Wedding Makeup Advice From Carolyn Scott

It's the first Wednesday of the new month, and that means, yup, you guessed it, we get a new feature by guest writer, Carolyn Scott, the awesome Raleigh wedding photographer. This week, regarding wedding makeup! Thank you so much to Carolyn for writing this feature! Like always, I truly appreciate it, and am happy to share your wedding photography advice with readers!



I get asked about makeup a lot, which is kind of funny since I hardly wear it and I could probably name about three brands if I tried. ;) But girls getting ready for their big day are really concerned about how their makeup will affect their photographs, so I’ve compiled a list of things to keep in mind as you pick out your makeup artist and makeup location for your day.

1. It doesn’t have to be dramatic: I highly recommend doing what you feel comfortable with. If you want dramatic makeup, by all means make it dramatic! But don’t get pushed into having a lot of heavy makeup by friends or your makeup artist if you aren’t comfortable wearing it. Be yourself and be comfortable because…

2. Not wearing enough makeup is a myth: I’ve photographed plenty of weddings with very natural girls, two in particular simply wore mascara, and that was it. Both of their weddings were published, one in a national magazine, and the other on a popular wedding blog. They looked GORGEOUS and they looked like themselves, which is what they wanted. Did it cause me a problem while photographing? No. Did it make the girls look pale or strange in the pictures? Absolutely not. They looked simply stunning, perhaps even more so because they looked so natural.

3. But there IS such a thing as too much makeup: In contrast to the natural beauty presented by wearing little makeup is the ever-present danger of wearing too much. Too much makeup absolutely can and will cause photographic challenges. Many brides have their makeup done almost like stage makeup for the benefit of the guests to see their features during their vows. The downside to this is the photographs. You will have a ton of close-up portraits done, and you really don’t want to look clownish. Layers and layers and layers can look piled on and create strange skin tone variances and an unnatural-looking surface. Fake eyelashes will definitely be visible and noticeably fake due to the crispness of lenses. Some people are fine with that, but just know what type of look you’re going for instead of being talked into too much makeup.

4. Don’t go tanning the month before your wedding: There’s nothing worse than an orange bride. Your bridesmaids, your groom, your groomsmen, and even your grandma have more than likely not been tanning, so you’ll stick out like a sore thumb in all of your pictures. It’s fine to want a little color, but don’t go tanning for at least a month before your wedding in case your last session turns you orange. My advice? Don’t tan at all. It’s hard to keep orange tones down in pictures and you don’t want to look like a nuclear accident.

5. Get ready in natural window light: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, florescent lighting doesn’t translate well to photographs taken outdoors. Make sure that you do your makeup in natural light so that you’ll have a good sense of what it will look like outside.



(photo credit: Sandra Proudman Photography)