Choosing Your Wedding Hairstyle

A bride needs to choose her dress, her flowers, the wedding colors and equally important, how she is going to wear her hair. There are so many alternatives open to the bride that this can sometimes be a daunting choice. After all, the hair must go with the dress, the veil and the bride’s face. The type of headpiece the bride is wearing can be a determining factor in her choice of wedding hairstyle. Like her dress and veil, how a bride wears her hair says a lot.

One possibility is to simply wear the hair down, as so many brides do. A bride with her hair down shows a soft look. This can be accented with curls or simply by a veil, tiara or flowers. Other times a woman chooses to put her hair up, in a bun style. This can be very attractive; showing off the bride’s face more, but if done wrong this can make her look hard. But, again this leaves the choice of veil or flowers. At one time a French braid was very popular for brides but the interest in this style has waned over the years.

One source of hair styles are the bridal magazines or online sites. It can difficult to decide what suits her face, dress and veil among the many other decisions and plans that must be made for the wedding day. Too often the bride’s wedding hairstyle gets left to the last and she may wind up settling for easy instead of what she really wants. It is worth spending some time looking through the bridal magazines or surfing the Internet on bridal websites and seeing if anything looks good. These options will show the prospective bride potentially hundreds of pictures of women wearing various accessories in their hair and how these make them look. It will also show the differences that styles have on different hair colorings. That does not mean that a bride should go and dye her hair for her special occasion just that different styles may look better for blonds, brunettes or redheads.

Don't forget to ask your hairstylist for assistance. They can try a variety of looks on you so that you can see exactly how it would look, with or without a tiara or veil, before your big day.

Sometimes a woman will decide her wedding hairstyle by trying to emulate the styles she has seen other brides wear. Perhaps she wants her hair to look like Princess Diana wore it, or Jacqueline Kennedy, Madonna, or Elizabeth Hurley. Maybe she saw a style worn by a movie character or her favorite television bride. No matter what her choice, or why, as long as she is happy with her hairstyle she will be a beautiful bride.

Everyone wants to look beautiful on their wedding day, but do consider the activities and the expected weather when deciding on a hairstyle.

• Stick to something simple if you'll be very active, unless you have bridesmaids on hand who can fix your up-do. A few bouncy dances and your up-do may be coming down.
• The timing of your wedding and wedding reception are important as well - if there is a 4-5 hour delay between the wedding and reception, is your hairstyle going to survive, especially if it is humid? While many women may decide upon elaborate hairstyles, they have to go the distance for the day.
• Carry extra hairspray (freezing hairspray may be the best bet on your wedding day), bobby pins and hair decorations (if your wearing them) for last minute fix-ups if needed.