Bridal Makeup & Hair in the Eastern Suburbs

Getting ready in the East

Getting ready in Bondi, Paddington, Double Bay, Vaucluse or Coogee? Pick your date and the time you need to be ready by, and add everyone in your party. You'll then see the artists who travel to your suburb, each showing the full price for your party with travel already included.

Seven artists who do bridal makeup cover Bondi. The two closest, Bela and Nadine, are all within 10 km. The prices on the cards are what one bride sees for a Bondi address, with travel included. When you check your date, the price is worked out for your own suburb, and you'll only see the artists who reach it.

If you want one person for both hair and makeup, Bela, Elisa, Zainab and Abrienne do both.

Where the East gets married

The Eastern Suburbs fit a lot of weddings into a short stretch of coast. On the harbour side, Watsons Bay has Robertson Park, where Woollahra Council takes ceremony bookings under the big Moreton Bay fig, beside heritage-listed Dunbar House. It also has the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel, whose rooms keep a bridal party a few steps from the reception. Round the harbour in Vaucluse, Vaucluse House holds ceremonies on the Lone Pine Lawn and in the Southern Paddock, and Strickland Estate has harbour lawns under Moreton Bay figs. Catalina sits right on the water at Rose Bay. St Mark's at Darling Point opened in 1852 and is one of Sydney's best-known wedding churches.

On the ocean side, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar hosts receptions above the ocean pool at the south end of Bondi Beach. Marks Park, on the headland between Bondi and Tamarama, looks north over Bondi and south towards Coogee. Inland there's Paddington Town Hall, and the gardens and waterside lawns of Centennial Parklands.

That geography brings two practical points:

• Parking. Watsons Bay on a warm Saturday and Bondi in summer are slow going, and parking isn't included in your price. Sort out a spot for your artist, such as a visitor bay, a driveway or your building's loading dock, or cover their parking on the day. Once your booking is confirmed, add parking and access notes on your booking page.
• Council permits. If you're marrying in a council park, book the permit early. Waverley, Randwick and Woollahra councils each take ceremony bookings and ask for at least two weeks' notice. Woollahra also asks for a booking for bridal photos in its parks, so if you plan to stop at a harbour park for photos, book that too. Lock these in before you build a timeline around them.

Makeup that lasts on the coast

An Eastern Suburbs look has to survive three things: sea breeze off the headlands, salt air, and bright light bouncing off the water. Things to go over with your artist at your trial:

• Base. A long-wear base with a proper set, and blotting papers in your bag rather than a powder compact.
• Hair that suits the spot. A clifftop or harbour-lawn ceremony in a breeze is kinder to a sleek low bun or a pinned half-up than to loose waves.
• Your sunscreen. Some high-SPF formulas can look white under camera flash. Wear the one you plan to use on the day to your trial, and check it in photos.

Timing the morning

Work backwards from the ceremony. Here's how one artist might run a makeup-only party of a bride, three bridesmaids and mum, getting ready in Rose Bay for a 3:30pm ceremony at Watsons Bay:

9:15am

Your artist arrives and sets up by your best window

9:30am

Mum, then the bridesmaids, about 45 minutes each

12:30pm

You, last, so your makeup is freshest

2:00pm

Dress, detail shots with your photographer, a final touch-up

2:30pm

Ready. This is the time you'd put in as your ready-by time

2:50pm

Cars leave, with room for New South Head Road on a Saturday

Treat that as a sketch, not a promise. Each artist times their own work and sets the time they'll start and finish for your party. Adding hair adds time, and a bigger party means an earlier start, unless your artist brings a second pair of hands.

Your trial

Every artist who covers Bondi offers a bridal trial. Add it when you book the wedding, with the suburb where you'd like it done, or book it on its own. Aim for one to three months before the day, at roughly the time of day you're getting married, in a top close to your neckline and colour. Photograph the look by a window and with flash, then keep it on through the afternoon: how it looks at hour six matters more than minute one. If you're wearing a veil or hairpiece, bring it.

How booking works

1. Enter the suburb you're getting ready in, then add your party: bride, bridesmaids, mums and flower girls. Add your date and the time you need to be ready by.
2. See the artists who cover your suburb, each with the total for your whole party, travel included.
3. Send a request to the artist you like.
4. Your artist accepts, or suggests a different time, with the time they'll start and finish.
5. You accept that time, suggest another, or cancel.
6. Once you've accepted, you pay online to lock in your date. The rest goes to your artist on the day.

A few artists take bookings straight away: you pay to lock in your date and your booking's confirmed there and then, unless your party is bigger than they take on alone, which waits for them to accept first. With everyone else, you send a request first and your artist replies with the time they'll start.

It works the same way on the website and in the Glamr app.

Nearby

Planning a wedding somewhere else in Sydney? Start with our Sydney wedding makeup page, or see every suburb we cover in the Eastern Suburbs.