There were several things that were important to me in finding someone who would do my hair and makeup for our wedding, and they ended up being harder to find than I thought! After a terrible experience at a Greenville salon, I was considering doing my own hair/makeup. Thank goodness I found Katie instead! She was the most professional, most creative, best dollars spent of the entire wedding. Here's why:
Cost: let's be honest, as a bride it's hard to justify all of the expense that goes into our "look" for the day. I was worried that I was spending too much money already to justify paying someone else to do my hair and makeup. Now that the wedding is over, I would honestly have paid two to three times as much to have Katie do her magic. If you are even considering having someone else to do your makeup and hair, hire Katie. You will not regret it for one minute.
Quality: Katie is incredible. She uses great products and knows how to make them work. From the consultation to the final touchup that she did (outside, in the grass!), I knew I was in the hands of someone who truly has perfected her craft. Katie did my makeup and hair as well as that of my sister and mother (neither usually wear much makeup), and our makeup lasted all night through hugging, kissing 1,000 people, and dancing. Katie did us up at about 10AM, and at 2AM I was still washing makeup off my face and could have easily slept in it to wear to brunch the following day.
Creativity: The difference between doing my own makeup or having a friend do it and having Katie do it (aside from how relaxing she is while she does it!) was that Katie has so many more tricks up her sleeves. During my consultation we tried several hairstyles until we settled on the one we liked. She was able to do things to my hair (very thin, shoulder length at best) that I could have never dreamed up! The makeup she did for me and my family was incredible, especially considering how different each of our looks was.
Overall experience: As you can probably tell, I can't say enough good things about Katie. I echo every other bride here when I say I'd be on the waiting list to sign up for a "pocket-sized Katie Cotton." She really made me feel like the most beautiful version of myself, and I could not have imagined a more flexible, professional, calming person to have by my side on my wedding day.