Firing a vendor that my bridal party still wants!

If you're all getting ready in the same place, it really should be the same artist. I don't know what her contract is like, but my hair and makeup team (who do weddings together regularly) had in their contract that if any additional artists were needed, they would provide them.

It seems odd that you and your bridesmaids have different beauticians. Why are they separate instead of working on everyone? You as the bride need to find a hairdresser and makeup artist you are comfortable with. Most require a minimum count of x people to come to your location so you pick one hairdresser for everyone and one makeup artist for everyone. Are there any leads in your area available via Yelp or Instagram or Thumbtack.com that are a team that work together?

First of all, are you paying for your bridal party’s hair and makeup and did you originally plan to use this one vendor for yourself and the bridal party? Or did they separately book her on their own initiative?

This is a good point. Its also possible they will have in their contract that other vendors cannot be hired to provide the same/similar services for the same event. This seems pretty common with photographers and HMUAs in particular.

Also if you are paying for hair and makeup (vs the bridesmaids paying for their own) you should absolutely use the same artist/team. I would not pay a vendor to provide services to my bridesmaids that treated me unprofessionally and that I didn't trust to do my own. While its possible the MUA did have a family emergency that made her miss your shower but wasn't so long term that she couldn't enjoy a trip after with her friend, that seems unlikely, especially if they were somewhere far from where they live at all. I would also worry about this girl being petty and no showing for your bridesmaids if you canceled her services.

You are the bride, and while everyone wants to look good at a special event and feel confident when being photographed, in the end its more important that you like your hair and makeup and less important that your maids all have someone that has practiced on them before.

I would probably try to find someone new. I wouldn't cancel this duo until you have someone else lined up. Do look in your contract to see what the terms are if you cancel (do you get a refund, is there a deadline in which you need to cancel or adjust your contract to get a refund, etc).

For what its worth I did my own makeup and my friend helped me with my hair for our wedding celebration (I curled and prepped it, she did the updo) and I was really happy with how both came out. I don't wear makeup typically and when I do its with a pretty light hand, but I practiced a lot leading up to our original wedding date last year and got fairly confident with doing my makeup in a way that still looked and felt like me.

I originally had a HMUA/salon lined up to do my look but they kind of screwed me over last year when we ended up doing a Covid elopement, so I decided not to bother with them at all this year for our wedding celebration. I figured why pay a salon to piss me off when I can disappoint myself for free! I seriously think the hair that my friend did this year looks better than what I paid for last year. When I get our pro photos back I honestly want to do a side by side comparison and have people guess which one was done by a professional hair stylist that went to beauty school and which one was done by two non-fancy girls just fiddling around.

We got our photos back! Here is a comparison of two hairstyles I had for each event. I don't have any great photos of the hairstyles from the exact same angles, but these pictures should give you the general idea of what they looked like. Comparing them side by side I really can't justify why I'd get my hair "professionally done" again.

I actually prefer the second picture/style I think it would give a dramatic look with the beautiful back of your gorgeous dress!

YOU are the bride & it’s your day, therefore you should select the hair & makeup people who are willing & able to enhance your beauty so you are comfortable & confident on your day. If you have a hairstylist who does your hair on a regular basis I would talk to them before considering anyone else… maybe they can do yours & you would be more comfortable.

Regardless you have to do what is right for you & your style.