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Wedding day bride
Full prep, base, eyes and lip, lash application if you want it, and a small touch-up pouch left with whoever is holding your things.
Willow Bloom · Bridal artistry
Bridal makeup that still looks like you at midnight.
A single-artist studio for weddings in the valley. One unhurried trial, one calm morning, and a finish built for long light, warm rooms and very close photography.
The approach
Built on your skin, not over it.
Every booking starts with how your skin actually behaves — where it shines by lunchtime, where it goes dry, what it does under a marquee at four in the afternoon. The trial is where we settle that, so the wedding morning is only about getting ready.
“I would rather you look like yourself in a hundred photographs than like a magazine cover in two.”
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One trial, properly
Ninety minutes, your own lighting where possible, and photographs taken on a phone so you can see the finish the way your guests will.
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Products chosen for wear
Long-wear bases are layered thinly and set in sections. Nothing on the kit list is there because it photographs well in a studio only.
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One artist, one room
I work alone and cap the day at one wedding, so the morning keeps a single pace and nobody is handed between chairs.
What I take on
A short list, deliberately.
Guide figures below cover artistry, kit and set-up. Dates, travel time and party size shape the final quote, which you receive in writing before anything is held.
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Colour trial
Two directions tried side by side, notes written down, and a short list of what to buy for your own touch-ups. Booked at least six weeks out.
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Bridal party
Bridesmaids and attendants, finished to sit beside your look rather than copy it. Up to five chairs in a morning alongside the bride.
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Mothers and close guests
A lighter, quicker finish for the people who will be in the receiving line and every family photograph. Added to an existing booking only.
Figures are in local currency and exclude travel beyond the valley. A date is held once the trial is complete and the written quote is accepted.
The morning, hour by hour
How a two o’clock ceremony runs.
This is the schedule I plan backwards from, adjusted to your ceremony time and sent to you a fortnight before. It exists so your photographer, your florist and your mother all have the same morning.
07:30Arrival
Set-up by the best window
I arrive an hour before the first chair, find the strongest natural light in the room and set up away from the dress and the shoes.
08:30Chairs begin
Bridal party first
Attendants go first so they are free to help you. Anyone being photographed early in the day is moved up the order.
10:45Quiet hour
Prep and base for the bride
The longest, slowest part of the morning. Skin prep, base built in thin layers, and a short break before anything is set.
11:45Detail
Eyes, lash and lip
The trial notes come out here, so nothing is being decided for the first time with a room full of people watching.
12:30Buffer
Thirty minutes of nothing
Deliberate slack for late hair, a late florist or a long first look. If the morning has run to time, you get a sit down instead.
13:00Dress
Final set and hand-off
Setting mist before the dress goes on, a last check in daylight, and the touch-up pouch explained to one named person.
Three directions
Pick the one that sounds like your day.
Most brides arrive with a saved folder of images and leave the trial somewhere between two of these. Naming a starting point simply saves us the first twenty minutes.
Before you write
The six things I am asked every week.
When should the trial actually happen?
Six to ten weeks before the wedding is the sweet spot. Earlier and your skin, your hair colour and often your dress alterations have all moved by the day; later and there is no room to retry a direction if you sleep on it and change your mind.
What should I do to my skin beforehand?
Stop starting new things. Keep whatever routine is already working, book facials and any treatment that resurfaces at least three weeks out, and come to both the trial and the morning with a clean, moisturised face and no self-tan applied in the previous two days.
Do I have to wear lashes?
No. Individual lashes are included if you want them and we test them at the trial, because they change how open the eye reads in photographs. A tint and a curl is often enough, and plenty of brides go without entirely.
Where do you travel, and what do you need from the room?
Anywhere within the valley is included; further afield is quoted with travel time. In the room I need a chair, a table and the best window you have. Bathroom lighting flatters nobody, so I will usually move us.
How many people can you take in one morning?
The bride plus up to five others, comfortably, without rushing anyone. Beyond that the schedule stops being honest, and I will tell you so rather than squeeze a seventh chair in before the dress.
Will it last through heat and dancing?
It is built to. Bases are layered thin and set in sections, and the finish is chosen for your ceremony time and venue rather than for the trial photographs. You also leave with a small pouch holding exactly what is on your face, so touch-ups match.
Check your date
Tell me when and where, and I will reply with availability.
One wedding a day, so dates go in order of enquiry. You will hear back within two working days with availability, a written quote and the next trial slots.