Doing your own makeup or hiring a professional

Ok so I thought long and hard about this because makeup is a huge hobby of mine and I love it. Here is what my thought process was and where I landed.

I think I'm pretty good at makeup on my own face. I COULD do my own and be happy with it for the day. And you know what, if covid restrictions are really terrible here and I HAD to, I totally would. BUT. 2 things -

1. my bridesmaids, mother, MIL, etc are not as into makeup as me, so I knew I'd have to pay someone to do their faces. As a result, would I end up getting FOMO, that I was sitting there stressing over my winged liner being perfect while they just sat back and got pampered? Plus would our looks be less cohesive, because they'd been done by different people? Likewise, would I look at them and think they looked better than me, and regret doing my own, even if I looked nice? And...

2. Kind of related to 1 - I have done my makeup for big events plenty of times, but I know that being keyed up means it takes longer, and if your hands are shaking because you're nervous you can end up having a mini melt down and having to wash it all off and start again, lol. I just... did not want to have to deal with that on the morning of my wedding.

So I booked someone.

I want to be calm and relaxed and have how my face looks be someone else's problem. Someone who is a professional who I have previously tested (multiple times, as I got her to do my engagement makeup as well as a trial, and might ask her again for my hens) that I can trust, and who, if I don't like it, won't be potentially stressed like I might, and will be able to fix it.

View Quoted Comment My friends and I are not much of makeup for country girls on the farm just a little to highlight with lip color so I'm not too familiar like you was putting wedding makeup on to make it last all day you're right maybe I should just spend close to $500 to get my girls and my makeup done

Let's see a photo of your self done makeup.


I'm having mine done professionally because my everyday 5 minute makeup routine won't cut it. Weddings involve all different types of lighting... natural light, camera flashes, venue lighting... I don't trust myself to get it right. In fact, I don't trust every makeup artist either. I had my makeup done for an event 6 years ago and she did a terrible job. With the flash, I looked like a ghost... she also missed my hairline because I had my hair wrapped. I never went back to her.

We’ll it depends on how confident you are in your ability to do your own makeup. It could be stressful with trying to achieve the perfect look for your wedding day. I don’t know the first thing about makeup and what I can do, isn’t what I want for my wedding day. I hired a professional for hair & makeup.

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Yes, this is the other thing. Event makeup requires quite a bit in the way of extra products to last throughout the day and to look good in photos. Doing your own is fine if you have all the products and the know-how to do it, but if you don't, you could easily end up spending that much (more, actually) just buying all the tools and sprays and whatnot to get that effect, and if you've never used them before, the likelihood is it would have been quicker and easier to hire someone.

Going with a professional. I have zero hair/makeup skills so a pro is a given. Plus it will be nice to have everyone pampered. Also the makeup that we all do have is not made for high definition photography.

I've gone back and forth on this too. If you're confident in your skills and aren't worried about stress, I'd say do your own. I would definitely practice and time yourself before the day, take some photos to see how you feel about it, and wear it all day to test longevity. You could always do a professional makeup trial as a test, if you think it would be worth it (usually about $100).

View Quoted Comment Thanks Amanda great advice I'm not one that actually uses a lot of makeup I think I do it pretty well but no professional I don't know if I could last all day professional makeup trial sounds like a good idea

I did my own makeup for my wedding. I just got my sneak peek back and I was extremely happy with how it turned out. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. I like doing my makeup. I did my own makeup for every major event I’ve ever had, including my engagement photos, and I’ve always been happy with it. I enjoy doing it and I have all the basic skills needed to learn a bridal look. I chose to do it myself because I personally felt more comfortable that way. If I was someone who had little to no knowledge about makeup or simply didn’t enjoy doing it, I would recommend hiring a professional rather than doing it yourself. It was a little stressful doing it on the day, but since I was confident in my makeup application skills I felt that it would turn out no matter what. If this was my first big go at doing my own makeup I would’ve been very stressed. I also did not have an official bridal party so I only had myself to worry about. I practiced a lot so I knew what I was doing.


You need to practice a decent amount and invest in good products. Again, if you’re confident in your skills and don’t feel you’d be stressed you should be fine doing your own. But, if you’re a total newbie to makeup I wouldn’t put that pressure on yourself.

...I can't even do eyeliner or eye shadow so I'm hiring a professional lol

View Quoted Comment Me too I have try doing eyeliner and eye shadow i just don’t know how to apply eye makeup. I just need to have a relative to do my makeup for free or hire professional.

I did my own my own makeup, but mainly due to covid. I do like doing my makeup and am pretty good at it. I practiced a few times but as others said I did have to buy quite a few products that I wouldn’t otherwise use (heavier, more long lasting foundation, setting spray, etc.) I spent probably $200 on products and I have some already, so keep in mind if you don’t own much makeup it’s expensive to purchase. I’d get it done professionally if possible given what you’ve described.

View Quoted Comment I tend to do my makeup pretty well and the practice I could do it much better but the amount of cost to buy the makeup opposed to having a professional do it I don't think it's cost-effective especially when they want $250 for having your hair and makeup done

I did my own makeup for both my elopement and wedding celebration, and I don't regret not having a pro do it.

I'm pretty minimal with makeup day to day (most days I don't wear any) and when I do wear makeup its still a pretty natural look. Lots of makeup feels heavy and uncomfortable to me, and in my experience people who do makeup all the time still use a lot of products for even a "light, natural" look and I didn't want that. I practiced leading up to the wedding and was happy with how my looks came out and photographed. I would not say I have a lot of experience or am very skilled, but I know what looks good on me and feel comfortable doing my makeup to my liking.

I did have a pro do my hair for our elopement but the salon kind of screwed me over for it so I opted not to use them for our celebration and had a friend help do my hair instead. I actually preferred the look my friend and I came up with. My logic was "I can disappoint myself for free" and paying hundreds of dollars to have my hair and makeup done and not like it just wasn't something I wanted to be stressing about on my wedding day. For me it was actually less stressful to do it myself and just be accepting of the results rather then to spend a lot of money on something I wasn't totally happy with.

I am choosing to have my hair and makeup professionally done and to pay for my BMs. I know I don't have to pay for my bridal party, but none of us are super into makeup and I know they would all prefer to have them done professionally, so I offered to pay for them and will be allowing them to choose their hairstyles.

If you can afford it, I 100% recommend going with a pro. They'll know how to manage your timeline while doing yours and everyone else's hair and makeup! Plus, it's nice to feel pampered and have a little stress off of you the day-of.

I'm having mine and my bridal party's hair and makeup professionally done. I gave them the option, and told them I'd pay for whoever wanted it done, but they all said they wanted both done and wouldn't let me pay lol...so I got lucky with some sweet friends.

But if you're really confident in your makeup skills, and are comfortable doing it yourself, then go for it! I'd just advise you to practice your makeup look before the actual day and making sure your timing is good!

I am doing my own makeup! Personally, I have prioritized other parts of my wedding (photography, food, etc.) in my budget, and makeup just wasn’t a priority for me. I’ve done my own makeup for all major events and regularly get compliments. Our wedding is also pretty laid back, and I'm not one for super dramatic makeup anyway, so I’d rather just enhance my natural features on my wedding day than look like a completely different person! If you’d like to do your own, make sure you research photography makeup! It will be different from your everyday makeup and you may have to invest in some new products. I did this and I am happy that I will have those products to use regularly now hope this helps!

View Quoted Comment If those products aren't too expensive and more than having my makeup done by a professional and I'm going to do it myself we're pretty laid back too and I'm not into too much makeup when I get quite a few compliments on my makeup choices too thanks for the input
Ps my maid of honor is my sister and she's a hairdresser so we have that covered

View Quoted Comment I'm pretty good with makeup products don't cost more than the professionals I'm going to do it myself my sister is going to do my hair she's a beautician

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Sounds good!!