Around eight in every ten weddings I prepare are for couples who live outside Spain. They write to me from the United Kingdom, Ireland, northern Europe, the United States or Australia, and what they come here for, above all, is weather they cannot count on at home. Many find me through their wedding planner; others on Instagram or Google.
Planning such an important morning from far away, in a place you barely know and with someone you have not yet met, raises a lot of questions. These are the ones brides ask me most, and from the very first message my work is to make sure that, when you land in Spain, you already know what will be done, at what time and who will be with you.
How do I arrange hair and makeup for a wedding in Spain from abroad?
Everything starts at a distance. You write to me through the form, by email or on WhatsApp, and if you prefer, the first conversation can be a video call. The first thing I ask is where you will get ready on the morning of the wedding, because that place decides what time I set off, how long the journey takes and, sometimes, whether I need to stay nearby the night before. Then you tell me how you picture your wedding, what your dress is like and what worries you most.
Over the months that follow, you send me the photos you love, and the idea takes shape long before the trial. When the contract is signed I ask for your list of suppliers, and above all for your photographer’s contact, because I agree the getting-ready timings with them directly. On the day, your photographer already knows from me when you will be ready, and you do not have to pass messages between anyone.
Do I need a hair and makeup trial for a destination wedding?
The trial is what brides planning from abroad worry about most, and rightly so, because it is the only time before the wedding that I can work on you. It is where I learn how your skin takes makeup and how your hair responds to the shape it is given and to the products that hold it, and that is what lets me fine-tune the result on the day. So it almost always happens, even when it takes some care to fit it in.
Ideally it is done one to two months before the wedding, when your hair length and your tan are already close to how they will be on the day. Many brides who live abroad fit it into a trip to Spain they had already planned, such as the menu tasting. If you can only arrive a few days before, the trial is done then, sometimes even the day before, and that has one advantage: the trial hairstyle is ready for your welcome party.
At some weddings the bride arrives with so little time to spare that no trial fits between the airport and the morning of the wedding. Then the morning starts from her photos and from everything she has told me over the months, and when a bride arrives with an idea as precise as the one at a British wedding at Cortijo Pedro Jiménez, the missing trial matters far less.
The trial is included in the bride’s rate, together with online advice throughout the year and the touch-up kit, which I make up in the shades chosen on the day.
Should I bring my hairdresser from home?
Many brides wonder about this, especially when they already have someone they trust at home. Both can work out well, and what I can tell you is what changes when the person getting you ready works here all year round.
The first thing is the climate. A summer wedding in Andalusia is a wedding in the heat, and on the coast in the humidity too, so I prepare skin and hair for the conditions of each area: inland, mainly for the heat; by the sea, for heat and humidity together. The second is travel: for a Costa del Sol wedding there are no flights or hotel to pay for, because travel is charged by the kilometre from Fuengirola. The third is the kit. I bring everything the room needs, lighting and extension leads included, so all it takes is a large table and a socket.
I talk with the bride, her family and her guests in English or in Spanish, whichever they prefer, so nobody needs anyone else to explain what they want.
What happens if you can’t make it on my wedding day?
It is the biggest worry when you book someone from abroad, and I understand it, because some brides have had a stylist cancel a few days before their wedding. Each date I book is for one wedding only, except in very exceptional cases, so the day you choose is closed for you and offered to nobody else.
If something beyond my control still kept me away, I would find someone I trust to get you ready. And if nobody could go, the contract has a clear cancellation policy: I return everything you have paid, plus a percentage on top.
Your own wedding may change date, too. If the new day is free, the deposit moves to the new date. If it is not, the contract covers that as well, because the original date was closed for you and offered to no other bride.
How does the wedding morning work?
I work out the timetable from the ceremony time backwards: the time each person needs to get ready, your own time and some margin so nobody leaves in a rush. I come to wherever you are getting ready, a hotel, a villa or the venue itself, and if your bridesmaids or your family get ready in other rooms, part of the team goes to theirs. When there is a team, the plan is written down: who looks after each person, and in what order.
Once your hair and makeup are done, if you ask me to, I stay to help you into your dress and place your veil, so your family sees you for the first time as a bride. For the rest of the day you keep the touch-up kit, with your lipstick, your blush, setting powder and blotting papers for the shine that comes with dancing.
My work with the bride ends when you leave for the ceremony. If the ceremony is late in the afternoon and the party goes on into the night, I can stay for a second look or for touch-ups, and that is quoted by the hour or for the full day.
How is travel charged for a wedding in Spain?
Prices are in the dossier I send when you ask about your date, but I can tell you how travel is worked out. On the Costa del Sol and around Málaga it is charged by the kilometre. When the wedding is more than an hour and a half’s drive from Fuengirola, a night nearby, meals and accommodation for the team are quoted too, and outside Andalusia the flight is added, with special checked luggage so the kit travels protected, as it did for the two brides at Sa Pedrissa in Deià.
The hotel, the flight and the meals make up the travel fee. I explain each one before booking it, I book it once you agree, and it is paid with the deposit, because the bookings are made with it. In high season hotels and flights go up week by week, so confirming early saves you money.
How far ahead, and how, do I book my date from abroad?
Most brides write to me once they have the venue, the planner and the photographer, because hair and makeup usually come next. For May, June, September and October, it is best to book a year ahead, and at least eight months before; for the rest of the year, four to six months is usually enough. The whole process happens at a distance, in four steps.
