Veils. (Ugh!)

Have you ever finished a beautiful updo that you are so proud of, your bride loves it, and then she hands you a veil with a huge plastic comb on the end? This used to be my worst nightmare. So much in fact, that in my early days of styling weddings I was strategic about dipping out before the veil was mentioned. As I have grown, I have learned to embrace the veil and know that even if I struggle putting it in, it will be better than what anyone else in the wedding party can do. (I've learned this the hard way as I looked at wedding photos of a bride after the wedding and noticed that you could see the entire comb of the veil jammed haphazardly into the updo I did...yikes. Not pretty.)

When you are doing the trial, see if they have purchased a veil yet. If not, recommend a metal comb. These slide in much easier. If they already have their veil and it's plastic, it's important to make sure you know exactly where she wants and leave space in the updo for it. (Meaning don't put a lot of tight bobby pins in the spot where the veil will go, as you need room to slide it in.) Sometimes you'll encounter a bride that is using her mother's veil that needs updating, or maybe they are going to make one themselves. If this is the case, recommend sewing in small loops so you can either use a comb of your choice or you can slip bobby pins in the loops rather than a comb.

Veils are so tricky and they usually are only worn during the ceremony, so I recommend putting a bridesmaid or attendant on "veil duty". Have her watch you put it in, and then show her how to take it out and fix anything that comes out of place. Leave a few bobby pins in case they need to adjust something that the veil disrupted.

The best case scenario is to have the veil at the time of trial, so you can figure it out and then plan accordingly with your updo. If you don't have it at the trial, then I recommend taking a look at it before you begin on the wedding day so you know what you are working with, and figuring out with the bride where she wants it placed before you do the updo. This way you can have that in mind while doing your beautiful work!