Your Ideal Wedding Morning By Bridal Beauty By Megan

Before you book your wedding morning… one question that could save your wedding morning!

“Hi Megan, I hope you are okay! The venue has let us know that we can’t get into the getting-ready room until 10.30am… is that going to be a problem?”

The email all bridal hair and make-up artists dread… and it happens a lot! For some reason, this seems to be something that gets completely forgotten about when enquiring at venues, but it’s so important, especially if you have a bigger bridal party. I’m not sure I’ll ever truly understand why some venues have such a late entry time and still call it a getting-ready room, because if your ceremony is at 1pm and you can only get in at 10.30am, that doesn’t leave a lot of time… trust me!!

When this happens, we often have to advise our brides that it may be a good idea to stay in a hotel or Airbnb (if they don’t live close by) and then move over to the venue when we’re allowed. But let me tell you, moving halfway through the morning is stressful for everyone. I am all hands on deck when this happens. I’ve loaded up my car, taken bridesmaid dresses, flowers, anything that needs to get there to help out. I’ll run around the venue helping get things to the right area, help get your wedding dress upstairs and hanging where it needs to be. Most of the time, I’ve set up and then I’m waiting while the bride is trying to do these things herself.

And when everyone eventually makes it back to me, the good vibes from the morning are dwindling, the curls around the front need redoing, and any make-up needs touching up because the bridesmaids are sweating!!

If you have a small bridal party (1–3 people), a late entry time isn’t too much trouble. But if you don’t, you need to be asking yourself… is that how I want my wedding morning to feel? And if the answer is no, this is what you need to be looking for in a venue.

Can we stay on site the night before?

This is honestly the crème de la crème of venues in my eyes. Arriving the day before, getting all your stuff in and set up, a few proseccos with your girls, pizza and chips, this is exactly what I did the night before my wedding, and it was just how I imagined it would be. Waking up on my wedding day knowing everything was there (well, apart from my sister’s bridesmaid dress… which was in a car on the way, but that’s another story), we all had breakfast together and hair and make-up arrived at 7am. Chances are you’ll be up at the crack of dawn, unable to sleep anyway, so the early start isn’t a problem. We all had such a good time, everything ran to plan and we weren’t stressed. It was exactly how I always dreamt it would be.

I very rarely get to catch a bride before she’s booked her venue, being in the line of work I am, but this is my chance to remind you that this really is a huge part of the biggest day of your life. Your wedding morning sets the tone for everything. The last thing you want to feel as you’re about to walk down the aisle to marry the love of your life is stress, anxiety, and the worry that you’ve left your wedding night bag back at the hotel because you had to leave halfway through the morning.

So please, ladies, when you’ve looked around the venue and the staff member says, “Any questions?” the first one you ask should be:

“Yes, what time can we gain entry to the getting-ready room?”