The Vendors' Meal: Feeding Your Hair Team Is Not Optional

It shows up in almost every vendor contract and almost every bride skips past it: the vendors' meal. It sounds like a formality. It is actually the single most practical thing you can do for the mood of your getting-ready room.

Here is what a wedding morning looks like from my side. I arrive at seven. I set up in twenty minutes. I style continuously until one, sometimes two. That is six to seven hours of standing, lifting a blow dryer, and holding my arms above my head. If I have not eaten since six in the morning, by hour five my hands are less steady and my patience is thinner, and the bride who is next in the chair can feel both.

The fix is simple. A platter in the room at ten, something with protein, plus coffee and water that keeps coming. It does not need to be plated. It does need to exist and it needs to be somewhere my hands can reach without leaving the bride.

Coordinate this with your planner rather than doing it yourself on the morning. Planners build it into the catering count. If you do not have a planner, put it in writing: two hair artists, breakfast for both, delivered to the getting-ready suite by 9:30.

A related note on drinks. Mimosas at nine are lovely and they slow a styling timeline considerably. I never say no. I do ask that the party saves the second round until the last person is in the chair.

None of this appears on the investment page, because it is not a charge. It is the reason a $400 hourly rate produces calm instead of chaos.

If you want a morning that runs on time and stays pleasant, inquire and I will send you the full getting-ready checklist.