Frequently Asked Questions

Most of our frequently asked questions are addressed below. We hope we have provided you with the information you need. If there is anything we have not covered here, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@bellesandbrides.co.nz.

Q. Do you charge travel fees?

TRAVEL FEES FOR PACKAGE BOOKINGS:

For our staff to travel to you for your preview/consult or on your wedding day within 10km of Hamilton city centre:

A. Travel to locations within 10km of Hamilton city centre, is $50 for your bridal preview and consult appointment, and $50 for your wedding day (this is for two separate staff to travel to your destination). Additional staff (if required) will incur additional travel fees.

For our staff to travel to you for your preview/consult or on the wedding day, to locations outside of 10km radius of Hamilton city centre:

A. To cover our vehicle mileage costs, an additional travel fee of $1.50 per kilometre of return travel will apply for weddings located 10km or more outside of Hamilton city centre. Additional rates for our artists time spent travelling will also apply depending on the exact location and travelling duration.

Standard flat rates of $350 apply for weddings within 20km of Auckland or Tauranga City Centres. An additional travel fee of $1.50 per kilometre of return travel will apply for weddings located 20km or more outside of Auckland and Tauranga city centres. Additional rates for our artists time spent travelling will also apply depending on the exact location and travelling duration.

We welcome all of our brides to come to our beautiful centrally located Hamilton studio for the preview and consult (trial) appointment

Q. Do you have a studio or are you a mobile-only company?

A. We have a luxurious boutique studio located in Hamilton, which we welcome our Waikato-based brides to come to for your hair and makeup preview and consult, PLUS you also have the option as one of our Deluxe Package brides to book the studio (completely free of charge) to have private use of on your wedding day, to all get ready in (subject to availability)!

To book the private use of our studio for any of our brides booked with any other package (other than our Deluxe Package) the price to hire the studio is $300 for up to 8 hours.

We also offer a fully mobile hair and makeup service and conveniently come to you anywhere in the upper North Island! We are able to cater to your wedding in Auckland, Northland, Coromandel, Waikato, Tauranga/BOP, Rotorua, Taupo and everywhere in between (additional accommodation rates will apply for some locations and appointment start times).

Our team of artists can also travel anywhere within the New Zealand or internationally as and when required (additional travel and accommodation rates will apply).

Q. Is there a minimum spend or other minimum requirements for your hair or makeup services?

A. We require a minimum of three adults for hair and/or makeup.

Our ability to cater to each job will depend on the date, time and location of the appointment, the number of people requiring service, and what staff we have available and how far they are required to travel. We try our absolute best to help everyone we possibly can, but this may not be possible and/or feasible in all circumstances.

Q. What products do your hair and makeup artists use?

A. We have a range of our favourite tried and tested products in our kits; however, our makeup artists predominantly use cruelty-free and paraben-free INDEE Cosmetics. Our hair artists predominantly use GHD and Cloud 9 Styling tools and De Lorenzo Cruelty-free Professional hair products. Our makeup products are long-wearing, high-quality professional products, and produce flawless results in photography and high definition film and television. You will not be disappointed! Please see our 5 star Facebook reviews for feedback on the longevity of our work!

Q. Do you provide wedding touch up kits?

A. We will provide all brides with a little organza bag, with a selection of the beauty goodies you may need for your big day, including blotting tissues to eliminate shine (especially helpful if it is a particularly hot or muggy day), tissues for any tears, cotton tips, and a sample of your lippy or gloss with a lip brush so that you can touch up throughout the day if needed and keep your makeup looking immaculate! Our deluxe package also includes touch up kits for up to 3 bridesmaids.

Additional touch up kits are available to purchase for $25pp, if required.

Q. How in advance do I have to book?

A. It depends on the day, time of year, exact services that you require, and how many staff we have available for that date, but in general we can book out up to a year or two in advance. It always pays to book as in advance as you possibly can to avoid disappointment.

Q. When do you recommend that I have the preview and consult appointment?

A. We normally suggest to have the bridal hair and/or makeup preview and consultation around 10-12 weeks prior to the wedding day, as by this time you will have a good idea of your wedding style, colours, theme, accessories etc, and you will have skin tan colour and hair length that will be as close as possible to what it will be on the wedding day.

We will contact you around four months prior to your wedding day to organise a convenient day and time for your preview and consultation, and we usually like to book the hair and makeup one after the other, so you can see the overall finished look of the hair and makeup together. If you would like to have your preview and consultation at an earlier stage than this, that is perfectly fine, please just get in touch when you are ready to book!

Respectfully, we ask that we can book your preview/consult in during weekdays (not during the weekend if at all possible) as we are incredibly busy with weddings during the weekends. We usually book the preview and consultation in the early evenings, or some day time slots may be available if that suits you better just depending on your booked artist’s availabilities. The artists that take care of your preview and consultation will also be the same artists that are booked in to take care of you on your wedding day.

Q. What do i do to prepare for my hair and makeup booking?

A. Please wash your hair the night before your appointment, and please ensure your hair is 100% dry for your appointment and that it contains no product. Please cleanse your face of all makeup residue and moisturise. If you use a moisturiser with an SPF factor, please make sure it is NO higher than SPF 15 as products with high SPF may cause problems with the way your skin photographs. Please have brows neatly shaped/professionally shaped.

If you can please bring along the pictures of the type of hair and/or makeup look that you would like, this is always very helpful. We have a Pinterest page, Instagram page, and Facebook page with many inspirational hair and makeup looks.

Belles and Brides Pinterest
Belles and Brides Facebook
Belles and Brides Instagram

We prefer to work using the dining table or alternatively the breakfast bar if possible, and we need access to a power point and to be close to natural light. If you have bar stools available please let us know, otherwise we will bring a high stool/makeup chair for you.

Q. What are your payment methods?

A. We accept credit card or debit card payments direct online for all appointment bookings. We also offer convenient and affordable weekly, fortnightly or monthly payment plans. Please inquire if you would like to learn more about our payment plan options. Lots of our brides choose to pay via payment plan, as this is a great way to secure your date straight away and easily pay the total off!

We have Eftpos available for in-studio services only and Laybuy available where you can pay off any of our hair products, accessories, or makeup products with interest-free payments.

Q. What are your hours of service?

Belles and Brides is an appointment-only service and appointments times are subject to our availability. To check our availability for your occasion, please contact us via our contact page or feel free to give us a call on 022 6717588

Q. Is a deposit required for my booking?

A. A 50% deposit is required for all bookings. Appointments will not be secured until the required deposit is received. The remainder of the total balance must please be paid via bank deposit into our account at least 14 days prior to your appointment.

We are happy to offer an affordable monthly or weekly payment plan for you, to help you secure your booking date and pay the deposit or full amount off in instalments. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you would like to know more about this payment plan option.

Q. Can I have a preview and consultation appointment before I book and pay the deposit for my wedding beauty services?

A. Once the wedding booking has been confirmed, we will be happy to secure the booking (without the deposit) for a period of 7 days, providing you book your hair and/or makeup preview and consultation within this 7 day period. If you would like to have your preview and consultation at any time after this 7-day period, we will require the deposit to officially secure the booking date.

Q. What if I am unhappy with my wedding makeup or hair preview and consultation?

A. We are 100% committed to ensuring every one of our brides is totally happy, offering a full guarantee on our services!

Once you have booked and paid your deposit, in the unlikely event that you are unhappy with your preview and consultation, we will be happy to refund your deposit (less the preview/consultation charges and associated travel fees) subject to the following conditions:

The preview and consultation appointment date is no closer than 8 weeks prior to the wedding date and,
We are notified of your dissatisfaction within 24 hours of your preview and consultation appointment (we would prefer if possible to be notified AT the preview and consultation appointment of any issues, if possible, so we can work with you to resolve any issues while we are at the appointment).

We will also be more than happy to offer a second trial completely free of charge if you would like to take that option first, and with a different makeup artist or hair stylist if you prefer (subject to availability).

Q. Will there be a cancellation fee if I cancel my wedding?

A. In the event of cancellation of your wedding booking prior to one month before your booking date, a 50% cancellation fee will apply to cover loss of income (this includes the cancellation of beauty services for individual members of the bridal party/special occasion group). The only exception to this, is in the unlikely event that you are unhappy with your preview and consultation appointment (please see question above).

A. In the event the wedding is cancelled within one month of the booking date, 100% of the booking total will be charged.

Q. What if I need to make changes to my booking?

A. We will do everything we possibly can to help cater to any changes you may need to make to your booking, however please be aware that changes to bookings (including booking date or time changes, and adding additional services) may not be able to be accommodated due to our availability and other bookings we may have at that time. Any amendments or additions to payment plans, may incur a $20 payment plan amendment fee.

Q. What if I need to change the date of my wedding?

A. In the event of a wedding date change, the 50% deposit is non-refundable. However, the 50% deposit may be able to be transferred to a new booking date, and will be considered on a case by case basis.
If the request to change the wedding date is within one month of the wedding booking date, the deposit will not be able to be transferred to another booking date, and any payments made towards the booking will be non-refundable.

Q. What if I add additional services to my package and therefore require additional artists? (or if I have an early start time and would like additional artists for my wedding day, so we can all get ready in a shorter time frame)?

A. Additional artists are charged at $200 per artist (subject to availability), PLUS the prices for the additional hair and/or makeup services will also be required. Travel fees will also apply for any additional travel time for the added artist (if required).

Q. What of something prevents you from being able to make it to my wedding?

A. After almost a decade in business, and helping with literally hundreds of weddings, we can proudly say that we have an IMPECCABLE reliability record and have NEVER been unable to attend a wedding booked with us. We take our roles on your big day extremely seriously, so please do understand we will do our very best in all situations to be there to assist you to have the best day ever!

However, we need to address the possibility that situations outside of our control can happen. Serious illness or accidents, road closures and road accidents, natural disasters and storms, vehicle mechanical breakdowns, deaths in the family, and serious incidences of the like, could prevent your booked artist from being able to attend your wedding. In the extremely unlikely event that any of these any of these type of situations should arise, our promise to you is that we will do EVERYTHING we can (if it is possible), to find and send a replacement artist for you from our team, or from our network of artist contacts. If we cannot make it, and we are unable to send a short-notice replacement artist, we will refund you in full.

We strongly advise all of our brides to make basic provisions for a “what if” emergency situation, such as making sure you have your makeup bag with you on the wedding day, and/or a friend or bridesmaid with basic hair and makeup supplies and a simple makeup and hair look planned that could be done for you in an emergency situation. The chances are, a good back up plan will never be needed, BUT it always pays to play it safe when it comes to such an important occasion.