Photography Blog

Boston wedding photographer passionate about documenting exquisite celebrations rooted in family and one of a kind experiences. Based on Boston's North Shore.

Wedding Love : Lena Hartford on Looking Your Best!

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Today I am so honored and excited to have Lena of Hair That Moves sharing her thoughts on wedding day beauty and tips on how to look your best! This is the second day of a week long series highlighting several local New England wedding vendors offering up value tips and information to help brides through their planning process!

Hi Lena! First, thank you so much sharing your thoughts on wedding day beauty! Would you mind sharing with us how you got started as a wedding hair stylist?! Sure! I started in the bridal industry about 8 years ago after leaving the salon I had worked in for 9 years. I realized that there was a huge need for brides to have on site beauty services.  I began to travel to be onsite for the convenience of the wedding day schedule. I started to see it make a huge difference for my brides. I absolutely love traveling to weddings! On site wedding beauty is an entirely different world than working in a salon, something other hair stylist often don't even know about. I am lucky enough to be able to provide these services to brides to be! I also travel for everyday beauty services as well.

What should a bride think about when hiring a make up artists or a hair stylist? My wish is that brides would think and budget for hair and makeup as an accessory. Statistics show that beauty is 1% of a bridal budget. Brides spend a lot of money on their wedding dress, veil, shoes and jewelry, what better accessory is there than hair and makeup?! Hair and makeup are what help bring a bride's look together and complete. My hope is to encourage brides to think more about their wedding hair and makeup when putting together their overall budget and to leave room for this vital part of the day!

What should a bride think about when trying to figure out her style or look? The first thing a bride should consider while planning their style is choosing something that you feel comfortable in. If you're uncomfortable in your hair and makeup, it will show. Brides should also be considering the season and weather they will be marrying in as well. I also recommend asking your mom and groom how they like your hair the best. It seems silly, but when I have a bride that is unsure of the style they have selected it is usually based on those two opinions. The feel of the wedding, the style the design and the dress should also set the tone for the hair and makeup. Discuss all information to your makeup artist and hair stylist to create the best look for you!

Why should a bride with work a professional hair stylist or make up artist in the first place? Why is it important?

While there a lot of talented hair stylists and make up artists out there, not all of them are familiar with bridal work, schedules, time constraints, and most of all how to complete a style that holds all day and looks flawless photographed. Working on site and being able to create hair styles on demand in a short amount of time on large groups of women can be a whole art in itself. From a makeup stand point, not all makeup is created equal. Wedding makeup needs to last through sweat and tears and for longer than 8 hours. It also needs to look flawless in a camera and not all makeup is created equal! The better your makeup is, the better you will photograph. These are the types of things professional make up artists and hair stylists are trained to know about, and this expertise is vital to helping you look your best!

Whom ever it may be that a bride decides to work with, my hope would be that they would take the time to interview them. Educate yourself on the background and experience level of the person you will be working with and understand how they will work on your wedding day. This goes a long way in ensuring you have a great makeup and hair experience!

What are the favorite parts of your job/business? My favorite part of my job is helping people look and feel beautiful! It is my passion, especially on a bride's wedding day!

Thank you Lena for offering some helpful tips on wedding day hair and makeup! Check out some of Lena's amazing work below! She's provided me with some wonderful makeup and hair services for my own personal photography projects! She is a miracle worker and tamer of red frizzy hair!

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Credit to Katelyn James above and Justin and Mary below.

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Lena and I have also worked together previously on a Ballerina Inspired Bridal shoot and Brian and Lisa's wedding this past year!

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Wedding Love: Lena of Hair That Moves

I'm so excited, Vendor Highlight is back! It's been a long hiatus but I've been doing a little reorganization with this series. It is now part of Wedding Love, a new blog series that I hope will be a source of inspiration for those of you out there planning your wedding! I'll be talking with vendors, offering tips and sharing stories from my own wedding. I'm really excited about the possibilities and to kick off the new series I thought I'd share a vendor that I just love, Hair That Moves. I first worked with Lena on our Ballerina Meets Bridal shoot this past spring. I fell in love with her work and wanted to share her with my readers! So without further delay, meet Lena!

VENDOR HIGHLIGHT: LENA HARTFORD OF HAIR THAT MOVES

Name: Hair that Moves Website Blog Facebook Twitter Email: lena@hairthatmoves.com

DZP: Hi Lena! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? HTM: I have been in this industry for about 15 years. I created this business of traveling on site after having my 2 wonderful children, allowing me to be home as much as I can while offering an amazing service. I grew up in New England and love living and working here!

DZP: What influenced you to become a makeup and hair stylist? HTM: Actually, I babysat for a women who was a hair designer and thought this skill was amazing! So, I followed this dream into a high school vocational program and then continued on to get a business degree.

DZP: What is your favorite things about your job? HTM: Hands down, my favorite thing about this job is making people feel beautiful. Whether you are having a bad day and need a pick me up or it is your wedding day and are trusting me to finalize your wedding look, everyone deserves to feel their best! It is fun to have such a personal, one on one relationship with people.

DZP: How would you describe your style? HTM: My working style, is relaxed, easy going, drama free with attention to detail. My hands on work I would consider to be clean and fresh with a modern flare. I like to keep up with the trends but keep things suitable for each person.

DZP: Do you have any suggestions for brides about how to look their best on their wedding day? HTM: Take weather, location and time of day into consideration. From a hair standpoint, if you are getting married in mid July on the ocean, you may not want to wear your hair down. The wind and humidity could really not withstand the whole event. An evening, formal ceremony is the place to showcase a grand up do with richer makeup colors. I would recommend asking for some advice and having a plan B in case there are things about the wedding day you can not change.

DZP: Are their any current trends in makeup and hair that brides should know about or that you are excited about? HTM: Of course the smokey eye is big. I often hear women tell me that "they want to look like themselves but nicer" on their wedding day. So very natural but still having enough color to standout in a photograph. From a hair standpoint, the royal wedding has put the natural down styles back on the map. That is the biggest trend of the season. I personally love the angelic, flirty braids and pony tails. However, the classic clean look is timeless and always popular. No matter what the trend, it should be flattering for your features and make YOU feel beautiful!

DZP: Anything else that you would like to add? HTM: When choosing a wedding hairstyle remember you will look back at these images 20 years from now. Make sure to chose wisely! You should feel comfortable for an 8 hour period in this look. I love working on photo shoots, they allow me to do things I don't always get to do for weddings.  Some of my photo shoots can be seen in Seacoast Bride, NH Wedding Magazine and Grace Ormond New England edition.

 

***If you'd like to see more of Lena's beautiful work check out our styled Ballerina Meets Bridal shoot here.***