EP #4: Tips on Finding Your Best Wedding Day Stylist: Click to Listen...

​The below is an auto-generated transcription from the podcast. Please excuse typos and grammatical errors.
Transcription: EP #4: Tips on Finding Your Best Wedding Day Stylist

Charlie McDermott  0:00  
It's time for the La Sabrina hair design podcast with Amy button. Hey there, Charlie McDermott back co host of the show and my other co host slash cohort. Amy button is with me, Amy, how're you doing?

Amy Button  0:15  
I'm doing good. It's good to be here.

Charlie McDermott  0:18  
Great to be here as well. We awesome holiday season. It was chilly. There were some germs circulating around. But hey, we came out back or out of it all the better. Right? You have a good holiday?

Amy Button  0:32  
Yes. Yeah.

Charlie McDermott  0:34  
Yeah, that we should do it again. Can we can we?

Amy Button  0:37  
Can we? Yeah, my kids have been asking, can we just redo Christmas?

Charlie McDermott  0:44  
Once a year just isn't enough, man. But we are back. And we've now entered, you know, hey, it's amazing with life. Right? There's there's always a next thing. And we have now entered the engagement season. And I know that because guess whose daughter just got engaged. So it's funny, we're gonna talk about that today. And I'm gonna be taking notes. And I'm gonna pass this along to her. But I know you want to get into decisions and what happens during the engagement season. So I'm gonna turn the mic over to you.

Amy Button  1:26  
Yeah, so we call it engagement season. And that usually is from when the holidays start to Valentine's Day. So about November, to the end of February. And then with that, there's a lot of decisions that all of the sudden need to be made. And it can be a little overwhelming. So if I can kind of help bring some shed some light on the bridal team beauty team aspect of that, I would love to share tips and tricks.

Charlie McDermott  2:01  
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Awesome. Because I I'm not involved in many, if any of the decisions, fortunately. But boy, there are a lot of decisions outside of your world. And I'm kind of glad I'm not involved. But fortunately, BB is. So what Phil was saying, what what, you know, what do we have to consider? What kind of tips do you have, because this is something you've been doing for years and years helping other brides look their best and have an awesome experience during their wedding day.

Amy Button  2:37  
Yeah, so one of the biggest things that a bride can do that was just really helped them through the decision making process is to look at reviews and pictures. This is something that even I would say 12 years ago, there wasn't as many options to find those reviews and pictures. But now we have businesses all over Facebook and Instagram, social media, Pinterest, but the best places I feel like to look other than Instagram, because Instagram is a real quick, you can scroll through pictures, and you get a good idea of the quality of work. But my favorite places are the Wedding Wire and the knot. Those sites have vendors, all like every vendor, you can think out from photographers venues to bridal hair, and makeup. And a lot of times to within those sites, not only can you see the reviews, and you can see the pictures, but you can also see what awards that they've won. And vendors also get to give recommendations for other vendors. So for me before creating my own salon team, where I have a couple of different teams that I can send out every weekend. Before I had that established, I was really particular about makeup artists that I wanted to work with. Because within the beauty industry, you want to work with somebody that has the same quality and the wedding day is that important to them just as important. So the recommendations from the vendors on the site I feel like are also overlooked. It's with something it's a tool that most brides I feel like don't even know is there. And that I think is a huge like tip that most brides don't even they're just not aware.

Charlie McDermott  4:55  
And what would you say is the difference between a vendor or business referral or a review, I mean, versus a consumer past client review?

Amy Button  5:07  
Well, they're both very important when you have a recommendation from another vendor, especially if that vendor has been in the bridal industry for any length of time, and they've got experience they know who's easy to work with. And the last thing you want the day of your wedding is stress that has absolutely nothing to do with your wedding or your family. Because stress is just something that comes with planning a wedding, it's all worth it in the end. But if you can cut out drama, unnecessary drama, or people who are not easy to work with, or don't have the same quality, then it's just going to make your day run a lot smoother. And vendors that love working with other vendors. And they work well together. They're usually on the same page, they have the same mindset, they have the same feelings on timelines. And they're usually very flexible. And I feel like with reviews, and those recommendations from other venue vendors and pictures of the quality of their work, all of those things reflect whether or not a wedding vendor is in the wedding industry for money versus it is something they love, and most wedding vendors. It reflects in those things, the recommendations, the reviews and the pictures.

Charlie McDermott  6:40  
Yeah, boy, so many good points. They're the one that really resonates with me, I hadn't even thought of because you would think that each vendor is an independent entity, which they are, and but they're all interacting with one another. And the success of one vendor or delay or failure is going to it's going to have that ripple effect on everyone else. Right. So that makes sense that you want to work with someone that one has seen you in action, under pressure, right, the stress of the wedding. And performing brilliantly, because it only makes them look better and feel better. Because hey, if we're all feeling great, everyone's gonna feel great, right? It's just, ya know, I like that. What I never thought about that. That's great. Yeah, yeah. What else anything else that comes to mind.

Amy Button  7:35  
So for the bridal hair and makeup, umbrella of trying to pick what you're looking for. Once you've picked your southwest Florida, then then use or vendors, venues, everything. When it comes to specifically Bridal Hair and makeup, there are a lot of questions that like before you can even book your date that seems to come up frequently asked questions, if you will. And one of those is the location because travel has changed over the years, it was a lot less expensive to travel an hour to some buddies venue wherever they're getting ready. So a lot of bridal beauty specialists are kind of honing in on the area in which they're servicing. For us, specifically, if you're within Naples, we don't charge you a travel fee. But it used to be able to make that radius a little bit larger. But now with the increasing inflation and gas prices, we've had to kind of hone that in so there is travel fees associated with having a bridal beauty team come to you. The next question that always comes up is headcount, how many people do you think you're going to have with you the day of getting hair and makeup? For us, we have a four person minimum. If you have under four people, we have bridal parties in the salon all of the time. Again, though your location would be factored into that I would never want a bride stressing out about traffic if the venue is an hour away from the salon. So those are usually the top two questions. And the third big one is the photographer's timing. That is how I base all my time coming off of because the photographer one is one of the most expensive things for the day, and a lot of times it's per hour. So it's really important that I'm working with the photographer's timeline so that I'm not wasting their time wasting the brides Time and honoring the fact that the bride is spending money on the photographer, per hour typically. So I base everything off of when the photographer wants everybody ready by. And if you can keep your photographer happy all day long, then makes the day so much smoother.

Charlie McDermott  10:22  
So do you find the photographer? Is a photographer ever, you know, stop in during your session and take shots? Or is that more of a just a wedding?

Amy Button  10:33  
So usually a photographer asks a lot of those questions, what kind of pictures are important to the bride, and most bridal parties, I would say 90% of the time, the photographer shows up probably a half an hour before I'm finished. And they take detail shots of the wedding invitation, the wedding rings, the flowers, like all of those, and they are so talented at what they do. It's so much fun to watch them. But then also having that just half an hour of overlap. You get getting ready pictures where most everybody has their makeup done. So nobody on your bridal party really wants a picture of them have to, like get in the pictures. So yeah, yeah, we do usually interact and it is a lot of fun. But when the photographer arrives, usually that's when you start feeling the motion of how the day's gonna go. So if we're just about done, then nobody's stressing out about oh my gosh, I've got so much to do still. And we're about to walk out the door. Just makes it a lot more.

Charlie McDermott  11:46  
Yikes. I have maybe it's an off the wall question. But as you're talking I'm just thinking back to my daughter, you know, she she's going to place to place trying on wedding gowns and all that and I'm wondering, you know, because hair for women I mean, for me there's not much you could do but you know, you've I've long hair I do I wear it up do I do this is that? Do you find that some brides come in and and you know, not wedding day, but pre wedding day to look at different possibilities and styles? Or is it they have it they know coming in that hey, I want my hair a certain way and you find out the day of the wedding.

Amy Button  12:29  
So I highly recommend doing a trial, which is holding the salon. And I try to coordinate it so that when they come in for a hair trial, they're also coming in for their makeup trial because they'll get the Oh yeah. Yeah, up dues look kind of crazy on a person if their makeup is not also done. It is good to try and get those things at the same time. Now for me and my other hair artists and makeup artists, we do this every weekend. So the chances of you showing us a picture of something that we haven't already done or seen before. It's really slim. But the trial is really for the bride is the same as kind of trying on wedding dress, it's don't really know if you like it unless you try it on. So it helps with that it helps cut down on consultation time the day of so then the bride can just sit with a mimosa and not even think about what's happening to her head or face. They really can relax, okay, it also gives you the opportunity to meet your team. Cuz I mean, we mesh really well with lots of different people. Because weddings is what we love. It's what we do. But it gives the bride an ease of you know, I'm excited. I'm excited for my bridal team to come because I've already met them I know that they're kind and flexible and they're gonna be fun the day. It really is for the bride. We can do it without a trial but for the bride, it just makes the day so much smoother if you do a trial.

Charlie McDermott  14:11  
Okay, makes sense. I love it. I love it. What else any other tips that you have?

Amy Button  14:20  
I don't think so. There's one other question I always ask and it catches brides off guard. But it's a it's a question I tried to ask at the trial another great reason to have a trial and that's Do you have any off limits looks for your Girls Party have specific looks that you want your girls to do? Because, you know, every once in a while I do get one bridesmaid that wants a faux hawk but the rest of the bridal party went within a really elegant look. So it gives the bride the opportunity to set standards. And and then I know without even bothering the bride, Kate that's outside Out of the box that we're doing.

Charlie McDermott  15:02  
That's a great, great tip. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Because that could really stress the Bride out. I would imagine if Yeah.

Amy Button  15:12  
Conflict the day. You have that.

Charlie McDermott  15:17  
Wow, good stuff. What Yeah, for and for our listeners, and I meant to say this earlier. I mean, this is where you got your start, right? Didn't you first focus solely on brides? Brides and, you know, whatever you you would for however you would phrase it. But you traveled and help brides all over southwest Florida and beyond. Right? Did you go outside?

Amy Button  15:39  
Yeah, I've done weddings in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Connecticut, tons and Massachusetts. That's where I'm from. But yet started as a hobby. And it turned into a career. So and usually people can tell when I start talking about it, because it is, it is just a lot of fun for me, I really, really love it. And because I've been doing it for almost 20 years now. I've seen even fads come and go. So it's a lot of it's a lot of fun, kind of, I don't know, write or write a fan for a while. But then with weddings, there's always that constant, classic things that are timeless. And I love that too.

Charlie McDermott  16:25  
I bet you've seen it on 20 years. Wow. So I and you know, obviously the podcast folks can look up your number and social media and all that the podcasts the same, but just for listeners who either know someone getting married, and or maybe it's them, best way for them to reach out and get in touch.

Amy Button  16:50  
Yeah, so if you're planning a wedding, the best way is to go on our website, or wedding water or the knot, we're on both of those sites as well. And there's a form you can fill out. And it kind of gives you the opportunity to answer some of those frequently asked questions. And it helps us kind of get the ball rolling a little bit faster. But we also have a form at the front desk. So if you call our number 239537931 by the receptionist has a form at the front desk, where she'll then prompt you to, you know, she'll ask those questions and fill out a forum. And pretty much all of them get filtered through me. And then yeah, the more information I have the better.

Charlie McDermott  17:36  
Awesome, awesome. And then timing, I would assume never too early to reach out maybe get on the schedule, because like you said, you don't you only have so many teams for to put out on any given day. What would you recommend to someone who is just got the proposal? And they said yes, that's also probably important.

Amy Button  18:01  
Yeah. You're your best Yeah, if it is a little overwhelming. So Bridal Hair and Makeup usually is not the very first thing for some brides, it is the most important thing and they want to get that out of the way first. But usually, once you have your venue booked, and you have a photographer, and even your florals, then Bridal Hair and makeup really needs to be the next thing. And I would say you don't want to wait more than I don't know, six months out. I do have brides that even three weeks before they're asking me about their date. But there are so many brides that are planning ahead by a year, a year and a half. That the chances of your date being available, gets smaller and smaller the longer you wait. So especially if we need time to kind of filter through all of those questions. Do you want to be on location Do you want to be in the salon? While I'm talking to brides I'm getting more brides asking for the same date. So it is definitely better to think ahead. So I would say anywhere between a year before your wedding or to six months before your wedding, you really should have that set in place.

Charlie McDermott  19:25  
Oh terrific. You should write a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the getting ready for the wedding and certainly the day of and I would also probably just the secondary benefit of what you provide is because you've been to so many venues, you've worked with so many photographers and caterers and on and on and on. I'm sure you find yourself maybe guiding folks based on what their wants and needs are to other great vendors that you work with. Yeah,

Amy Button  19:56  
yeah, Michael's good. I mean, we get really excited to work with people that love weddings as much as I do, so I get really excited when people ask me Oh, do you have any recommendations? In fact, I feel like I overwhelm a bride. She's like, this one is really talented too. Yeah, yeah.

Charlie McDermott  20:18  
That's great. Well, Amy, thank you. Welcome to 2023 and look forward to seeing you next episode. You too. Thanks for listening to the La Sabrina Hair design podcast. To learn more about the La Sabrina hair design experience. Go to www.laSabrina hair design.com that's www . L A, S Ab r i n a hair design.com or call 239-537-9315