Wedding makeup deposits

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Beautiful-you

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I'm asking on behalf of my daughter, who is a makeup artist. She was planning on branching out into wedding makeup as well when she felt ready, but has already had a few enquiries and makeup trial bookings for weddings either later this year or next year, and she doesn't want to turn them down.

Please could any of you experienced wedding makeup artists give some advice as to how much deposit to ask for (percentage?), and whether it should be non-refundable, or partly or wholely refundable within a certain period of time before the wedding? And when should they pay the deposit?

This is not my area of expertise so the only advice I have given so far is to do the trial makeup first before taking a deposit, so they can decide if they like her work, but to pencil the date in her diary straight away. Also, should she ask for the final balance before the actual wedding or on the day?

Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
 
Hi there,

Hopefully I can be of some help.

I require a 25% non refundable deposit from my brides which holds the date.

This makes the date theirs.

I then do the trial which is paid there and then.

Rest is invoiced a month before the wedding.


[emoji5][emoji5]

Lauren
Laurengosinghair.com
 
Thank you.

Do you find brides are happy to pay that much so far in advance, without having a trial?
I'm thinking of worse case scenario here, what if they have their trial makeup and decide they don't like it and want to go elsewhere? (One of the brides currently enquiringly has already had a trial elsewhere she didn't like!). Do you still keep their 25% deposit? Somebody has suggested taking a smaller deposit of say £25 to reserve the day and Then take the remaining 25% of the whole amount after the trial?

Or ... after the initial enquiry could she suggest they book in for a trial fairly soon, before actually booking just to make sure they are happy with her work? Then take the 25% deposit?

Sorry for all the questions!
 
Don't have the trial too far in advance because I've had brides forget and want a second trial. I used to do the following.
They ask if I'm available for their wedding and we book that and the trial in. When I did the trial, I charged them £50 (this was for my time and their deposit). If they then went home and decided they didn't want me, I kept the deposit but obviously cancelled the date in my diary. This only happened once.
If they go ahead, they pay the outstanding balance (£40) either before or on the day. I did bridesmaids and family on the day for £35 each and they could have a trial but only when I did the brides trial, and I charged £20 each for that. I would also do a package price with a bit of discount, so bride and four others for example, with a discount etc.

Weddings are hard work. My prices are from about 3 years ago as I no longer do weddings. We generate a lot more money in salon with general treatments so have stopped offering them but they were usually great fun.

Vic x
 

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