DIY Wedding Hairdo: Should You Take the Risk?

Photo borrowed from Brides.com's DIY Wedding Up-do Video

Are you a frugal bride looking to save money on your wedding day up-do or other hairstyle? Were you thinking about doing it yourself? Waking up extra early, breaking out the hairspray, curling iron and bobby pins, and fussing with your own hair... ON the day you get married!?

In a perfect world, this would work out just fine. Every lock and wisp just gliding into place in an almost cartoon-like fashion. Little birds and mice showing up unexpectedly to wrap you in a beautiful gown, and then send you off to your Prince Charming.

However, we all know that it's not a perfect world. There's so much stress to deal with on the morning of your wedding. Why take the risk of having your hair a. be a holy mess. b. possibly running late due to unforeseen complications, or c. having your hair come out okay, but just not ending up with the bridal hairdo you wanted?

Some low-cost solutions for getting your hair done on your wedding day, and the pros and cons of each:

Have a hairdresser friend give you an up-do on your wedding day.

Pro: definitely saves you a lot of money. Can also be a pro for your buddy, if you decide to let the hairdo be her wedding gift, which basically means she swapped her handiwork in exchange for the price of her (and her date?s) plates.

Con: Some things are best left to the professionals.

Unfortunately, having a friend do your wedding-day hair can be almost as nerve-wracking as if you opted to do it yourself. Particularly if the person doing your hair is actually going to attend (or be in) the wedding. The last thing you need is for your friend to put that last wisp in place, only to turn around and tell her, "I don't like it at all!" and then watch as her face falls. No, having a friend do your wedding day hair can potentially be quite awkward.

Do your own hair on your wedding day.

Pro: Saving money, keeping total control over the hairdo project. Not having to "break the news" to your pal if your hair doesn't come out the way you'd like it.

Con: Entirely too much pressure and stress! Face it, your wedding day will be the most fun and most stressful day of your life. Maybe even not so much fun as just nerve-wracking. Time flies the day you get married... it's all a huge blur of having to be everywhere at once. And yes – those wedding paparazzi will be breathing down your neck every second. So thinking about pictures... not only will you probably have trembling fingers and the dropsies on the day you become Mrs... but if for some reason you can't handle doing your own hair, you're stuck looking at photos of That Hideous Hairdo for the rest of your life!

Get a beauty school student to do your wedding day hair at a discounted price.

Pro: Save money, yet have someone who hopefully enjoys and is potentially good at doing wedding/special occasion up-dos.

Con: Who knows if the beauty school student will be able to handle your hair? I for one have incredibly thick hair – it's almost like having two heads of hair. Yours could be thick like mine, super curly, fine, color damaged, or you could have a difficult haircut to work with... any number of things could cause difficulty for someone who has less experience than a seasoned bridal hair professional.

Despite these warnings, there are many options to getting your hair done for your wedding day. Check out some up-do videos on Youtube... see what it entails. But this is my final warning – you don't want to look back at your wedding pictures and think, "Well... my hair looks just OKAY. Instead, you want to gaze back at those fond memories and think, "Wow... I really looked gorgeous!"

Where to Find a Cheap Wedding Veil

When I bought my (first) wedding dress, the lady at the store asked if I wanted to throw in a beautiful, matching veil. I forget exactly what the price point was, but I want to say it was almost a hundred dollars?? I opted to not let my impulses get the best of me... there were probably a ton of places to get a perfectly nice, low-budget veil that would be the right color and have the right embellishments to go with the vintage look that I wanted.

After doing some price comparisons on veils both online and in stores like David's Bridal, I finally found a perfectly nice and simple veil on Etsy.com. A woman on there was making veils and charging about $30. Seemed like the right choice for me.

Now, I didn't go for jeweled, embroidered or otherwise bedecked... but I did want my veil to have a finished appearance – so I made sure to get one that had a border already sewn on. If you would prefer a bit more detail to appear on your veil, there are still ways you can be frugal about it. You can:

• Shop for the tulle and have your handy mother or mother-in-law sew the border and jewels on, as well as secure the comb in place
• Purchase the veil already made, and buy the embellishments separately, and have someone handy add them on
• Purchase a used veil online (see our list of secondhandbridal websites)
• Try a few thrift stores (I've even seen wedding dresses at the Goodwill!)

Moral of the veil story: it pays to shop around!