Wedding makeup in Marrakech, at the riad where you wake up
The riad courtyard is still cool at six in the morning, the fountain running, a pot of mint tea going cold on the table while someone steams the kaftans on the gallery above. That is about when we arrive. GLAMCREW brings the makeup artist and the hairstylist to wherever you have woken up on your wedding day, the riad in the medina or the villa out past the palm grove, so the morning starts where you are and not in a taxi across town with a salon chair waiting between two strangers.
Most of the couples we work with have flown in for this, half their guest list flying in behind them, and they want the morning to feel calm instead of frantic. You meet your artist for a trial before the day, so nothing about the look is a gamble. On the wedding morning the team works through you and your bridesmaids in the same room, music on, tea going around, everyone ready at the same time. The full bridal package, makeup and hair for the bride, is 7000 MAD. We work in English, so none of it gets lost.
A trial first, so the look is never a gamble
When you are marrying a flight from home, you cannot book a second appointment next week to fix what you did not like the first time. So we sit down together before the wedding, a day or two ahead if your trip is short, and build the whole look in the same daylight you will have on the morning. We talk about the dress and the neckline, what your photographer tends to do with skin and shadow, how much makeup you normally wear and how much you want to still feel like yourself. You see it, you live with it for an evening, you change your mind about the lip colour if you want to. By the wedding morning there is nothing left to discover, which is the whole point.
Your mother, your sisters, the whole getting-ready room
A wedding morning is never only the bride. Your mother wants her hair done, your sisters want their makeup, and the bridesmaids have all decided at the last minute that yes, fine, them too. One artist working alone turns that into a four-hour queue and a lot of quiet clock-watching. We send enough hands to run several chairs at once in the same riad salon, so the getting-ready photos happen on schedule and nobody is still in a dressing gown with one eye done when the cars pull up outside.
- Bridal makeup and hair, trial included, 7000 MAD
- Makeup for mothers, sisters and guests from 550 MAD
- Hairstyling for the bridal party from 350 MAD
A look that opens at 40 degrees and closes at midnight
A summer wedding here is a long, hot day. The ceremony can land in the worst of the afternoon heat, and the real dancing does not start until the sun has gone down and the lanterns come on. Your face has to last all of it. Your artist builds for that from the first layer, with a base made to hold when the courtyard hits 40 degrees. The eyes are set so a few happy tears at the vows do not undo an hour of work. The lip is one you can eat a full dinner in and still find on your mouth at midnight. Between the kaftan changes and the dance floor, none of it should cost you the look, and the trial is where we prove that before it counts.
Planned from your phone, run on the ground here
Plenty of our brides do not see the venue in person until the week of the wedding, and that is completely normal for a destination wedding. It is why we do most of the planning by message long before you land. You tell us where you are staying and getting ready, maybe a hotel in Hivernage, maybe a riad deep in the medina, what time the ceremony is and what your photographer needs from the morning.
The places people get married around here are not somewhere a salon could follow you anyway. Think a kasbah out in Agafay, or a villa down a red dirt track in the palm grove where the address is roughly the third left after the donkey. We arrive with full kits, so the location is never the problem, and we speak English the whole way through.
Timing the morning, holding your date
We plan a wedding morning backwards from the minute you need to be in the car. Count back through the photos, the dress, the hair and makeup for you and everyone getting ready with you, and that is your start time, which for a sunrise ceremony or a long photo list can mean five or six in the morning. Even then, nobody is rushed and there is still time for coffee on the terrace. Good dates go quickly from spring through to autumn, so the moment you have a venue and a day, message us and we will hold your artists. You book online and pay after the trial and the wedding itself, never before. Plans move around with weddings, they always do, and we work with the changes as they come.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you come to the venue or to where we are staying?
- We come to wherever you wake up and get ready, which is usually your riad, hotel or villa rather than the ceremony venue itself. If you would like your artist to follow you for a touch-up before the photos, we can arrange that too.
- What is included in the bridal package?
- Makeup and hair for the bride, with a trial beforehand, for 7000 MAD. Anyone getting ready alongside you is added on top, from 550 MAD for makeup and 350 MAD for hair, so your mother and bridesmaids can be done in the same room.
- Will my makeup survive the heat and a long day?
- That is exactly what it is built for. Your artist picks products for a hot, long day and sets the look to hold through the ceremony, the photos, dinner and dancing. The trial is where you wear it for an evening first and confirm it stays put.
- We are flying in. Do you speak English?
- We do, from the first message to the last touch-up. Most of our couples are marrying away from home, so the whole morning is planned in English before you arrive, and your artist speaks it on the day too. Nothing about your look gets lost in translation.
- How early can you start, and how far ahead should we book?
- As early as the day needs. A five or six in the morning start is normal for a sunrise ceremony or a heavy photo schedule. For the date itself, earlier is better in wedding season. Once you have a venue and a day, get in touch and we will hold the team.
Ready to be pampered?
Choose your service, your time and your neighbourhood. We come to you, anywhere in Marrakech.
Book now