Hairstylist.....what’s considered too much $$

I paid $150 for my hair, but that included a "free" trial, plus my hair stylist came to my hotel suite the morning of the wedding. I also tipped her like $30 for the trial (since she was doing it for free I gave her extra) and then I think I gave her an additional $40 as a tip on the day of the wedding.

My trial was also “free”. My hair and makeup was $240, bridesmaids were $160 for both, and my mother in law was $80 for both. My venue was far away from town so my stylist drove out for a $100 travel fee. My ceremony was at 3 so there just wasn’t any kind of time for us to go out to a salon and come back with everything else going on that day. I thought it was a lot, but I spent over $2000 on my photographer so I wanted to make sure I looked my best.

I paid $150 for hair. If I would’ve done a trial it would’ve been an extra $90. She came to me and I got married in Carmel, CA.

My hair trial will be $70 and $95 the day of. She will be coming to me. I looked at bridal hair/makeup stylists in my area who would come to the venue, and out of those who I thought did the best work, I chose the cheapest.

My hair is $70 (just doing half up, half down) my makeup is $120 (airbrush and lashes) both my hairdresser and the makeup artist are coming to my house the day of

I think it depends on where you live, how much hair you have and what style you want. My hairstylist is only charging me $40 but it’s fairly simple what she will be doing. I don’t have much hair, she’s cut my hair for years and she’s basically placing my headband on after she fluffs my hair up.

This is going to depend on where you live. My hair was $125 + tip. This didn’t include my trial.


My wedding was in San Diego County. With me and 11 other ladies in my wedding party, I paid $3500 for hair and makeup. This included tip and travel fees. I had two hairstylists and two makeup artists (so 4 total) working on 12 people. They came to my hotel cottage the morning of the wedding and my makeup artist stayed on-site at my venue for touch ups until the reception.

I’m in NC and I’m paying 85 for bridal hair and 65 for all other bridal party/mom hair and 70 each for makeup!

Forgot to add — hair and makeup artists are both coming to our venue for services, no added travel fee

All of your prices are so reasonable. I think I only found one stylist where it’s less than $200. I recently contacted a stylist who does different textured hair which is what I’ve been looking for since I have very curly hair. But she’s charging $300+ not including hair trial nor traveling fees and it could be more because she would be losing clients.


Some of these prices have made me cringe a little.

View Quoted Comment The prices you mentioned is too much! I have been doing bridal hair and makeup for 9yrs. By the way congratulations! My wedding is not until next year October.

I am super happy I get to save in this department, because I am a beauty therapist/massage and I will be doing my own makeup as well as my bridesmaids hair and makeup.

I have been doing bridal hair and makeup for 9yrs now... we charge base on length, the type of look you are going for, hair extension and the texture. Pls note a lot of the hairstyles you see the models are wearing extensions so most of the time to achieve the look you are going for you have to get extensions.

My hair and makeup is 200 total including a trial. It is 150 for all the bridesmaids and moms for both, only cheaper because no trial.

View Quoted Comment Base on my experience in the field I would recommend you do a trial. The last thing you want is to get your hair done on the day of your wedding and not liking it...

The quote I received for Hair & Makeup was $260 (I added the faux lashes upgrade) which includes the stylist coming to my hotel room for the big day. Mom & Sister are $200/each for both Hair & Makeup.

I agree with pp that this varies a great deal by your location/market and the vendor's focus/skills. Daughter's day-of hair & make up were $300. Her trial for both was $200. For both services (day-of and trial), we also paid a total of $100 in tips for her services. As the MOB, I think my hair & make-up was about $200. We went to the HMUA's salon. We're in So Cal, and she's a highly experienced wedding HMUA.

Really hard to tell if you'd be paying too much without knowing your location. I will be paying $550 and that includes hair + makeup + a trial for both + travel fee. It is still very expensive to me, but wasn't even the most expensive I found, this was mid-range but I chose them because I loved their style and also because they charges a LOT less for bridal party than others.

I live in NJ close to NYC. This salon is border line NYC. I really love their style. I’m assuming since they’re close to the city that’s why their prices are so high.


My MOH and I will be doing the bridesmaids hair so that’s something I don’t have to worry about. I booked my MUA with someone else who also does a variety of women.
Every other stylist or MUA that I’ve researched only caters to one specific type which isn’t bad but it lacks diversity in my eye. I think that’s why I’ve been so picky.
But I guess if I want the best I’ll have to pay a little extra. Thanks for the advice and for sharing your prices. 😊

The company I hired gave us 3 levels of experience to choose. Level 1 being the artist has less than 1 year experience, and so on. I ended up choosing level 2 because I just don't have the budget for Level 3. For Level 3, they charge $300 for Bride's HAM, $75 for other party's hair only. This does not include the trial. I will have 2 ceremonies, they are charging extra $50 for being there earlier than 8am. My total would be over 1000. Sigh.