5 Tips for Working with Bridal Clients as a Makeup Artist

Makeup artists, I want to talk to you about bridal clients! If you’ve worked with them before, you know that they require a little more TLC than a non-bridal client, but the experience can be such a beautiful one to be a part of. If you are an aspiring bridal artist, here are five sure ways to have brides coming back to you time and time again. In this blog, I’m going to share my top five tips for working with bridal clients!

Tip 1 – Make Your Brides Feel EXTRA Special

Of course, it’s your job to make everyone who sits in your chair feel special. It’s the nature of our jobs! However, when you’re working with bridal clients or even bridal inquiries, try to keep in mind that they are celebrating one of the biggest days, ever. Oh yea, they also essentially invited you to their wedding as a vendor. Show gratitude for their inquiry and once they book you, make them feel like they are the most special bride in the world and you also want to express plenty of gratitude for inviting you to be a part of their special day!

1- Don’t talk about other weddings you have that day/weekend

2- Bring a travel speaker and play their favorite type of music

3- Communicate with photographer ahead of time for optimal getting ready photos

Remember, if your bride hasn’t officially booked you and they are just price shopping, or even if you are unavailable for their date, it’s still good business (and good karma) to put a little bit of extra effort in celebrating this special season of their life. Being kind and showing gratitude and enthusiasm doesn’t take extra time!

Tip 2 – Create a Detailed Proposal

Before providing any prices to your potential bride, it’s important to ask all the questions necessary to give you a semi-precise idea of the amount of time and services you will be rendering on their big day. Do not give ANY specific prices until you have all the information. Brides have so much on their minds and they may not remember everything that they want included in their package. Nobody likes surprises on their wedding day, including you and the bride. You need to create a detailed proposal that outlines exactly what you’re going to do for them so there’s no confusion on the day of. 

As far as the questions I ask in order to create the proposal, there is an art and a science to them. As the makeup artist, you have to think 2-3 steps ahead of the bride and all the possible services she may (or you) may need. For a solid place to start check out my bridal questionnaire, which you can check out here.

Once you have all the information you need, it’s time to send over a detailed proposal. Accurate, detailed, and professional proposals have gotten me more jobs than I can count — even though I wasn’t necessarily the “best” artist. There’s just no need to reinvent the wheel every time you land a new client! Get a template that works and then just plug in the new information and you’re good to go! I have bridal templates, including a proposal template, in my shop if you’re interested!

And remember, your proposal and invoice are different and you can read about how they differ here.

Tip 3 – Don’t Delay! Time is of the Essence!

I can’t count how many times a bride chose to hire me over another makeup artist simply because I got back to them quickest. Seriously. Of course, this started happening more and more after I developed templates and workflows (and tried and true follow-up emails). 

You can set up templates in gmail but please, use a professional email address (like natalie@nataliesetareh.com). I did use nataliesetareh@gmail.com for quite some time and it worked just fine — but there’s something about correspondence from your professional email address that makes everything easier.

After I started to get a larger volume of inquiries, I began using HoneyBook as my client management tool! It’s a powerful client management system that organizes your workflow and also keeps all your amazing templates handy. It has been a solid workhorse — as it handles client management, branding, professionalism, and getting paid! Should you need to employ a client management system or try it out, feel free to use my referral link  — which benefits the both of us should you sign up.

P.S. I interviewed luxury bridal makeup artist Rachel Lusk for my podcast and she shared TONS of great tips and advice. Check it out on Spotify or listen below!

Tip 4 – ALWAYS Follow Up

Brides are busy and there’s a good chance they’re reaching out to several vendors at once and being pulled into a million directions. Following up to see if they have any questions about your proposal or seeing if they have answers to your questions always works in your favor. 

Write up a follow-up email that will work for most of your bridal clients. Then, just tweak the details as needed each time you need to send it to someone. This email doesn’t have to be rocket science. It could be as simple as:

Dear Bride,

Hope you are having a great week! Did you have any questions on the information I sent over?

Be Well,

Natalie

Of course, my follow up email is included in my email templates bundle, which you can find here.

Tip 5 – Make Sure You are a Good Match

I know how tempting it is to want to book every bride that you have time for. But before you say “yes” to the bride, it’s 100 million percent critical that you make sure they are a good match.

In my experience, the more questions the bride asks, especially about how to squeeze the juice (get as many services as possible for the least amount of money), the more likely it is that they will be incredibly picky and generally unsatisfied. You will start to develop some of your own red flags as you do more bridal work, but if it feels off, trust your gut!

Also, the more questions you ask, the better idea you’ll get about the bride’s personality, preferences, beauty visions for her wedding day. You’ll know whether or not they one of your ideal clients or not — if they aren’t ideal for you, they will be for someone else! Refer them to another artist who may be in line with their style and personality.

Want to learn more makeup artist business tips? Hop onto my mailing list to receive weekly coaching tips! A rising tide lifts all boats and I only wish I had some help when I was starting out.

If you want a little more one-on-one help when it comes to working with bridal clients… or you are not sure what to say or how to prepare a complex invoice… Book an a la carte coaching call with me! You don’t have to air out your business on Facebook groups or figure it all out on your own. I’m here to help and give you real-life, educated advice and strategy.

I would also be remiss not to mention Sonia Roselli’s “Finding Your Ideal Client” course. If you listen to my podcast or read this blog, you know that I’m a huge fan of her work. I have taken almost all of her courses! This one one is fantastic. You can get on the waiting list to be notified next time it launches.

I also have a course launching soon called The Side Hustle Makeup Artist which goes over SO MUCH but specifically, vendor relationships and building your portfolio as well as building your pro kit, marketing 101, and more! If you really want to hone into your bridal business, this course is for you. Learn more and get on the waitlist here!

Ok, I hope this information has all been super helpful. Have any comments or questions about working with bridal clients? Drop them in the comments or send me a message!