, I found that dress--bragging rights! The second occasion my good friend, her mother and I went to a local bridal salon renown for its incredibly great customer service and were absolutely pampered. The salon owner found the perfect dress. How did we know? The mother and I agreed the bride would get emotional. After trying on 5 dresses, the bride broken down crying over this particular dress. She really felt like a bride in it.

However, sometimes you have to wonder, where do the gown designers get their inspiration or the gall to produce something of absolute beauty or some over-the-top tripe?

No bride wants to look at her wedding pictures 24-72 hours later and cry, "Why didn't anyone tell me --I look hideous!".

I am looking for opinions. If you know of other wedding gown nightmares, please provide the picture and your comment (g-rated please, kids will be looking at the post too!).

Think of this as a community service announcement: what not to where on your wedding day!