10 Tips for Wedding Hair

Bravo's Ten Tips for Stunning Wedding Hair

1. Book your wedding hair appointment, then work backwards. I recommend a colour about a week before the wedding (more than that, your roots will start to show, less and the colour can look a brash). Your last cut should be about two weeks before to get rid of dead ends and give the cut time to soften.

2. Look like you! If you have beautiful curly hair, use it. If soft and gentle is your style, avoid sleek up-dos. He's marrying you - it would be nice if he recognised you.

3. Condition, condition, then condition some more. Ask your stylist to work out a programme of salon treatments for you. Buy a weekly treatment for home use (and actually USE IT!). Your hair should shine on your wedding day - not give a halo of frizz.

4. Have a trial - a hairdresser who styles your wedding 'do' without a trial is either lucky and psychic or careless and lazy. Insist on a dry run, bring ideas and any accessories you'd like to wear, and . . .

5. Choose your dress first. High backed dresses lend themselves to glam up-dos. Plunge backs are better for half-up/half-downs. A plunge back with an up-do leaves a lot of skin and is best left to the brave!

6. Look at the big picture. A sleek vampy up-do may look great on you, but you'll look like a plum stood next to three bo-peep bridesmaids.

7. Keep it simple - or at least classic. You'll be looking at these photos for the rest of your life - Gaga-esque hair will date quickly and cause cringes later.

8. Train your bridesmaids. Make sure they are present when you're hair is styled - they should be equipped with a mini can of hairspray, hairgrips if needed and some sort of shine product for retouches. If you're having a veil or tiara make sure your bridesmaid knows how to take it out without wrecking your style.

9. Less really is more. A detailed dress, flowers, tiara, diamante grips and a veil will leave you like an ivory Christmas tree. Choose a tiara OR a veil for all but the fanciest weddings, a few pretty grips OR some small-bud flowers are fine. Bear in mind that fresh flowers can look jaded by the first dance.

10. Relax - hair will move! A few strands loosening as the day wears on is natural and actually looks rather lovely.

Phil x