Bridal hair and make up is so expensive in Italy – are there ways I can save?

In this Article

Share

You’re going to want to sit down for this one: The cost of bridal hair and make up in Italy was WAY higher than I was expecting, and a lot more expensive than you’d pay for hair and make up in the UK. I was regularly receiving quotes around the €800 mark, just for the bride.

Not one to go down without a fight, I was in denial for a long time and explored every option I could think of to lower the cost. Some of these worked out for me and I did end up paying less than some of the quotes I was getting, but if I’d known what I know now I could have saved myself a lot of time and stress. So, to save you some of the heartache here’s what I learnt, where I saved, and where I couldn’t.

Why IS bridal hair and make up so expensive in Italy?

I don’t know about you, but knowing WHY it was so expensive helped me make peace with what I was paying. Essentially there are three main reasons:

  1. Supply and demand: Weddings in Italy are more popular than ever, and only select MUAs work with destination brides and are trained in the more natural / soft glam looks that UK brides favour. This means they can charge more for their services.
  2. Location: Think how large and remote Tuscany alone is. Bridal MUAs usually have to travel extensively and cover accommodation the night before.
  3. The covid effect: Italy was one of the countries worst hit by Covid, and travel restrictions meant that the Italian wedding industry took longer than others to get back on its feet. Italian wedding suppliers across the board have increased their prices since Covid as a means to survive.

Understanding this made the high fees a little easier to swallow (at least for me.)

Do I need a make up trial? Skipping it will save me money, right?

Trials are around €150-200 on top of what you’re already paying – plus you’re going to have to have it in Italy. I’d say whether you need a trial or not depends on the person you are, but the advice I got from my MUA was that no, I didn’t need a trial if I was comfortable not having one. A good MUA will have a thorough video consultation with you before your big day, and chances are you’ve picked them because you love their work, so you probably already have an idea of which of their looks you like, right? 

I decided to have my ‘trial’ the day before my wedding, so it could double up as my welcome party look. I figured it was a good way to make any small tweaks, and also justify the cost of the trial as I’d be glam for our ‘night before’ event.

Having said that, if you’re someone who will feel stressed at the thought of not having a trial or if you have specific requirements you think will require certain techniques or special attention, then book the trial. You can’t put a price on your mental health.

Could I find a local MUA who will do it cheaper?

This is something I looked into, and my honest answer based on my experience would be ‘no’. Italian make up trends are different to the looks that many UK brides choose (it’s heavier and more dramatic) and the majority of non-destination MUAs are naturally trained in this style. If you like your make up heavier then this could be a great option, but if you’re wanting the more ‘soft glam’ look that is the most popular choice for UK brides, then this probably isn’t the right option.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to fly out an MUA from the UK?

This was another option I looked into extensively, and if you’d be doing this to save cost then the disappointing answer is: It will probably work out more expensive. By the time I worked out flights, hotel stays, car hire, plus the fact that UK-based MUAs will need to charge more for destination weddings because they’re missing 2-3 days of work back home, it sadly didn’t even come close to being a cheaper option. (I also found a lot of them wanted to pick their own hotels or requested a minimum four star hotel, so budget-friendly accommodation wasn’t an option.)

Can’t I just do my own make up?

Absolutely – I wish I was talented enough to do that. The only thing I would keep in mind is that you might not be used to how your usual hair and make up will stand up in the heat, so I’d make sure you practice in weather conditions you expect to be similar to your wedding day.

So how DID you save money?

Using my trial as my welcome dinner look might not have saved me money, but it definitely helped it to feel more justifiable. There were three ways I saved though, which were:

  • I paid in cash: Lots of MUAs, like most vendors, are willing to remove the VAT if you pay cash. Definitely ask your MUA if this is an option.

  • I used a British make up artist, who was living in Italy: My MUA was from Ireland but had moved over to Italy. It meant her costs were more in line with what we expect in the UK, and although she was exceptionally talented and very established back home, she was relatively ‘new’ to the scene in Italy and her prices reflected that. There are a lot more British MUAs living in Italy than I realised – use Facebook communities as well as Google to find them.

  • I asked my bridesmaids to pay for their make up only: This is a controversial one and I fully understand that as a bride you want to cover everything for your girls. However, I had a few bridesmaids who prefer to do their own make up, one who has very sensitive skin and is cautious about the products she uses, and one in particular who is really good at doing make up herself. So, I made the decision to pay for my bridesmaids’ hair (since I was asking them to have it a certain way) and give them the option to pay for their own make up if they wanted to have it done. They were all so supportive of this, and I reasoned that it meant I could use the money to put towards their bridesmaids gifts, which was something they could keep forever vs something they might not necessarily have wanted.

Who was your make up artist?

A good bride would never gatekeep! My MUA was @niamhfrain_makeup on Intstagram, although she has since started working for an agency in Italy and I believe her prices have increased. She worked alongside @katyweddinghair who you can book direct through her Insta. Both were fabulous, and I can’t recommend them enough.

Recommended Planning Tools

You don’t want to be without these planning tools if you’re getting married in Italy. From trackers to templates, and detailed step-by-step guides… these are the resources that will help you level up your Italian wedding.

Next Articles