Bridal Hairstyle for Curly Hair

(German version here)

Do you know what was one of the hardest parts when planning our wedding? Finding perfect inspiration for my bridal hairstyle with curly hair. Most of the pictures or ideas were for straight, wavy or curled (with a curling iron) hair. I hardly found hairstyles for real and small curls, like mine. I scrolled through Pinterest for hours and hours and in the end I found only two photos that I could show my hairdresser.

(PS: more about our eco wedding here, here and here)

It was very important to me to find a photo. I didn’t want a typical updo. I didn’t want the hairdresser to straighten my hair (only to then “perfectly” curl it, because that’s what many do with frizzy hair). I wanted to maintain my natural structure and only “upgrade” it a little bit through the expertise of the stylist, if you understand what I mean.

So I with a few ideas in my head (tying my hair back, but leaving it long, working with extensions and flowers, etc.) and a photo I went to a trial run at the hair dresser. I recommend this to everyone who can afford it. During the trial run you can try out the final styling and adjust it a little before the big day.

I was at the hairdresser in Belgrade – for you the information about the studio is probably not super exciting, but if it is by any chance: I was at “Aleksa La Vie” in Belgrade (not sponsored). We had a rehearsal in March that went very well. I received extensions and a hairstyle tied together at the back. Here are the photos of the the trial run:

These are just quick photos with the mobile phone.

In June I decided to take our wedding photos before the wedding. A bit unusual, but I knew that this would save me a lot of stress and time on the actual wedding day. In addition, the photos were very important to me personally and this way we had lots of time, basically a whole day to create beautiful memories! And I could enjoy the “first look”, the moment when Jesse saw me in my dress for the first time, just between myself and Jesse (plus our photographer). This way was just perfect for me.

But that also meant doing all the styling twice, so I had an additional hairdressing and makeup appointment two days before the wedding. The result (our photographer was Jelena Hinic – great recommendation, she is traveling all over Europe – advertising unpaid):

The day was very rainy and we took a lot of photos outside. Therefore, the curls look a bit “frizzy” in some pictures. But that was ok for me and only added to the natural look that I wanted. But if you want finer, more defined curls, go for more hairspray. Not a sustainable product – but since I rarely use something like this (I’ve basically only used it twice in the past few decades haha), that’s ok for me.

On the wedding day itself, I got other flowers in my hair that just lasted longer. I also told the hairdresser that I need more hairspray because the rainy weather wasn’t so easy for my curls as described above 🙂 He took me very seriously, used masses of hairspray (haha, see the photo below) and on the wedding day the styling was really rock-solid and lasted for more than 12 hours.

As I said, I share this story because I have found hardly any inspiration for natural curly hairstyles for the wedding. It was one of the most stressful topics for me because very few really know their way around curls. I was in good hands with Aleksa La Vie, luckily, and the result was really great!

What chic hairstyles do you wear with natural curls?