Just who is that coming down the aisle?
When it’s your turn to tie the knot, you don’t want your guests guessing if that is really the woman they all know and love hiding behind those troublesome tresses.
Instead, your hair on the big day should be a reflection of your natural beauty — just dressed up a bit.
“Hairstyles should command attention with their ingenuity,” says Dayton Mast of Dallas’ L’Image Salons and Spas, “yet remain classic enough to look beautiful in photo albums for years to come.”
Indeed, this is your day to stand out, says Edward Tricomi of the Warren-Tricomi Salon in New York.
“Many women don’t understand that the whole wedding dress look is out of the 16th century,” he says. “It’s very much a juxtaposition to modern-day fashion. You are in costume on your wedding day. You are performing on your own stage. Your hair should be special, too.”
While you should be comfortable with your hair on the big day, Tricomi suggests taking a different approach to normal wash-and-wear.
“The biggest problem I see is that many women want to wear their hair on their wedding day the same way they wear it every day.”
For best results, try to consult your hairdresser at least six months before the wedding. This allows you and your stylist to talk about cut, color and style, as well as experiment with headpieces and veils.
If you do want a major change, this gives you plenty of time to try something new and still be recognized by your friends and family, including your fiancé.
The sophisticated updo is one of both Tricomi’s and Mast’s favorite styles for wedding-day glamour.
“You can pull it up or back,” Tricomi says, “and it will look good.” He favors a mixture of hairstyles, from Baroque bobs to finger waves and abstract updos. “Everything is in,” he says. “There is no one look.”
Mast looks to the past for inspiration for “retro romantic” glossy finger waves and twists on the big curls look. Using new technology and products, new dos have all the glamour of the past, but the ease of today’s styling.
“This is not about Aunt Bea’s banana curls,” Tricomi says. “There may be some retro looks to hair now, but it’s very modern. Hair is not done perfectly in the ’90s.”
But if there is ever a day when you want your hair as perfect as possible, it’s your wedding day.
This year, the best way to shine may be to add some crowning glories — perhaps even a tiara. “There are so many things you can do with hair accessories,” Tricomi notes. “You can even create a garland filled with branches.”
While branching out may not be the way you want to be remembered on your wedding day, there are lots of other glittering possibilities, including silver or gold wire headbands and crowns sparkling with rhinestones, rock crystals or Baroque pearls. Jeweled barrettes, hair sticks and bobby pins are other decorative tress tamers.
For long hair, a crown can capture loose ends gathered up and swept back in a twisted ponytail or, for a more regal look, a sleek chignon.
Designer Gerald Yosca’s hair accessories are perfect for giving wedding hair a royal touch. His “Crowning Glory” collection includes miniature crowns on barrettes, bobby pins, hair sticks and ponytail holders.
“The inspiration for this collection,” Yosca says, “comes from full-size, vintage and imperial brooches.” Rose from the movie “Titanic” would have adored these.
Yosca combines vintage gold and antique silver with colored Austrian and Swarovski crystals in imperial combinations of lavender and sapphire, tourmaline and garnet, as well as clear crystals.
Available in three sizes, demure to grand to majestic, each piece is important enough to stand alone or can be clustered together and sprinkled on a French twist or an upswept style for wedding-day glamour.
Floral combs also get updated with silk hydrangeas and daisies. Then there are always the real garden garlands that circle the head, rimmed with elegant fresh posies.
Carlo Vega, a stylist with the Warren-Tricomi Salon, is known for his signature upsweeps and floral hair arrangements for weddings and black-tie parties. Often working with fresh flowers, including roses or orchids, he works to achieve a flattering, original design.
“It’s all in the eye,” he says. “I appreciate beauty in things. Even imperfect hair when balanced and styled can become perfect.”