Episode 22 How A Hair Studio Builds Stress-Free Wedding Mornings: Ardor and Sage Weddings

The mood of a wedding starts long before the aisle. It begins in a room full of coffee cups, curling irons, and quiet nerves—and that’s where Jen from Ardor & Sage shines. We invited her to share how a nine-person studio turns hair and makeup into a calm, confident launchpad for the entire day, blending artistry with systems that actually work.

Jen walks us through the journey from a tiny 300-square-foot setup to a thriving, family-first team that averages dozens of weddings a year. We dig into the structure behind the magic: detailed inquiry forms, included trials that build trust, and a dedicated wedding director who matches stylists to each bride’s exact look. You’ll hear how smart scheduling, written timelines, and little kit upgrades—think surge strips and portable bins—eliminate friction in any getting-ready space, whether it’s a sunlit suite or a windowless corner with one outlet.

We also get real about expectations and trends. Clean, dry hair beats the “dirty hair holds curls” myth, and overcommunication prevents the last-minute panic that can topple timelines. Jen shares what’s in and what’s fading—sleek buns and Hollywood waves are big, boho textures are easing back, and vintage touches may be next. Most of all, she reminds us that the best artists care for people as much as the look: calming a worried mom, checking in on details from the trial, and making the morning feel like time with old friends.

If you want a wedding morning that runs on clarity, kindness, and great hair, this conversation delivers practical steps you can use right away—whether you’re a couple, a planner, or a fellow vendor. Subscribe for more behind-the-scenes wisdom from the pros who make unforgettable days feel effortless, and share this episode with someone who loves a smooth timeline as much as a flawless bun.

https://ardorandsagehair.com/weddings

https://www.instagram.com/ardorandsageweddings/

Transcript

Welcome And Venue Spotlight

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to The Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days. I'm James, a wedding filmmaker. I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about the real conversations with the ones who make it happen. Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way. Let's meet today's vendor. Hi Jen.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Jumping right in there with the hi. I love it. Um thank you so much for being here. Um and I can't wait to get into your vendor type because I know nothing. Know nothing about hair makeup, but we're gonna learn today. We're gonna

Meet Jen And Her Studio

SPEAKER_00 0:39

learn. But before we do, we are at the Barnet Silverstone. The Barnet Silverstone was featured on the world's greatest as the world's greatest wedding venue. The breathtaking historic stonework meets this elegant modern design and it has this inclusive approach that lets couples enjoy a low-stressed planning experience, which is super great. If you know Miranda, she's in it for you to have a low-stressed day. I just spoke with her for her episode, and man, you'll want to hear more about the way that she does things here at the Barn at Silverstone. So check them out for sure. But we're here with Jen and we're gonna talk about things that I know nothing about. So fill me in. Tell me like where you're coming from, who you are, what's going on, your business, all the things.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

So yeah, my name's Jen. Um, I own Artur and Sage Hair Studio in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Um, we've been there for about seven years and have been doing weddings this entire time. Um, a little bit about me. I have been doing hair for 14 years. I was, I jumped right out of high school into it. Didn't ever think that that was gonna be the thing that I was gonna do, but it just it made sense. Um, did my first wedding at 16. Uh that's awesome. I mean, completely unlicensed and for a cousin, but it was no it's asking. Yeah, but loved it. Just loved, I mean, there's there's something so impactful about being a part of someone's incredibly special and sentimental day, um, and just being a small part of it. Um, but simultaneously making them feel and and look the best that they ever have is is huge. Um, so that's a huge uh kind of kick start behind like why I we, you know, Arter and Sage does as many weddings as we do. Um and our team has grown from

From Hobby To Growing A Team

SPEAKER_02 2:35

two of us to now nine of us.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

So that's awesome. Yeah. Um and over the course of time, walk me through like your 16-year-old self. Yeah, you're just doing hair for a cousin you said. Yeah. Like, how does it go from that to nine people? I'm assuming you guys are doing tons and tons of of weddings.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Yeah. I mean, we average between um, I think the most we did one year was like 64 or 65 weddings in a year. Um, so yeah, it's a lot. Like there's only 52 weekends in a year. So to be up in like the 50s of weddings per year is like for us a lot. Um, I know there's venues that do a lot more than that, but um, yeah, when I when I first started out, it was more of just kind of like this hobby career, um, and just really turned into something I was really passionate about. Um, I I love seeing people light up with confidence. And so um I went from being an assistant to a hairstylist to a manager, and told my employers, like, I I want to help have my own salon someday. Um and uh turns out uh employers don't like to hear that when they're the ones that you're when you're bringing them the money. Um so you know, a trial by fire with a lot of stuff, but um it also kind of turned into this thing where I was like, I don't want to be doing this for like just as like a career or income. Like I I love doing this, like this brings me life, this brings me joy. And so ended up kind of just doing it on my own, just me in a 300 square foot space, and um, it was awesome and eventually turned into the kind of thing where I was like, okay, like I want to provide for my family. Um and eventually I had one girl that wanted to come along with me for the ride. And um, she's now our wedding director. She's incredible. I love it. Um, and with her, it was kind of a like we we tag teamed on a bunch of stuff. And um, over the course of time, we discovered that a lot of other people are also really passionate in the industry, but also want to be able to prioritize families, which is what we do. So as far as like Arter and Sage goes, we are not your standard salon. Um, you're most salon's employees are, you know, it's every kind of man for themselves. They're everyone's

Systems, Roles, And Wedding Logistics

SPEAKER_02 5:12

kind of looking to make the most, jump a level, you know, be a master stylist, whatever. We're just a bunch of girls who really love doing hair um and really enjoy being around each other and also like love bringing joy to people while they're in our chair, kind of thing. So anyway, uh we kind of just started taking on a couple weddings at a time, um, charging very little, um, no travel fee. We just show up, no problem. We love to do it. Um, to you know, more and more girls jumping on board and being able to, by word of mouth, bring on more wedding couples who are looking for someone who's gonna show up on their day and make them feel great on small details.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I love the like the mindset, the like reveal of confidence and like just feeling like the best version of themselves on like the most important day, potentially. Yeah. Um, and I just like I'm picturing like the bride like turning the mirror and being like it's the best feeling. Yeah, it's gotta be.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Like as the as the person who like kind of helps them make. I mean, yeah, the bride, like they're radiant on their wedding days, regardless. But like when when they like get choked up or something about how their hair looks or how their makeup looks, that's like an amazing creature.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Because it's like a special, I mean, whether they do it all the time or they don't ever, it's like, oh, this is for your wedding day. Yeah, it's not just like a random Wednesday that you just decided to like curl your hair or something fancy. Yeah. So you have a full like studio, normal salon style thing. Yeah, but then you're also like teams are going out and doing bridal hair and makeup. Yep. Like, what's that whole dynamic look like? And like like who are you sending to do the bridal stuff? Is it all the same people or like how's that team dynamic?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

So we we have a few girls that just prefer not to do weddings. Um, weddings can bring a lot of stress, um, a lot of pressure. Um and so a lot of our girls can like can work with that, and some of them prefer not to, and that's great because like I said, Ardor and Sage is a place to do what you're passionate about. Um, but so when it comes to our weekends, um, I mentioned our wedding director, she kind of like gets the inflow of stuff, and she kind of goes through based on a couple things, um, whether or not the bride has made a specific request for our like for a specific stylist or a certain look. She will choose what she feels is the the best choice as far as like what the bride is looking for, um, and and who can deliver that style the best, um, while also keeping it like delivering weddings equally amongst the girls and stuff. She does a great job with it. I would there's a reason I delegated it to her because it's not a job that I would want to. I she's incredible. Um, and so, and then based on that, just it's it happens to be a lot on what the bride wants. If she wants to be done in an hour and she has 10 people, we're like, all right, well, we got to send to like five people to make that happen. Or um, if it's, you know, a couple girls and you know, the mother of the bride and they want to be super low-key, and so one girl can come, or just a makeup artist and a hairstylist. So she kind of like decides and based on those

Work-Life Balance And Scheduling

SPEAKER_02 8:45

pieces of information, selects the people who haven't blocked out their weekend or um and assigns them to weddings, and then we just say yes, ma'am, and we go. And inevitably, we usually are texting her like beforehand or on the way, like, hey, is this like, are we supposed to go here? And oh, hey, this is the schedule, right? And she does a great job. She likes she always has a written-out schedule for us, a little goodie bag for the bride, and like has us all set to go.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah, so it sounds like the systems that you have, you know, kind of thinking more like uh vendor-to-vendor business mindset. It sounds like you have a system in place that allows all of your stylists and your makeup artists to thrive, and they have all that they need to like go and do the best. Cause like you don't the last thing you want them is to be like worried about something logistically, like they need to go and do the thing that you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Right. Yeah, oh yeah. Where and it it's definitely it wasn't that way in the beginning. There was a lot of situations of like screaming, like, oh, we need to add this to the kid, or like, oh, we should write this all out, or you know, little things. And that's again where I kind of started handing that over to her because I was a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. We're like, we'll show up and we'll just see what happens. And she was a very much like, let's write things down and have an order to everything and be prepared. And Amazon ships something that will help us do this better. One little thing that she recently added to our makeup kit was like two small little trash cans because every single wedding that we were working, we were like, Where are the trash cans? Yeah, like piling up a little literal, literally, we would pile up this like little thing of trash from just like you know, little schoolies or q-tips or whatever from doing makeup. And at the end of the day, we were just like walking out with a handful of trash. And so she bought these little pop-up trash cans and she's like, We need these for the kit. And I was like, Yeah, good, I'm sure we do. Yeah, so yeah, she she helps us succeed for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, and I I love the I mean it sounds like you're you're giving space for every stylist and makeup artist to kind of do their own thing, still be a part of the team, but we're all like reaching for the same goal. Yeah, kind of everyone's thriving, everyone's succeeding. And if we're not, then we're like piling in. Everyone's like, all right, what can we do to fix and help?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yeah. And we even we try to prioritize, so almost all of the girls in the studio are moms. Um, there's a couple girls that aren't. And um, but they they all have different levels of commitment on weddings as far as like what they want to work. And so, like, me, for example, I'm like, I only want to work 18 weddings a year, and I don't ever want to do more than you know, two a weekend kind of thing. Um, she always makes us have one weekend off a month. So there's one weekend every month that's blocked out for the whole salon.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Um, and so it it's like very curated to each of our stylists to be able to work as many weddings as they want um on the days that they want. Like some girls don't want to work Sunday weddings, and we want to respect that and um being able to hopefully like have everyone meet their goals financially, but also like not making them feel overworked or underpaid or anything

Trials, Client Care, And Relationships

SPEAKER_02 11:55

like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yeah. What's the talk to me more about the balance that you have? I mean, it seems like you've maybe over the course of time developed a balance, but like talk to me more about the balance, like family life, business work life, like like you're a business owner.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Like there about this. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Maybe I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I I definitely when if you would compare Arter and Sage to a lot of other salons or just like um wedding day, hair and makeup kind of thing, um, we are not career driven. We are a lot of us are family driven and the being able to work weddings is an honor um and and a joy, but also like it's something we're we're choosing to do because we love to do it. Um, and so with that, a lot of the girls like they they do weddings because like it's it's an extra lump in their paycheck. And there are other girls who they only work weddings. And so like they want to take as many as they can. Um as far as like the balance of of family and work and stuff, that that's definitely where the like just last week, um, our wedding director, her name's Courtney, she uh she basically sent us all a text and she was like, block out your 2026 weekends. Like wedding inquiries are have been coming in, they're still coming in. And if you plan on taking a vacation, you better block it out because I'm gonna book you pretty soon. Um, and so there's some girls who like the entirety of October is blocked out because their husbands go hunting or something, like the little things like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Um, and so like they have the choice, they're not like required to work in a certain number of weddings. Um and with that, like, and I'm sure you've experienced this too of like there are some weddings that feel like I don't know if this is a good yes for us. And we we try to give them all an opportunity to say, like, I don't think this wedding is worth it for my stress level or like for my family or my home life, or like it's not worth the income for the amount of like work I think it might be for me, kind of thing. Yeah, um, and so like they are all allowed to voice that like I can I say no to this wedding kind of thing. Um and in most cases, like that is extremely rare. Um, and it's usually like a high, like right off the bat, you can tell this is gonna be like a high stress wedding or something like that. But yeah, I mean I don't know if I I I don't know if we've like perfected the balance thing, but we're definitely trying to get there as possi as much as possible.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

It seems like you're giving space for the girls on your team to to be in a spot where they're confident in the jobs that they're taking and they have what they need to succeed, which is really, I mean, it's it seems like you figured something out. I don't know if it feels that way, but I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

I hope they could say the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah, they're probably listening in, like, I don't know about that though.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Jen.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

We've never talked about this before. These are all new ideas. Um, is there like a moment in that early time, maybe like the 16-year-old you where you're like doing the hair and you're like, oh man, this is what I was like meant to be doing, like the connection that you get, styling for people, and maybe it's a little bit of weddings, a little bit not weddings, but like what was there a moment in there that you're like, oh man, this is it?

SPEAKER_02 15:27

I honestly, if I'm being transparent, I don't know if I ever had like an aha, like, wow, this is it kind of thing. I knew, I mean, at 16, I was doing and I was like, this is so cool. Like, I wish I could

Morning-Of Flow And On-Time Tips

SPEAKER_02 15:40

do this for a job. And I my mom said she was like, What are you talking about? Like, you can like, why aren't you gonna go to beauty school? And I was like, What is that? I had and and the reason behind I my aunt was a barber. I always went to her house to get a haircut. I had never been to a salon until I was like 16 years old. And I remember the first time I did, I was like, What? What? This is your job? This is amazing. And so I that was like the start of like, if I could do like this wouldn't feel like work to me. Um it does. It definitely feels like, but um, I don't know if I really had a like this is this is what it was meant to be, or like this is what I was made to do until probably the past year where I had kind of like a realization of like I am going to work and I'm working my like my dream job. Like this is something that brings me so much joy and I'm good at it, and I love my coworkers, and I'm I'm in a place that like it's providing for my family in a way that I never anticipated. You know, I feel like the you jump back to like when my mom was my age or something like that, and the hairdresser was like a lady who stood in the salon with a cigarette in her hand and her scissors in the other, and like it was not an admirable, no cigarettes. Um, not for me anyway. I I was not like I would it wasn't when I told people I was going to beauty school, it wasn't really like, wow, that's amazing. It was like, oh, okay. Yeah. Um, and so like when I probably in like in the past year, I looked back and I was like, what a gift. Like this is this is the dream. Yeah, I I can't believe that this is this is real.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

That's awesome. I mean, it's crazy that it was just a year ago that you were like, you had that.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Honestly, I feel sad that like I was that I didn't really. I mean, I I don't think I didn't appreciate it before then, but it was just kind of like, oh my gosh. And it's I mean, small little back, I have four kids. And so, like, I think there's been like a big season of just like I'm just surviving like 24 hours at a time right now.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

And so we have two, so I can imagine two times two.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

You burn a lot more calories, and it's it's fine, it's great. Your capacity gets bigger, and yeah. But yeah, so like I don't think I think I was just like kind of surviving on a day-to-day basis, and now you know, my youngest is he's almost two, and so being able to look back and just be like, oh my word, look look at all of this. This is amazing. This is such a gift, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

It's so cool to see the journey that you've been on. I feel like like I don't know where the the balance came from, but it it just feels like you set yourself on a trajectory that gave space for all this stuff to happen the way it's happened, just from an outsider's perspective. We haven't talked about this or had this conversation before, but um, it's really cool to see. When you're doing um the the bridal side of things, because obviously you have your salon and you are probably there but more than you're doing bridal stuff. Yeah. Um, but when you're doing the bridal side of things, are you mostly doing like hair? Are you doing hair and makeup? Like what's a team dynamic look like?

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Yeah. So we there are only two of us that can do hair and makeup, not can, choose to, choose to do hair and makeup. Um, and so it any given day, I have to double check on like what I am doing specifically. Um, and then it goes to the same for um Courtney, our wedding director. She's

Trends, Styles, And Matching Stylists

SPEAKER_02 19:20

the other hybrid. Um, and then like there are the rest of the girls are hair, and then we have one other makeup artist. And so there's kind of like three-ish makeup artists, and I can't keep track of the number, but the all the all the rest are like available here, and then there's two of us that go in between. Um, so I mean, depending on the wedding and the demand and the number of requests of services and stuff, sometimes there's four of us there, sometimes there's three of us, and one person's like ping ponging back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah, so uh a bride is interested, looking, trying to find someone to fill the void of like hair and makeup. Where do they like where do they start? What do they do? Like what do they come with to you with ideas?

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Are they like so we always whether we get DMs, whether we get like a client in our chair says something, we always direct them to our wedding website. And that has like first of all, it has our prices. Um, because I think there's a lot of um the vendors who like don't show their prices or like custom make packages. And that's like we've tried it all different ways. For us, it feels like brides are more interested in knowing numbers first, and that's fine. Um it's true. It's very true. They really they they're they're looking for people that are within their budget and then they go from there kind of thing. A lot of times, sometimes they don't, but um, so we direct them there and then we have like an inquiry form, and it's got everything from you know, what hair are you looking for, where your venue is, who your photographer is, what their handle is so we can see their work or whatever, um, to like there's a little personality thing at the bottom of like, I just want to show up and not have to worry about a thing. Or I will want to know the ingredients of every makeup piece that is on my face, like whether or not they very gently and nicely, of course, but like just asking them like what kind of person they are and how involved they want to be in the decisions, or um, how detail-oriented they are, you know, all that. And so we have them fill out the inquiry form. And then from there, that just spurs the conversation that they're able to have with our wedding director of just like, you know, what do you want your wedding day to look like? How how fast do you want to get done? Do you want us to show up early and be done really soon? Do you want us to hang out and your photographer to come take pictures of you getting ready? And from there, it just kind of she is back and forth with them on the small details and tries to be as personable as possible with just like ironing out all the wrinkles so the bride feels completely taken care of and she doesn't have to ask any questions or whoever's communicating for her that that she um that the couple feels taken care of and that the bride doesn't have any questions when it comes to us showing up and making everything from the fruit. Great.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Yeah, I I feel like the more you can get beforehand, yeah, the better. Everyone's on the same page and everyone knows what to expect. And you're not like, oh wait, I thought you were gonna do this and not that.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Yeah. We had we had a wedding we just showed up for a couple weeks ago, and they she texted me that morning. She was like, by the way, I haven't heard from the bride in over 30 days. She paid her full balance, so we're showing up, but like, no idea where you're supposed to go, no idea who all is going. Like, this is the timeline I made, but who knows if it's gonna end it ended up being fine. But it was one of those, like, well, this is not one of those situations where we knew as much as we could, but it was all good.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, yeah. I it's kind of an interesting uh space that you guys hold in that like initial day starting. Maybe they're just coming off of like some sort of brunch or

Vendor Collaboration And Setup Needs

SPEAKER_00 23:05

breakfast together, or maybe they're just rolling in.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

I'm gonna say half of them are usually just like waking up. Yeah, one at a time late because they picked up coffee. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

What's it like to kind of facilitate that morning process? Likely before things, I mean, you're probably there two, three hours before photographers sometimes show up, maybe an hour.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Sometimes, sometimes a little bit more. And that again, we love working with photographers and their timeline and like what the couples have communicated, like the pictures that they want. Most of the times we're out of there before photographers even show up. But we normally are there a couple hours before photographers show up. And um, as far as like how logistics go, we get in and we set up in like the first 15 minutes and we get rocking and rolling. We it's usually the kind of thing, depending on if we're in salon or at a venue, um, we're like, okay, bridesmaid number one, sit. Yeah, let's go. Let's go. Let's but and then other times it's they're like, hi, we're here, we're ready for you. Um, we love those weddings.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yeah. Take a note, just be ready for it. Just get in there and and be ready for it.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Your hair dry.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Is that a tip?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Oh man. The no, yes, that's a tip. Please have your hair clean and dry for your hairstylist. That's it. That's that I mean, that is the biggest help that we can have as far as like I think there's a I don't know, I wouldn't call it an old wives' tale. What is it when you're like a myth? It's myth. I don't know. I'm forgetting the words. Yeah, not helping at all. Um, but as far as like just sitting here like tell me. But like what you know, your mother told me, oh, your hair should be dirty when you curl it or something, or like, oh, your curls hold better, or your up to will hold better if your hair is dirty. Please, please don't come with dirty hair. We have so many products that do amazing things, and dirty hair smells really bad when it's in between the curling iron, and also greasy hair does not hold it any better. But yeah, so we like, or like they'll they'll get the clean part and it'll still be wet when we don't bring blow dryers, and so we'll be like, find a blow dryer. We need you to dry your hair.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

So essentially, if it's not dry, you're not probably getting started.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

You're not going first. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Yeah, I do feel like um the onus on like the day starting smoothly kind of falls on you guys a little bit. Is that like pressures? Like, what how do you manage like the timeline and getting people?

SPEAKER_02 25:50

So yeah, it there there is a pressure there. And I sometimes I have to like talk some of our girls out of like, if you if if we're late because the bride wasn't there on time, or if we're late because the mother of the bride wanted to take a shower before she got her hair done or something like that. Like, we get it, it's their day. We we are trying to just like help iron out the wrinkles. However, um, there's definitely this level of like when the photographer walks in and hair and makeup is still working, they kind of look at us. And and so we definitely feel this sense of like responsibility to make sure that um everyone's done on time, which and I have to give credit to Courtney here again. She she blocks us out enough time. Usually we're always done early. I think the only situation that we've been late in like the past three years, the wedding party didn't show up for 45 minutes until after their start time. And it was like someone was waiting for like a trolley or like a shuttle or something like that, and so it was but it all worked out. They were done a couple minutes late.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

So yeah, no, I I know from the photo side of things, yeah, they love when y'all are like yeah, yeah. Um, is there a part of your approach or like the service that you're providing um for the bridal hair, bridal makeup um that you feel like is different or that kind of stands out?

SPEAKER_02 27:19

When it

Communication, Expectations, And Value

SPEAKER_02 27:20

comes to I mean, I can understand from a from a couple's perspective, like hair and makeup is hair and makeup, or hair and makeup is just a difference of products or experience or something. Um as far as art or sage though, uh we we really want you to feel as little stress as possible when it comes to like our part in the day. Um, and whether that is a matter of ending on time or um having exactly what everyone feels like they need, um, accomplishing that Pinterest perfect updo or whatever, um, trying to trying to make that as smooth as possible, but simultaneously for our brides, um we we usually, I don't want to say we require trials, but we include the trials and the cost because we we see the importance of putting the bride at ease about knowing that she loves, she's gonna love her hair on her wedding day or her makeup. Um, and so part of that bringing bringing the bride in for a trial and allowing her to get to know her stylist. Um, it allows the stylist to get to know the bride and what she's excited about for the wedding, how her and her fiance met, what she is nervous about happening, what she still needs to get done, and being able to like on the day of like, hey, how did those you know table charts end up going?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Like Which goes a long way.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Yeah, I I think there's there's a sense of like being heard as a human being, but also like as a bride when you're in the stress of planning your wedding and trying to get all the things done, and like, oh, I have to check off this other mark of getting my hair trial done, being able to sit down and have someone play with your hair, make you feel great, or do your makeup and and make you feel like you a model, like you never have before, or something. Um, to be able to like also have this sense of like they say hairstylists are like the cheapest strengths in town, of like being able to vent and like have a moment to just like you know, have an unbiased opinion or something on something that is feeling overwhelming, or to show someone your dress for the first time and have them be ecstatic about how it looks and how excited they are to combine your hair and makeup look with your dress or something like that, or give you an opinion on I think you should wear your hair over the shoulder or completely up off your neck because it is that like unbiased.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Like they can if if there's room for it, I'm not sure that every brass would feel like tell me what you think. But if there's room for it, it's totally unbiased, and then it's not like this. Oh, well, you always have it over on the right, and now you're trying to put it on the left.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Oh, you're not gonna look like yourself if you wear false eyelashes, like little things like that. Uh so like, yeah, to have a bride

Hot Takes, Emotions, And Moms

SPEAKER_02 30:10

feel like she has like a little person in her corner on the day of the wedding. Of like, when we walk in, you're like, Hey, how are you? It's good to see you again. Yeah, like how are things? Like, yeah, um, we really prioritize that of like having a relationship with our bride, or even like some, you know, moms sometimes come along, sisters come along, bridesmaids come along, whatever, of like just having conversation in your the trial of like things that are crazy, or you know, things in anticipating the wedding day or planning like talking about the honeymoon or you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Um, it's cool that you have that chance. I mean, it's like an engagement session for photo. Yeah, you have a chance to like this is what it's like. Yeah, this is what you can expect. And then wedding day, you're like, let's just do it all over, but this is your wedding day.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Right, exactly. Let's make it even better thing. We really don't want it to be transactional. That's the biggest thing. We don't want you to feel like you're swiping your card, you're getting, you know, a product kind of thing. Like it's a personal, like, and we we don't take it lightly. It's it's a big deal, it's a small part of the day, but it's a big deal to us.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

I mean, it's in almost every photo.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I I know that's I don't have to tell you that. You're like well, that's that's one thing. We love photographers who feature our work.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Yeah. Um, I love the approach, like even though you know, someone could say, Oh, it's just hair and makeup, but you're going past like just hair and makeup to like caring for your clients, going the extra mile, so to speak, like getting them in the chair, experiencing the process, and then like just continuing it day of the wedding is just like we're just old friends now. Right. Um, and then I would assume that like that morning probably has totally different vibes than if it was just like you're just showing up, you're like, hey, I'm Jen.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna be doing her tonight.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah. It's like nice to meet you. Yeah. Oh, hey, hey, Jen, how's it going? Like, you know, you have that like rapport already built in. Um, is there is there something like what's one thing that you wish brides would know? Um, and you can clue them in right now when they're looking to hire uh hair and makeup artists.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

What one thing?

SPEAKER_00 32:31

One thing, two things.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

No, no, no. I I'm like trying to think of like if there's something really big. I mean, I would say from from like from Arter and Sage's perspective, brides, brides looking to book us is like we don't take the honor lightly. Um, and so it's not just a matter of like, you know, writing another check to another vendor kind of thing. We like it's an honor to be a part, but also, I mean, as far as like logistics, um something that we we appreciate is like when when you're requesting, or like if you're looking into a certain stylist, or if you're looking into different salons, honestly, like looking at their profile, looking at their Instagram of like what work have they featured and who is doing the kind of work that I want it rather than just like, oh, someone recommended the salon and you know, they were really happy and I think that they could do my hair.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Um but they don't do any of the things that you want or it was it's it's fun.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

It's fun when we have like, oh, so and so recommended me. We're like, oh,

Dreaming Big And Where To Find Jen

SPEAKER_02 33:40

okay, that was like, you know, super low-key wedding, you know, really relaxed styles, very elegant or whatever. And then like their inquiry comes in, they're like, it's a renaissance wedding. And we're like, oh, well, that's different. So like when we we love, we love word of mouth, we love recommendations, but at the same time, like all of our stylists have an account and like our wedding account on Instagram specifically tries to feature as many, like if you look through our pictures, we tag every stylist that does the work. And so, like, finding the ones that you love and then going from there is like gonna help us out a lot, but also help you get what you want on your wedding day of as far as like hair and makeup.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Seems like you're putting out the stuff to hopefully make it helpful for couples to see like this is what you can expect from Arder and Sage. Here's the different people that are a part of the teams, and they're all kind of in their own little category, right? Yeah. Um is there trends that your team's like loving? Maybe it's like an old one that came back or it's a new one. You're like, I can't get enough of this.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

That's you know, it's a constant conversation in our um in the salon because some of the girls thrive on certain styles that are really popular right now. And some of the girls are like, please don't book me at that wedding. Um, so like some a lot of ones that are trending right now, you've probably seen a lot of like the Hollywood waves or like the the cascading waves that like don't look like individual curls, but it's like all kind of one wavy piece of hair bunch.

Closing And Follow Reminders

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Um, and and then like the sleek, like just simple, elegant buns. Those are like two that I feel like we're seeing on repeat. I am not a Hollywood waves gal. Um, and some of the other girls would be like, please, please don't. And then the one girl that we have on um weddings are like bread and butter for her, she thrives, like she loves them and she's so good at them.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

You're saying it, and I feel like I had a bride that had that. I can't remember who it was, but I remember the hairstylist being like, Don't touch it, don't move it, don't run your fingers through it, nobody hug it.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Yeah, well, so when done right though, it's okay, it stays to be when done right. Well, don't run your fingers through it ever. Don't don't ever run your fingers through any day hair. Yeah, I was gonna say any hair. And and we'll have brides like who'll be like, I want to be able to run my fingers through it and they're like, Like, no, you don't. No, don't pay me to do your hair. Like, you're gonna make a fallout. Anyway, but the like there's actually like there's videos of people like full on like scrunching it up into like a ball and then like dropping it, it still looks the same. So, like, no, it's gonna feel like pretty crunchy from all the hairspray, but like if you don't run your fingers through it, you should be good. Should be good if your hair styles better.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Are there so we're not like loving those trends? It sounds like or you are uh some of the that's what yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

So some of the girls, some of the girls are and some of them aren't. As far as trends, um, the boho is kind of going out, I feel like. And not completely. There's some people who are doing like that whimsical, like kind of messy hair tussled is the word that some people use. Um, but it's definitely like leaning more towards elegant, classical, like that kind of thing. If I had to like guess on like where things might start leaning, I think I think we're gonna like go back in time. I think that things are gonna start to be like even more vintage-ish, which I don't know if I'm excited about, but I feel like people are embracing like old time.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Like, what's that look like? You're talking to a dude that's got short hair, and when it was long, I just put it up out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

I honestly don't because you know the next generation's weird. Yeah, they they bring in some stuff to the to the table that like I'm not sure I would ever have put together. But um, I think it'll be good. I think, I think just like still elegant, still like somewhat sophisticated, but with like a little bit of um, I don't know, vintage vibes. I think I think beads are gonna come in a little bit more rather than I think we went through like you know, early, early 2010s, it was like flowers in the hair or like feathers or something. Um, you know how like have you seen the bird cages? You know what I'm talking about there? I've not had a bird cage. It's like a net that like kind of goes over uh the face. That's like old timey.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

So that's coming back.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

I think it might. Okay, you know, this is all personal opinions. This is there is no evidence.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Then you can do your hair however you want.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Yeah, you could.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

It's not gonna bother us at all.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

I hope. Uh do you know what finger waves are?

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Okay. Um, think great Gatsby. Okay. Or like 50s.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Everyone's listening. Like, how does he not know anything about it?

SPEAKER_02 38:38

How does he not know anything about hair? I mean, I'm here for whatever, but I wouldn't be upset if Boho came and and ramped up again a little bit. So when if I can like hone in on that specifically for you, it's like the the brides who like to be under the weeping willow tree that their hair is like braided, but also a little relaxed and curly.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

So it's like a little bit more simple.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Yeah, a little bit more simple, a little bit more relaxed, more whimsical. Um they want to feel lived in and stuff. That's that's my those are my vibes.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Yeah, but I love it. Yeah, I mean, I don't know much, but I love it. It sounds nice. I'm sure you've taken lots of videos of different things of it, and you're just like all the things you're saying have probably happened in my video camera that I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

Is there like like what what do you have for venues, maybe photographers, videographers, where you're like, hey, when we're doing X, Y, and Z, just give us a minute. Like, like like we love the space when it's set up like this. Like, what kind of stuff do you have to help other vendors, like vendor to vendor? Yeah. How can we help you do your job better and like have a better experience like day up?

SPEAKER_02 40:01

Um, so a couple thoughts. Wedding planners that like intentionally send out connection emails of like working with like putting all the vendors together, specifically videography, photography, hair and makeup. Um, you know, less DJ and though they're important too. But um the when when we're able to connect with like a photographer and even say, like, hey, are you planning on showing up, you know, at this and most times the wedding planner knows like they're showing up this time, you need to be done by then, or they want to get videos of you. Um, but we we really appreciate when like videographers or photographers like reach out and say, like, hey, I want to make sure I tag you guys right. Or I we're I'm gonna be showing up. There's gonna be like 30 minutes. It like, what can I do to stay out of your way, but also get some content. So like things like that. We really appreciate. But also, like we specifically, like us specifically, we we're very good with the plow. We we can work with just about anything. Um, as far as like venues, uh, we kind of have a running joke and like with photo and video as well. Of like, we don't think that like wedding venue people have ever done like hair and makeup because there's it's usually like dark rooms with no windows. Yeah, but I will say Varna Silverstone has some amazing lights over in that room. I walked into how lovely. I mean, I would still take more windows, always more windows. Oh, yeah. But we appreciate we appreciate setups like that. Um, there are a couple venues that like there's one outlet in the entire room. We always bring extension cords and like things like that.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Yeah, but you're still trying to plug in like six different things.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Yeah, yeah. We bring what are those called surge strips. We always have surge strips, and um we actually we do it's kind of in our contract that we ask that brides like make sure wherever you're getting ready, there are chairs and there are outlets. Like those are if you want a mirror, that's awful. We'll bring handhelds, but like if you want something to be getting ready in front of a mirror, like make sure wherever you're getting ready has to be. Actually, has that, yeah. Or bring one, like bring a little stand-up one or something.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Yeah. Um yeah, I love that. I I feel like at that part of the day, like sometimes we're just getting started, capturing stuff. Sometimes we've been there for maybe an hour before we kind of come in and things are happening. Um, but it it seems like that connection prior to the day is helpful for you guys. And also just getting the tabs.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

Yeah, reconnect at the end of the day, or like hey, how bad did her hair look after dancing? Was it okay? Like, even just like it was a rat's nest. We are all most of us are all small businesses, like just kind of like hustling, and and so even just to have that connection is I think it's special to especially in like the Lexer County area, like we're all just out here.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yeah, we are here, we are here. Um, and there's a lot of really great weddings that are happening around here, too. Yeah. Um, is there something in the way that couples are um communicating with you or even just like working with you? Like, how can brides get the most value out of your service that they've like they've paid money to have you there? Like, how yeah, how can they get the most value out of um the service that you're providing?

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Yeah, I mean, the what I mentioned before about like selecting your stylist based on like the work that you you've seen that they can do. Um, but also like you know, starting at the trial, being prepared of I love this, I don't love this, I would love to be able to X, Y, or Z or whatever. Um, I tell my girls all the time, overcommunicate. Like the more, the more you talk through things and about things, the less chance there is of someone being blindsided, the less there's an opportunity for um, you know, upset if if and and I think that can go for for couples as well, of like um, you know, overcommunicating to you know the wedding director or the stylist or even just the wedding planner of like these are some currents concerns I have, um, or these are some really big hopes that I have. I really want to listen to Bob Marley while I get I don't know, that's like the I want to make sure that this happens or something like that. And um yeah, I mean, as far as like salon specifically, or um for us, like we try to be we try to overcommunicate like how to make your wedding day go smoothly starting at the beginning kind of thing. And so um we have a list of like if you if you can show up with a clean face and dry hair, clean dry hair, um, and you can show up on time, like we can make sure that this goes perfectly smooth and you're done early, you have time to sit and relax and eat um and that kind of thing. Um but yeah, I think just a lot of communication can go a long way.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Yeah, and you would think like not every vendor is like clued in to that idea, but it seems like the thread through all of this, like between your girls, like as a business owner, there's like tons of communication happening. Yeah. Between you and your clients and your girls' clients, there's a ton of communication happening. You got your wedding guru just making it all work, and she's got all the communication lines and then even like vendor-to-vendor, it's like you still have kind of these different lines of communication. Um, it seems like like that's a uh a through piece that's like kind of making everything go.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Yeah. I think, yeah, conversation and communication and like just honestly having that kind of like community of you know, working together to make the melody happen kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Yeah. I'm curious if you have any hot takes, like could be hair, could be makeup, business, like what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 46:29

Um from a from a hairstylist perspective, speaking to other hairstylists, like don't underestimate the um wrath of a mother of a groom. Um, but also coming from a boy mom, I have three biological boys, and so like I I've had a lot more compassion for mothers of the groom recently because that I am not ready for that day.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

Um, and it's also kind of um someone asked me what's like my favorite thing that's happened at a wedding that I've been like taken care of recently. And there was one wedding that I worked, and there was the flowers were delivered. And the bride very confidently, she was like, Those are not for me. And I was like, who else here would be getting flowers? Like, and it was from the groom to his mother that day, and the and the bride knew about it. Like it was it was a good relationship kind of thing, I can imagine like other situations, but it was like something like he was recognizing that this was like a huge like leaving part for him and like respecting his mom in that like first woman who ever loved me, but also like love you. Yeah, this is it. And I remember thinking like my son better, he better send me flowers on the morning of his wedding. But no, I we kind of joke. I mean, it as hairstylists, um, and makeup artists. We like kind of you know, no, you take the mother of the bride. No, you take the mother of the bride. No, okay, I will take the groom, mom, the groom of the mom, the groom of the mom, the mother of the groom, and you take the mother of the bride kind of thing. You know, there's always moms have a lot of emotions on those mornings, and they're often like feeling the sense of like, I don't want to look like garbage, but also like trying to talk him down like this is not your wedding day. Like it's it's her wedding day. I know he loves her now. He loved you first, it's okay. Yeah, um, all the big feelings, all the big feelings, but I think that's also something really important about like choosing your hairstylist is like someone who's gonna be able to talk the mother of the groom down or the mother of the bride down, just like them on the right on the right path. Like, I have straight up like held a sobbing mother of the groom while she was mourning the her son's wedding. And I think that that's also like I mean, she was super sweet, but yeah, kind of thing. Like it's it's being that being able to be that kind of person of just like be taking all the emotions, really. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Is there a vendor category? If you could switch roles with any vendor, like what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Oh man, switch roles? Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of photographers and videographers, and I think them getting to hang out the whole day is pretty fun.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

But on the No, we're not doing any work, we're just chilling.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

Well, no, well, you guys usually you're required to get a meal, right? So that seems pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

Yeah, we hang out and eat a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Depending on the venue and the, you know, whatever. Sometimes it's Chick-fil-A, and that's great too.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

I would take Chick-fil-A over what we got at a venue who fed us a different meal than everyone else got.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

In a takeout container.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

No.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Feed your vendors. Um just normal food. Doesn't need to be fancy, just normal. Um, my photographer, this was 13 years ago, he was like, You can give us peanut butter and jelly. And I was like, I am not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

I P B and J sounds great over what we have.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

I don't know if I would choose to swap with anyone else. Wedding day coordinator never would want that job. Yeah, no, ever in a million years. Um, actually, I don't know if this is considered a I mean, I I have a dream of owning a wedding venue someday. And so venue owner. Venue owner. I don't know if I would want to switch for what would you call your venue?

SPEAKER_00 50:27

Um, so you can't say the name. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

This is gonna be the first one for me. Art earns age acres, is what we're you heard it here first. You heard it here first.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

We're speaking it into existence.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

We are three years into a 10-year hope and a dream to make that happen.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

We got we got seven more. But you I mean, you have seven more. I've just checked.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

Check back with me. Like you're we just yeah, we just need the acres. We don't have the acres. That's the big thing.

SPEAKER_00 50:53

So yeah, that'll be the big thing.

SPEAKER_02 50:55

Yeah, yeah. That's the that's the 10-year part of it.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

Yeah, so um, well, Jen, thank you so much for being on. You're like kicking us off. Uh, we've done so many episodes today, like in this actual day, but I appreciate you being on. It's been so great. And I hope couples and other vendors who are listening in learned more. I mean, like I know I learned more about hair makeup. Um, but specifically Arter and Sage, it sounds like you guys are doing things differently. And I do. Um, where can people find and follow all the things that you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Yeah, I mean, couples, uh Ardor and SageWeddings.com. Um, but also on Instagram, we have two different accounts. Arter and Sage Herd is the like studio. Um, and then Ardor and Sage Weddings is the is the wedding Instagram. Um vendors, tag the wedding one for the wedding stuff. Please. Please. It's all good. We confuse people.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Yeah. That's awesome. Definitely give them a follow and check out what they're doing over at Ardor and Sage. Um, Jen, it's been great. Thanks for watching. That's all for this episode. Um, I appreciate you guys all for tuning in. Um, make sure you follow Art Earn Sage on the platforms, and we will catch you next time on the preferred list.