When it comes to setting a budget for your wedding hair and makeup, the numbers can be confusing. After all, hiring a professional glam squad to tend to you and your closest friends is probably not something you do regularly! It doesn't help that wedding hair and makeup costs vary hugely. There are options for every budget, and every hairstylist and makeup artist will have a slightly different pricing structure, which makes deciding how much to spend even trickier! But to help, we've put together a handy wedding hair and makeup price guide, which will give you an approximate idea of what the beauty budget for your wedding should be, so you can get planning.
How to Use our Wedding Hair & Makeup Guide
If you've read our post on typical Irish wedding costs, you'll know that we've assigned a figure of €550 for bridal party hair and makeup. This is by no means a definitive price, but a ballpark number that works as a good starting point for anyone in the budgeting stage of wedding planning. If, for example, you're not having a bridal party, and just want hair and makeup for yourself, your figure will be lower, and if you're flying an Irish beauty team abroad for a destination wedding, it's bound to be higher!
This wedding hair and makeup price guide was designed to be edited to suit your own requirements. So if you're not having flower girls, you'll need to remove that figure, if there are two brides, you'll need to double that figure, and so on. When you're finished, you should have a fair approximation of what you'll spend on wedding beauty. Use it when planning other sections of your budget, as well as contacting hairstylists and makeup artists. Then you can go back to thinking about the fun side of wedding hair and makeup - deciding what look to go for on the big day!
It's also worth noting that some beauty pros combine hairstyling and makeup into one package. In that case, you can use our guidelines to figure out which option represents the best value for money!
Not Having a Bridal Party?
Bridal hairstylists and makeup artists tend to work on a package basis, so many of them will charge a minimum call-out fee if there are less than three people having their hair and/or makeup done on the day. This represents great value if you have a bridal party, but makes things tricky if you don't. Many brides in this situation plumb for the smallest package available and offer the extra spots to their mum, their partner's mum or a close pal. If you only want to pay for your own hairstyling and makeup, it's worth scoping out a few local salons instead, but you can also try contacting hairstylists and makeup artists directly for quotes - they may have some wiggle room in their pricing structure.
Wedding Hair Cost Guide for Brides & the Bridal Party
- Deposit paid upon booking: €50 - €80
- Bride's hair trial: €50 - €100 (per bride)
- Price bundle for bride and bridal party's on-the-day hairstyling: €280 - €375 for 3 people total, €375 - €450 for 4 people, €450 - €525 for 5 people, €525 - €600 for 6 people, and so on, plus any extra travel expenses (see note at the end of the post!)
- On-the-day hairstyling for one or two people: €100+ per person if you can travel to your stylist, most will charge a minimum call-out fee of around €300-€350, plus any extra travel costs
- Flower girl aged 12 or under on-the-day hairstyling: €20 - €30 per flower girl
- Bride's pre-wedding haircut: €70 - €200
- Hair extensions can come in different forms of clip ins, pre-bonded and tapes: €70 - €700
Find a list of our recommended hairstylists here.
Grooming Cost Guide for Grooms & the Groom's Party
Grooms-to-be have a few options - they can get the bulk of their primping sorted in the days before the wedding and style themselves on the day, get treatments beforehand and hire a hairstylist to tidy them up on the day, or have the full works on the day (we don't recommend an on-the-day haircut, but a hot towel shave or beard treatment is a great idea!) Some barbers and grooming rooms, including Men's Grooming, offer call-out services, but it's worth checking with your favourite barber shop, too - you'll find 14 of the best here.
- Groom's on-the-day grooming: €100 - €150 per groom, plus extra travel expenses (see note at the end of the post!)
- Groom and groom's party on-the-day grooming: €250 - €300, plus extra travel expenses
- Pre-wedding groom treatments: €50 - €75 per groom
Wedding Makeup Cost Guide for Brides & the Bridal Party
- Bride's makeup trial: €50 - €100 (per bride)
- Price bundle for bride and bridal party's on-the-day makeup: €280 - €400 for 3 people total, €330 - €480 for 4 people, €380 - €560 for 5 people, €430 - €640 for 6 people, €480 - €720 for 7 people, and so on, plus any extra travel expenses
- On-the-day makeup for one or two people: €100+ per person if you can travel to the makeup artist, most will charge a minimum call-out fee of around €300-€400, plus any extra travel costs (see note at the end of the post!)
- On-the-day manicures: €40 - €70 per person
- Products for retouching your makeup on the day (lipstick, lip pencil, powder etc.): €40 - €80
PLEASE NOTE: A makeup artist uses on average 33 products for a full face of skin prep, makeup and lashes, and carries up to eight sets of brushes in their kit per wedding. However, the cost of makeup has increased hugely and there's a demand amongst bridal parties for many diverse brands and preferences. A makeup artist now needs a kit that covers all requests in multiple shades and finishes, such as: mature skincare and products, vegan products, light to full coverage products and so on.
Find a list of our recommended makeup artists here!
Wedding Beauty Guide - Pre-Wedding Treatments
- Manicures and pedicures: €20 - €70 each
- Facials: €100+ each, but money-saving packages are usually available
- Spray tan: €30 - €60
- Eyelash extensions: €40 - €100
- Brow treatment: €30 - €40
A Note on Extra Travel Expenses
If your makeup artist or hairstylist must travel for over an hour to reach your wedding venue, you will probably have to pay extra travel expenses on top of the package you've selected. Some will calculate these expenses by time, others by distance. For approximation purposes, you should allot €20 extra per half hour of travel time. It's a good idea to confirm with your hairstylist and makeup artist whether the price they've quoted includes all travel expenses - that way, you can set aside an exact figure, and there are no surprises!
A special thank you to makeup artists Juliet Morrow Make up and Nicola Plummer, and stylists Upstyle Funk Hair and Dominique Kane Hair for assisting us with the pricing guide in this article.
You'll find a full list of the best wedding hairstylists in Ireland here and our rundown of the best makeup artists here.
