How to Have Picture Perfect Wedding Makeup

Ashley Tramm is the owner and lead makeup artist of Unveil Loveliness, LLC. She is freelances with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and loves all things beautiful.  She adores working with brides to help them achieve their cosmetic dreams. She would love to help you on your big day! You can reach her by email at info@unveilloveliness.com.

Lovely Makeup Starts With Lovely Skin

My goal as a makeup artist is not to mask you; my goal is to enhance your features so you can feel your very best. When consulting with brides, the point I cannot stress enough is that great makeup is directly correlated to maintaining and achieving great skin. A common misconception is that “She was born with such great skin” or “I wish I could have her complexion!”  While some women do have naturally good skin, many of us have to work at it, myself fully included. A lovely complexion can be achieved with a good regimen. I recommend consulting with your dermatologist 6-8 months prior to the big day to address any problem areas.  It is best to start the routine early, so if your skin does react adversely, you have ample time to remedy. I would also recommend a mini facial a week before the big day.

Quick Tip Takeaway: Happy skin is the first step to beautiful makeup. Hydrate your skin and add oil, yes oil, if needed. Avoid the sun!

Long Wear

The use of long wear formulas is another key to achieving beautiful wedding-day makeup. My top three budge-proof products for kisses and happy tears include:

Lorac’s Behind the Scenes Eye Primer This primer serves as a base for any powder shadow to eliminate creasing throughout the day.

Bobbi Brown’s Long-wear Gel Eyeliner I don’t think there are enough words to express my love for this product! This liner is so creamy and it dries quickly for a long lasting finish. I love this product in all shades, but for the big day I recommend Black Ink or Caviar Ink for the ultra peeper pop.

Chanel’s Double Intensite Ultra Wear Lip Color This double ended lip color stays put through the “You may now kiss your bride” and the glass-clinking smooches.

Quick Tip Takeaway:  To achieve a look that lasts, use products designed for long wear.

Say Cheese!

To establish a beautiful photo-ready face, I have a few go-to products that will help finish the look to give you that bridal glow.

Bobbi Brown’s Corrector and Concealer combo. This duo together gives you lift and lightening underneath the eye. There is nothing more beautiful that a bride that looks refreshed and awake. These two miracle products truly live up to their titles. Corrector helps to neutralize any blue undertones and the concealer disguises those circles. Together this power couple gives you the look of Sleeping Beauty after a great rest. Here comes the bride!

Peony. This is classic and lovely for your big day.

Cargo HD Picture Perfect Translucent Powder is amazing to set your foundation and complete the look. Any lines or pores are virtually eliminated with this amazing miracle worker. This is the best product to cap-off your face to get you ready for the camera flashes!

Quick Tip Takeaway: Conceal those circles, add a pop of color on the apples of your cheeks, and set your face with an HD powder to help diminish the look of pores and fine lines. You will be snap ready, and remember to flash those pearlies.

These are just a few tips that I have up my sleeve to get you ready for your big day. Feel free to reach out for any inquiries or questions. I would love to hear from you! You can reach me at info@unveillovliness.com. You can visit my website for more bridal inspiration at www.unveilloveliness.com. 

How to Avoid an Angry Wedding Officiant

This video was posted on The Knot yesterday and although I have never had an experience quite this terrifying, I have dealt with a some difficult officiants, wedding coordinators and churches. I've found a couple of simple steps can help avoid these wedding day mishaps.

1. Find Out The Photography Policy of the Church

Many churches have established photography policies, it's important for you (and your photographer) to know and understand these policies.  When choosing a wedding venue, ask if they have specific wedding photography policies.

Many common photography policies include things like: 

• Photographs in the sanctuary must be finished one hour before the ceremony begins
• Photographers must refrain from using the flash during the ceremony, except during the processional and recessional
• Photographers must stay two rows behind the last seated guest

It's a great idea to sit down with your photographer and talk through the policy, some of the guidelines may interfere with the shooting style of your photographer, it's important to understand these things before your wedding day!  These policies can also effect your wedding day schedule, so make sure to keep that in mind as well!

2. Add Photography to the List of Things to Ask Your Officiant

Understanding your officiant's style is key to the tone of your wedding day—check out this great list of 10 Questions to Ask Your Officiant.  In addition to these questions, it's a great idea to ask about your officiant's photography policies as well. Some officiants are very flexible and are not bothered by the photographers, other officiants want to preserve the significance of the wedding ceremony and avoid distractions such as flashes and moving photographers.

3. Communicate Your Preferences with Your Photographer

It's important for your photographer to know what your photography preferences are as well.  

If you would like your ceremony photos to have a more intimate and close feel, your photographer will need to be very close to the front of the sanctuary, this usually means sitting among your wedding guests, while this creates beautiful photos, it can also be somewhat distracting to your guests to have the clicking of the camera in their ears.

As a photographer, I strive to always be professional and respectful of the bride and groom, the guests of the wedding and the officiant.  A wedding day is definitely not about me as a photographer—it is my job to help make your day be as beautiful as it can be!  Having a clear idea of the photography policy of your venue and the preferences of the officiant and most importantly you as the couple can help you avoid a wedding day mishap like the couple from this video!

Our Wedding {Get Dressed!}

I finally accomplished something wonderful... after six months of being married, I ordered prints from our wedding (TGB Photography)! In the process of looking through all the photos, I realized I've never shared any of them here on the blog.

After being a wedding photographer for several years, I gathered a rather large collection of ideas, things to avoid and must-haves for my wedding. So when I started planning, I just hit the ground running. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to keep our day original, and I wanted it to feel like us.

So this is the first in a series of posts showing off some of the fun details from our wedding this past June! I hope you enjoy! I'd love to hear your questions, comments and feedback.

Dress:

Ella Bridal - Dolce Satin Gown with Lace

Purchased from Luxe Bridal, Minneapolis, MN - I had such a fabulous experience at Luxe, they specialize in curvy brides and really went the extra mile to make me feel special.

Necklace:

I knew from the begining that I wanted a statement necklace. White has never been one of my favorite colors. I wanted to incorporate other colors without getting too crazy, but I still wanted to feel like a bride. So I handmade this necklace with pieces from JoAnn Fabrics. It was a fun project that I finished easily in one afternoon.

Veil:

I have always loved the look of the birdcage veil, it adds a classic and vintage flair that I just could not pass up! Again I struggled to find exactly what I was looking for. Everything in the bridal industry is white, white and more white, so I purchased some russian netting fabric online and a few flowers and went to work! I was really nervous about making my own veil, but it cost less than $12 to make. My hairstylist, Aubrey, really made everything come together!

Hair:

My wedding hair was done by the ever-so-fabulous Aubrey from Swept-Up Big Day Hair Artistry. From start to finish Aubrey was amazing to work with. She is easy going, incredibly talented and exactly the kind of person that can be trusted on such a big day! If you are looking for a hair stylist, I strongly recommend her!

This handsome man is my husband Pat. You can just look at his handsomeness in this picture and I will talk all about the details of his outfit after the next pictures! :)

Tie:

So my husband is a Mountain Dew fanatic. He drinks more Mountain Dew than I even care to admit. He is also a very goofy and sarcastic person. Somewhere along the way, we came up with the idea to incorporate fun ties. So I designed the "I Dew!" logo! We found the ties for SUPER cheap, and we were able to buy the ties and get them screen printed from the Arthouse for less than the cost of a normal tie! It was such a fun and memorable part of our day and truely represented my husband to the T!

Stay tuned for more posts about the other aspects of our day! I'll try to post them before our one year anniversary!