Style Features

Wedding hair has a problem: it must last through an entire wedding day without falling apart. In the past, this was achieved by stylists wielding lots and lots of hair spray and creating tight, close-to-the-skull updos with crispy curls on the perimeter to “soften” the look. Ugh. No longer, thank goodness. In fact, wedding hair has gone to the opposite extreme of the heady southern-belle days of the 1980s.

“Wedding hair is changing,” stylist Vanessa Nice told the Georgia Straight in an interview at Zinc (768 West 16th Avenue), the hair salon where she works. “We’re going for pretty instead of frilly. We’ve gotten rid of those big masses of wedding curls that, when they fall [over the course of the day], just turn into a mass of stiff hair from hair spray.”

Beach hair—long, soft, flowing curls decorated with feminine accessories—is current. Ditto the relaxed, asymmetrical updo. Both of these styles are shown here on Loan Nguyen, a psychiatric nurse with Vancouver Coastal Health’s Strathcona Mental Health Team, who delivers medical support to clients in the Downtown Eastside. Even though her job is gritty and hands-on, a half-hour under Nice’s tattooed forearms and she’s ready for cameras to flash during her trip down the aisle. Nguyen’s hair is prettied up with Tigerlilly hair accessories—a simple freshwater-pearl headband that can be converted into a choker ($200) and hair jewels, which are sprays of Swarovski crystals on handcrafted sterling silver or gold pins ($50 each). Tigerlilly accessories are available at Wed Bridal (3882 Main Street).

According to Nice, either look can fall during a daylong wedding and still be attractive.

“What doesn’t change is that every girl wants to look classic and elegant for her big day,” she said. “Even though the styles change, everyone wants to look amazing, and lots of women don’t get to do that all the time.”

Nice warned that a wedding is not the time to choose a style that’s a stretch for your hair. Curly-haired brides shouldn’t straighten their hair for a winter wedding, or they’ll be frizzy before the vows. Straight-haired brides shouldn’t curl it; they’ll go lank by the first dance. Natural hair will reward a bride with great pics, right till she exits for her honeymoon.