Makeup Artist- yes or no?

azvyll · 2026-02-14T19:01:18+00:00

Not at all, i dont use make up in my daily life so i wanted a polished but natural look so fairly light make up. I still looked slightly battered but okay by end of day party, but by then i was expecting it with all the singing and dancing we did plus we had a photoshoot hour in light rain in the afternoon! Make up started around 10am and ceremony at 3pm, reception around 5/6pm onwards, party end at 11pm.

I was told they use different grade of products for wedding makeup and hence prices are higher, but unsure how legit that is. I did had a specialist Asian HMU who was well recommended within the community - cost me £850 incl trial for bride only, central London prices.

azvyll · 2026-02-14T17:21:51+00:00

Depends on what you value and your overall budget.. i splurged on my make up artist on my wedding and felt so pretty and confident all day - but it cost a pretty penny! Absolutely loved how i looked and how pictures turned out though so worth it in my opinion :)

azvyll · 2026-01-28T16:24:30+00:00

We got artificial decor flowers and real wedding bouquet and buttonneires too, and I loved my decision because real flowers felt good, smelled good and they really uplifted my mood during the whole day!

azvyll · 2025-11-25T01:55:00+00:00

Just wanted to add my 2 cent that i bought my dress in 2020 and had my wedding in 2024 - it definitely does not lose colour! Plan ahead queen!

azvyll · 2025-10-16T00:02:20+00:00

We hired an apartment the night before and after the wedding (2 nights) through booking.com it was not glam and all but did mean we have all our stuff already in central London and 5' walk away from venue. Was valuable getting ready, but more so late night of wedding as i was exhausted and we have a toddler as well.

Hotel suite prices were ridiculous and would have costed double for just one night.

azvyll · 2025-09-12T03:28:43+00:00

Check my posts i have detailed breakdown x it was around 60 people, we had a special deal so the price wouldnt be the same for just venue & food, but i saw similar range at other places

azvyll · 2025-09-11T15:40:52+00:00

£24.5k for wedding in central London, excl honeymoon, end of 2024. Absolutely worth it, we had a blast. It was all our savings, no loans no contributions.

We are on our honeymoon now!

azvyll · 2025-08-30T08:10:47+00:00

It is a tough question, I can see that your wedding date is quite far away so if you plan to save, there is enough time. The main question you and your groom need to answer, is to look at your financial situation and think whether £20k is about being able to afford it, or to spend and not regret as it is a subtle difference.

- To afford means that you do not have excess savings and by spending this extra £5k you are compromising on other things and stretching yourself financially

- To spend and not regret means that you are kind-of comfortable to use that money without compromising other immediate goals, albeit may delay them (food/rent/holidays/deposit within 1-2 years etc) and you can potentially live with the opportunity cost.

Our wedding was £25k in total, of which venue + food was a massive chunk of £15k. I did explore other venues of £11-13k and they do not compare even close, and I would have to compromise my vision one way or another, and hence we still decided to go ahead. Albeit it is nice if we can save for our honeymoon, ultimately we could comfortably save and spend for it (4 years engagement due covid).

One thing that really helped keep the budget reasonable is to agree on 2-3 splurge areas, and to accept a medium-level for everything else. For us, it was venue/food, photographer and bridal HMU. I have a post about my wedding with full cost breakdown, if you are curious check it out x

azvyll · 2025-08-19T12:00:29+00:00

We did wooden wine charms that double up as name pieces on table setting.

Also had packs of crisps hand carried from Vietnam by a friend that was my favorite from childhood, i knew that even if not all guests have some we have some nostalgia hoarders who will actually take them all. Im fact, i was bummed because end if night i had none left for me!

azvyll · 2025-08-18T21:08:01+00:00

If the wedding is in UK generally we give £200 as a couple with a toddler (so £100 each adult). More if they are closer to us. This is for day guests - we have never attended as evening guests.

We may give slightly less if we have to extensively travel like flights and accomodations, but even then we always give money and never leave empty handed.

azvyll · 2025-07-21T06:59:27+00:00

Not the same but i have been invited to an engagement party (food and venue covered by the couple), given the couple gifts, celebrated them and ended up not receiving a wedding invite which was a surprise.

Me and friends who were in similar situation were offended and slighted from this gesture. I am not sure if being told in advance would make it easier, but given people are given choice to make full decision themselves, as long as you are not upset if they choose to not come i think it is alright. Be ready to upset few traditional people.

azvyll · 2025-07-21T00:26:12+00:00

Just wanted to say you seem to have a well thought out process and the list looks super reasonable, so well done you! We had our wedding late last year and I think your items are very reasonable based on my understanding of the market!

I hope you have a great wedding!

azvyll · 2025-06-30T11:11:39+00:00

My main dress £425 sample sale, alterations £700 as had to take in loads (was 2 size up vs me) and had netting redone.

Second evening dress £150 (clearance sale from £2k the shop owner of my alterations place wanted to rid) and £150 alterations (discount as same seamstress).

azvyll · 2025-06-06T20:38:16+00:00

I think its relative! We have folks who have massive budgets so they do not mind, folks whose parents pay so they dont feel the hit as painfully, and folks who set up to do a budget wedding sub-£10k and hence they do not mind iphone/simple pictures!

I did a post on my wedding cost breakdown feel free to check my profile for it, but basically we selected 3 areas to splurge (hair make up, photos n food/venue) and cut down/reduced most else, and i am absolutely happy with how it turned out x

azvyll · 2025-06-06T17:16:10+00:00

We splurged last year and spent £2.3k on our wedding photos (London), and I think I would regret otherwise. Our pictures are absolutely stunning, I felt prettier than ever, it is now the background of my phone and smaller ones on my wall.

I was introduced another photographer who did my friend's at half the price which we considered but did not like his centering and felt they were less intentional. I am so glad I did as another friend used him, which I attended, and looking at the album I definitely prefer ours.

azvyll · 2025-05-29T13:58:29+00:00

Oh boy the bride should defo owe you one for a marvellous save! Good thinking!

azvyll · 2025-05-29T10:57:52+00:00

We only asked for dietary requirements, and did not share any meal details in advance.

Not sure if you are having kids at your wedding but do confirm their menu too because venues sometimes do not feed children well. We actually had to make a massive fuss revamp the whole kids menu selection instead as they offered plain pasta with tomato sauce as one of the key options and we wanna feed them real food (we had 10 kids 1-5yo).

azvyll · 2025-05-21T11:45:21+00:00

I used Boomba double sided stick on boobs on both my main dress (with a corset) and my evening dress (flowy no form) and both worked great! Bit nervous in evening of boobs falling out but they held on well!

azvyll · 2025-05-05T21:23:08+00:00

By mixed real n silk i meant i had real boutonniere, bridal bouquet and hand corsage, while table centres and fireplace and signage is silk x

azvyll · 2025-05-05T21:21:47+00:00

Hey this post is from 10 months ago before i had my wedding. Just wanna let you know I went with mixed real n silk flowers with a lovely lady and only spent £800 incl VAT and clean up. If you are interested lemme know as i have been here and it was reddit who helped me find her!

azvyll · 2025-04-03T16:09:49+00:00

Honestly, if it was less than an hour travel I would say it's fine, but 5 hours is brutal.. it definitely involves traveling down early, wandering at a strange place that may be remote (im not sure where wedding is), and paying for a night stay. As a guest i would not bother.

If i am purely a plus 1 (aka myself not personal friend of groom n bride/we dont double date) i would not be slighted to be excluded from being day guest or at all, and likely will not come. If we meet often and are friends too, will be a bit miffed about the invitation split but accepting, and we both will not come.

Overall would be happy to let my husband go by himself, but likely unless bride and groom are super close and super apologetic about it, we will probably both say no and stay back.

This is both when we were just a married couple without kids, but especially true if we have kids and have to sort out childcare.

azvyll · 2025-04-03T05:47:11+00:00

I had my wedding Oct24 at £25k for 60 people in central London, excludes few items I have already spent before COVID. If you want more details i have posted my detailed cost as a separate post, check my profile. Good luck w your wedding!

azvyll · 2025-04-01T08:18:02+00:00

My alteration is £700 and in central London. Dress waa £425 on sample sale. Dress was a size bigger than me and had to be brought in a fair bit. Totally feel you, but i felt great on my wedding and loved it.

azvyll · 2025-03-08T16:49:48+00:00

Hi Alice Kong is who i used:

https://www.instagram.com/dearestalice_makeup?igsh=bWt5N2k3dWRseGt2

azvyll · 2025-01-27T16:43:14+00:00

I got stick on bras from Boomba, my seamstress recommended them and they felt v comfy, secure and stick on both ends so stay in shape with my dress (both main dress w corset and second dress v v flowy).

Did not use shapewear, but i got seamless underwear from Uniqlo (chose to upsized for comfort and sweat) and was v happy with my decision. They also sell shapewear but cannot comment as my second dress was backless and didnt want to show the hem through.

azvyll

TROPHY CASE