By Allison Hall

Okay, so you’re getting married! As a bride you have tons of things on your mind and want to make sure everything is perfect. Something that you need to consider as soon as you’ve picked out your dress is your hair. Wedding ready hair can be a major process as you have so many options to consider. The purpose of this article is to give you some guidance on  preparing yourself and your hair to ensure that you look your absolute best on the wedding day.

First things first– look through magazines. Examine up-dos, partial up dos and loose set hair. Look for styles on models that have the same shape face as you. Rounder faces tend to better suit up-dos, whereas longer faces need styles with more volume to create width. Also, are you going to wear a veil or maybe a tiara? This will play a factor as a veil, for example, can pull on your hair and interfere with the set.As soon as you’ve got some ideas, you will want to set up a trial appointment with a stylist. I would suggest doing this early on in the planning process. You have some serious planning to do!

Do you color your hair? Are you going to want highlights? Maybe you’re growing your hair out, or you want extensions to make your hair longer and fuller. The sooner you and your stylist have a plan the better. You absolutely do not want to do something drastic like changing your color or style close to your wedding day, as you never know what might happen. Trust me– it’s much wiser to be well prepared so that there are no unwanted hair disasters or surprises on your day of bliss. I would suggest doing this 5 to 6 months before your wedding…seriously.

For those of you like me that have short hair, believe it or not you also have tons of options to consider. First and foremost you don’t have to grow your short style out…you would be amazed at what can be done with bobby pins, rollers and a can of hairspray. Stylists are able to create faux up-dos quite easily with these tools and you can always add hair accessories to help conceal the pins in the back. In terms of accessories you have so many to choose from. Headbands, flowers, decorative hair pins, jewels and my personal favourite…feathers!

Other factors that you should take into consideration when picking a style is the type of wedding that you’re having. If your wedding is going to be on the casual side you probably won’t want an elaborate hairstyle. Consider the cut of your dress. If its low cut or strapless will you feel comfortable with an up-do? If you’re wearing your hair down or in a partial up-do, are you going curly or straight? How well does your hair hold curl? If you’re having a summer wedding, how does your hair react to humidity?

Finally, I offer some additional tips to you, my friends:

On the day of, pack extra bobby pins and hairspray and keep them with your make-up touch up kit. Between all the hugs and dancing and stuff your style is going to shift, so you’ll want to be prepared to tuck those loose pieces away.

Pick a look that is you. If your personal style is more casual please do not pick something super dramatic. You won’t be comfortable and that’s the last thing that you want to feel on your wedding day. Your look should be you and your natural beauty enhanced.

Whatever style you decide on, I recommend sticking to something classic, and the same goes for your make-up. When looking back on the pictures in ten years time you’re not going to want to feel embarrassed because you embraced something super trendy that sadly is no longer so.