Learn to do updos for events

How many of you are at the age where you're getting married or are in wedding after wedding? I feel your pain! Okay, so it's actually a really fun stage in life, but we all know it can be expen$ive!

One way that I've saved money on weddings is doing my own hair. I even did my hair for my own wedding. Yes, you read that right. Was it the best updo ever? Absolutely not, but I've learned over the years that nobody knows my hair better than me. There have been too many times that I've paid for a professional stylist to do my hair for events and ended up ripping it out and doing it myself.

With a little practice, you can do this yourself as well. There are TONS of hair tutorials online that make it a million times easier so start searching on pinterest and google. I just stumbled across this post today which has some great tips.

Getting ready at my parents' house the morning of our wedding. Who needs a hairstylist or makeup artist when you have man's best friend? He stayed by my feet the entire time!

 Here is how it turned out:

How gorgeous are my bridesmaids? Love them.

For the life of me I cannot find the tutorial where I got this updo idea from. I will do my best to explain so bear with me. (It's actually super easy!)

1. Curl your hair and add hairspray so that the bobby pins have better grip.
2. Take the sides and very top of your hair and clip it out of the way on the crown of your head. You'll deal with it later.
3. Divide the bottom section of your hair into three parts side by side. Use a clear elastic to wrap each part (just like you're doing a ponytail). I like the look of lower updos so I did mine toward the bottom of my head.
4. Take the loose ends and start pinning with bobby pins. There is no rhyme or reason to this.
5. Once you get the three sections pinned and looking like an updo, release the top of your hair. You may need to refresh some curls with your curling iron.
6. Gently pin these curls back as well.
7. Spray with hairspray!

I've found that this is a great way to make the hair more manageable because you're working in small sections. Plus, it holds really well!

Practicing at home a few weeks before the big day!

For the following wedding in which I was a bridesmaid, I used the same hair tutorial, but moved it over to the side and added a thin braided headband that matched my hair color. Unfortunately, I don't have a good pic of the headband.

 

For this next wedding, I used this Messy Bun with a Braided Wrap tutorial. I didn't get a very good pic of my hair, but check out the tutorial to see what I was aiming for.

Below is the only time I've gotten my hair professionally done and didn't tear it out when I got home.

I think I could have done something similar though on my own... although the bride of this wedding probably wouldn't have gone for that. Thankfully the brides in the other weddings I've been in have been super flexible and didn't mind that I wanted to do my own hair. They were also more cost conscientious. Who wants to spend $300 on a dress and shoes that they'll never wear again? C'mon!

The girls in my wedding spent $84 on their dresses. I told them to wear nude shoes that they already owned, I gave them jewelry and a clutch as their gifts, and also encouraged them to do their own hair to save money.

So if you're getting married, try to keep costs in check! Your friends and family will thank you for it :) Oh and of course, try doing your own hair!

P.S. Here are the wedding saving posts from the past couple of weeks:

DIY pocket squares for wedding
Wedding dress for less
DIY burlap wrapped koozies for wedding favors
Painted tuna cans as candle holders
Milk cans + branches + white lights for wedding reception lighting
Ball jars as candle holders
Flowers from Sam's Club for wedding 
Wedding wrap-up