I often time see posts and get asked by brides to take a makeup tutorial so they can do their own makeup to save money in their wedding budget. This often concerns me for multiple reasons.

First doing makeup yourself for a special occasion can be stressful normally. Add to it the extra stress of it being a wedding day. Then add on it’s a new skill for you that hasn’t become part of your muscle memory yet, so it’s going to take you longer to do and there’s more room for error. Why would you want to add on this extra stress on such an important day and risk being late for photos.

Second learning makeup takes time. You didn’t learn to write your name the first time you were given a pencil and someone showed you letters. One makeup lesson is not going to make you an expert. It takes years of practice for it to become muscle memory and even more experience to learn what works on camera differently from what works in the mirror. So are you going to risk sacrificing your face, which is going to be the central focus, in all your wedding photos and your wedding video? You have made a large investment in in these photos and video and they will be the only things you have to look back on from your wedding day.

Third hiring a makeup artist should be about more than just makeup. A makeup artist on your wedding day is there not to make you alone look picture perfect but your family and bridal party too. The artist is going to make sure everyone looks consistent, so no one person is going to stand out with a drastically different look. Are you planning to do everyones makeup that day to make sure this happens? Also, because makeup artists have been doing this so long they will be faster than you are, have more products, understanding lighting and cameras better than you do and so much more. Sitting in the makeup artists chair gives you some time to relax instead of being stressed. On top of that the makeup artists services might also include the artist staying with you to handle touchups so that you don’t have to worry about constantly checking to make sure you have stayed picture perfect.

Now finally the actual cost. Makeup isn’t cheap. To get the results of a makeup artist not only will you be paying for the class, at least once, but you have to buy lots of product much of which you may never use again. So lets break that down with just some of the basic expenses you’ll have. These are prices from March 2025 rates may have gone up since:

Makeup Lesson: My rate is $325 per person per class
Primer: $34 - $55 average
Foundation: $39 - $46 per color average (I mix multiple colors to perfectly match)
Concealer: $30 - $33 per color average (I use a minimum of 2 per client)
Powder: $35 - $42 average
Bronzer: $32 - $38 average
Blush: $26 - 31 average
Eyeshadow collections (Not individual colors): $23 - $75 average (I use 4 colors minimum per client might not be from same collection)
Eyeliner: $23 - $35 average
Mascara: $28 - 53 average
Eyebrow Pencil: $18 - $26 average
Lipstick: $16 - $35 average (I mix multiple colors to create you custom color)
Blender Sponges: $2 - $20 average
Powder Brush: $20 - $60 average
Chiseled Brush: $20 - $46 average
Eyeshadow Brush: $20 - $36 average (3 different ones are what I use)

This comes out to $760 - $1061 that you are spending at minimum to do your own makeup if you have to purchase everything and take a class. It could go up from there. With that being said you can get some of these products cheaper but most likely they will not be as quality of a product a professional would use or recommend and would deliver the same results.

So should you hire a makeup artist for your wedding day? Thats up to you but I would strongly recommend that you do. Not hiring one could actually cost you more money, not only that more stress and you might not like how your makeup reads in professional images because what you see in the mirror and from the camera are not the same. And your wedding is a once in a lifetime moment and those photos are an investment you’ll be looking back on for generations to come. I always advise brides that they should consider the wedding makeup as part of their investment in photos.

DIY WEDDING MAKEUP: Is it really going to be worth it and save you money?