There are many things that you should have with you on your wedding day in your emergency kit, but some are less obvious than others. Everyone thinks of tissues and lip gloss but there are some other items worth including, for instance, a curling iron/straightener. Wind, rain and heat are all enemies of great hair but extremes of weather may well be unavoidable on your wedding day. While some people are blessed with hair that will keep its shape and style regardless of weather conditions, many others have hair that does the complete opposite. If you’re wearing your hair down on the day it is probably a good idea to bring whatever appliance was used to create it. Most brides who have their hair down curl it (well, it is classically romantic!). If you have straight hair that doesn’t keep curl all that well, you should plan for the fact that your curls may be gone, or at least not their initial bouncy selves, by the time of your reception. Do your research and use the wealth of curl helping mousses, shampoos etc to help keep those curls but also prepare for them to fall. Bringing your straightener or curling iron along will allow you to refresh your hairstyle before you enter your reception, so you can once again feel like your glamorous self as you enter!

The same advice goes for those brides who straighten their hair for their day, since if the weather is humid your hair may have started returning to its naturally curly/wavy state and a quick rundown with a straightener will also take care of any frizzies that may have appeared. Don’t take a travel version straightener, they usually are just not powerful enough to do the job well, and if you use it to curl you will end up with small Shirley Temple style curls (which is not good if you were going for gentle romantic curls).

As a Wedding photographer I can tell you that photos tend to be very forgiving of hair, in fact the texture of messy hair can often look great in a photo, so not all is lost if your hair does decide to do its own thing on your day. My hair which is dead straight naturally had pretty much lost all its curl by the end of the day but I wasn’t too concerned, in the end the wedding day was not about my hair! So do your best to fight the good fight for great wedding hair, but even if you lose, remember to keep smiling and enjoy the day, it will only happen once after all.