Fashion and Beauty: Dressing up a romantic Valentine’s Day tale

Feb 11 2010 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

We took her to Rubens hair salon where stylist Aisha Lawrence created a chic, modern look for Lucy.

As only the best will do for any bride, we also booked a make-up appointment with Christian Dior consultant Miriam Coldwell at House of Fraser.

Lucy has short, white-blonde hair. Aisha says that while many brides want to grow their hair for their wedding day, there are many ways to ‘dress’ short hair.

“It’s important to stick to the colour theme of the wedding and use attachments such as little clips or flowers,” she explained. “They add a feminine touch.”

She said short hair can look young and innocent if kept simple.

For Aisha, she decided to create a funky look with hair slicked back at the sides and spikey on top.

“Use straighteners to pick out strands of hair that you want to accentuate,” she said.

A sparkling tiara added a touch of glamour.

Miriam says bridal make-up should be radiant and not too heavy.

Lucy chose an eye palette of soft greys for a smokey effect and a pale pink lipstick with gloss over the top.

For our photoshoot Lucy wore two ivory gowns and looked picture perfect.

Lesley Griggs, a partner in Pronuptia, believes that couples are waiting until they can afford a really lavish wedding.

“They want the big hen party weekend to get all the beauty treatments, a lovely dress, lovely venue and the Caribbean honeymoon – and that doesn’t come cheap.”

She also says that today’s wedding couples are doing it for themselves.

“At one time it was partly the mums’ and dads’ day and they’d invite some of their friends and pay for the reception,” said Lesley. “These days there is less parental involvement and it’s more about the couple and what they want.”

In Huddersfield the average spend by a bride on her wedding dress is around £800 with the cost of the groom and groomsmen’s outfits about the same.

“Most brides have a budget and they’ll talk to us about it quite openly,” said Karen Henegan, from bridal shop Pronuptia, in Huddersfield. “The biggest one we’ve heard of was £32,000, but we’ve also had a bride who came in and bought a £100 dress in the sale.”

Most brides start looking for a dress more than year before their wedding and will have several fittings.

“Many of them lose weight and go down a dress size,” said Lesley. “But we had one bride who went down four sizes from a 20 to a 14 which was quite amazing.

“It’s a lovely job and quite emotional. You see the mums crying when their daughters are trying on their dresses and, because we see them for best part of a year, we get to know them quite well.”