Crazy bridal makeup prices!

[Butterbeer22]

So, I've been coming across a few TikToks basically asking the question what's a scam that's become normalised that we don't realise is a scam anymore? And a girl said MUA's bridal makeup.
Apparently some charge from £500 to a grand! And a few people in the comments were trying to justify the prices by saying they have to get up at 4.30, sometimes travelling for hours and have to carry loads of bags and another commenter said the price she was quoted included travel and wear and tear to her car 😲
I've never been married, so I don't have a clue about prices, but AIBU to think that them prices are insane!?

Feel free to add your own normalised scams 😂

I also think the UK TV licence is a huge scam/rip off. Firstly, the money only goes to one broadcaster and secondly why should I pay for something I don't consume?

Did you have insurance?

We claimed the lost deposits on our wedding insurance after we had to completely change the date and location of our wedding due to Covid.

I understand that wedding make up has to last so more/different products are needed, but I read one of those "Am I wrong?" articles today. A MUA had been contracted to do "party make up" for around £140.

She arrived, and did the woman's face.

As she was finishing (the "party make up") the MUA realised by the people arriving that it was a wedding.

She then demanded the bride pay not the £140, but £380 - as that is her "wedding rate".

She had already done the bride's make up, using whatever products she would use for "party make up", but she claimed she should be paid £240 more just because it was a wedding, and not for any other reason.

She was the person asking if she was wrong. She was told yes. People pay more for wedding make up because of the additional work and skill involved. She hadn't done wedding make up, she'd done party make up - in her mind it wasn't the products used, it was the word.

You don't have to have a TV licence. You can cancel at any time. Without a licence you cannot watch any live TV, or use BBC iPlayer. However you can watch other channels on catch up (C4, ITV, C5). So no need to pay for something if you're not using it!

It's because women fall for this. Do your own make up, don't wear make up? I did my own.

There was one supplier thread where a caterer claimed he sent his ‘A team’ for weddings, and ‘B teams’ for other events. Shouldn’t all his staff be equally capable?

Depending on what's required they may well be, but it's equally possible the A/B team is mere waffle to justify the prices
A friend learned this to her cost when paying a fortune for their "top catering manager", who turned out to be some kid who fancied himself an entrepreneur and was opening (then rapidly closing) venues all over town. Unfortunately the wedding venue was one he'd lost interest in, as the dismal result showed

Flowers are another one, especially nowadays when brides favour natural arrangements such as hand-ties, etc. Obviously premises and so on cost money, but the price difference for a simple bunch given as a gift and the same thing for a bride is obscene

If anyone wants to see the video that made me make this thread here it is
Bridal makeup or vm.tiktok.com/ZMNSEmrus/?k=1 if you don't want to click on it

I personally did my own make up but I did pay a hairstylist to do my hair and my five bridesmaids hair.

I found that as soon as you mention it’s for bridal, companies / stylists will hike their prices up.

Myself and bridesmaids all had our hair curled, mine took about 10 mins longer because she put it into a half up half down do but because I was the bride the cost was £100 more than the bridesmaids (I did justify this because I can’t really do my hair and I’m glad I had it done for my big day!)

I do think people have a right to change the correct amount for their work, make up can be extremely expensive. My foundation alone costs £40 and I imagine they’d have to have all shades plus all the other make up etc.

There are definitely people who will take advantage but I think each to their own if they are happy to pay for it

Oh sorry I've linked it twice 😅

My own make up is fine for every day but I do not have the skill levels for top level makeup

Yes I was thinking this, did the insurance not cover it? If so that's awful for you and I'm so sorry.

I don’t understand why people have someone else to do their makeup on their wedding day. It’s a new ‘thing’ I think which never seemed to happen till relatively recently.

How are they supposed to know you well enough to make you look like you? When I’ve seen people who’ve had make up done by someone else they look totally different and why would you want that on your wedding day? Isn’t the idea to look like yourself but better?

The only person I know who doesn’t look different wears very heavy make up every day anyway.

@Puzzledandpissedoff agree!! I had £80 minimum quoted for a tiny rose bouquet with some gypsophilia my mum is an ex florist and said she could put that together for less then a tenner! I got some identical faux ones in the end £16! And won't wilt and die the next day!

Not sure about it being a recent thing…my mum
got her make up done professionally for her wedding in the late 70s, as did my aunts, and my grandmother got hers done professionally in the late 40s…

It’s always been a thing.

Wedding flowers can cost more than regular flowers. Here’s why…
generally for most events/ orders the clients will have a relatively open flower description I.e. pink roses. We can go to our supplier and pick the best offer we can find. There might be a dozen different pink roses to choose from. If they just said pink flowers- the choice would be even better.
when I’ve done weddings the shade of pink is usually very important. Brides will specify a variety of roses they want I.e. sweet Avalanche. There are fashions and colour trends each season and some flowers are in very high demand. If we have to get a specific variety will have to pay a premium price to ensure it. We brought off the Dutch auction houses and when a crate of flowers was brought in the clock would start running. As the clock ran down the price would decrease. The buyers could stop the clock and purchase the flowers. The first one to press their buzzer and stop the clock got to buy the goods. So if only those roses will do the buyer doesn’t hang around waiting for the price to drop. They buy them as soon as the clock opens to ensure they get them. It’s expensive.
also, if a bride wants a bouquet with 30 roses in and I can’t use up the others elsewhere ( possible if not shop based) she’s going to get charged for all 40. They come in wraps of 10 or 20.
also, the more experienced florist will be making up your wedding flowers. They command a higher rate, they have more experience.
Some bouquets are much more technical than others. A wired bouquet might take 3 hrs to make compared to 1 hour max for hand tied.
tldr: be as flexible in your flower selection as possible to make your flowers as cheap as possible.

My friend’s daughter is getting married next year and her make up rehearsal and for the day is £90 and £50 for mum and bridesmaid (each).
bargain!

silly people will pay silly prices

Yikes. My MUA travelled to me, did an amazing job and charged £80 for the bride which included individual fake eyelashes. She charged £50 each for adult bridesmaids (no eyelashes) and no charge for the bridesmaids / flower girls under 16.

Reading this thread has made me realise I got a great deal!

I must move in very different circles!

What's wrong with doing your own make up?
I've never understood paying someone else to do it.
My daughter in law paid a fortune for her face to be made up for her wedding and she looked like a clown, which on seeing the wedding photographs, she said herself.

Add the word "wedding" onto anything and the price shoots up through the roof. We were quoted £800 for our wedding cake and it wouldn't have even been big enough to feed all our guests a piece. I wouldn't have minded if it was intricate sugar work, but it was literally three small tiers iced and edible paper butterflies stuck on. I worked out that even with the most luxurious ingredients, that would have come to circa £50 and the rest was her time and some to cover electricity for the baking. Turned out she wasn't even hygiene registered or insured either. Needless to say it was a no from us.

God there's so much poor understanding of wedding services in this thread I could cry!

As for the pp moaning about 'CFs' keeping deposits? I kept deposits because I had produced work FOC up front and that deposit secured my service on the basis of that trial. Damned right I should keep that!

It's not new. I was doing it in the late 80s/early 90s

Most places add on £££ for a wedding.
You can get a good deal if you shop around or don't go to a specific wedding provider.
I used my normal local salon for my updo bridal hair and it was £30. I had a qualified MUA who charged £20 for my trial and then £30 on the day, including her travelling to my venue.
Not everyone wants to rip off brides. I didn't have any bridesmaids etc though because it was a covid restricted wedding so that probably helped.

They can only really do one wedding a day (most of the time) and I can imagine that many makeup artists don't have a full diary Monday-Thursday. I don't think it is unfair, if I was day rate in my job £500 would be very reasonable.

It also is not just the amount of time spent on the wedding day. It's the time spent on communications, travel time, time to clean and pack up their kit and clean and unpack it, time to maintain social media/website and also the cost of the products,NI, Tax, pension contribution etc etc

If someone does not want to pay that, they should either find someone cheaper (there are lots of makeup artists who are) or do their own makeup. Not discourage someone who is clearly stating what their time is worth.

The local asian muas, do the makeup and leave. No mua stays the whole day with the bride. Plus most of them will be come late, which causes huge stress for the bride. Their typical day will start at 4/5am and finish by 6pm, they will have back to back bookings. And they are always in a rush too which is not fair. Oh and don’t get me started on the refreshments that the bride must to provide 🤣. My friend was coerced into giving permission to a mua to post pic on social media because the mua said she will make more of an effort if she can post the pic.