The Role We Play in Pre-Wedding Prep!

By Nicola Le Lievre

With over 25yrs Beauty industry experience and owner of an international multi-award-winning salon, intherapy Ethical Beauty, Nicola has added a Registered Marriage Celebrant to her resume.

Beauty therapists can play a vital role in helping brides look and feel their best on their wedding day. They can provide various services to help the bride look her best physically and emotionally.

I am passionate about bringing joy to others, and one day I just had this lightbulb moment that I wanted to marry people.

How exciting I have these two beautiful industries to work in. I am on a mission to bring more awareness to how we can build revenue in our beauty businesses by promoting more to the bridal industry. The peak bridal season of September is upon us; we still have time to act.

The wedding day is one of the most important days in a woman’s life. She wants to look her best and often turns to the beauty industry for help. We can provide various services to help the bride look and feel her best on her wedding day.

I have joined many bridal groups; I see many hair and make-up artists but not many beauty therapists. Preparing their skin and nails for the big day, spray tanning and even hens parties. I thought this was an avenue to explore and promote as salon owners to increase revenue.

Below are some ideas to get started.

Inform your existing clients.

Market to your entire database: You never know who is getting married or their family. If you know any of your clients that have recently been married and you did their spray tans, nails, facials etc., ask if you may use one of their images on your social media or newsletter. They might need to check with the photographer and always pay photo credit to them.

Post on social media: “We love supporting Brides.”, “Trust us with your pre-bridal prep.” You could do a series of posts targeted at different treatments. In almost a decade of owning intherapy, I have found that most brides come in for spray tans for themselves and the entire bridal party, I usually invite them to bring a bottle of bubbles and snacks if a few of them, and they have a prep party.

We have done the same with manicures and pedicures; it’s lots of fun; they almost always want something extra, like a brow wax or LED, while having a pedicure, book in for future appointments and make a purchase. Ensure you have many beautiful and lower- priced items such as candles, nail varnishes or lipsticks; this helps increase your average client spend.

Take them on a skin and brow journey.

We all know perfect brows and skin do not happen overnight. If you know one of your clients is engaged, offer a consultation to prepare their skin and brows for the big day.

Put together a 12-6-month plan and packages. Every bride wants to look fantastic and happy to invest the money on themselves. Use this approach for anyone leading up to a special event or milestone birthday, so get clever with your marketing and use before and after images.

Get involved in your local community.

Connect with your local small businesses: Visit your local florist, hairdressers, and Wedding dress shops. These industries talk to your ideal client daily and are happy to recommend you if they like you. Please introduce yourself, give them your business card and book in or make a purchase. I have connected successfully with local businesses and turned them into clients by giving them and their staff a voucher for a free eyebrow wax. The voucher is also an excellent tactic for quieter periods.

Local Chamber of Commerce: You can attend one of the monthly meetings as a visitor, where you can promote yourself within your local pool of other small businesses and see the value before potentially joining as a member.

Spend time on social media.

Join local Facebook business groups: you can usually mention your business and what you do. Delegate a team member to search local bridal groups, hairdressers, celebrants, photographers, florists, and event venues. Like and follow their pages as well as interact with their posts, like and comment.

Wedding Expos

Word of mouth: This could be a great return on investment at the cost of your time and around $25 a ticket. Talk to the vendors there, and give them your business card and free brow wax or mini for them to come into your business and get to know you. You are selling yourself; if they like you, they will likely chat about how fabulous you are.

The average Australian spends $54,295 on a wedding, and every bride wants to look 10/10. Think outside the box or create your own box. Have a team meeting and come up with some compelling offers and ideas.

All the best, Nic

www.powerfulmoments.au