The short version
If you're a Fredericton bride trying to budget for the makeup line on your spreadsheet — here's the simple math, before we get into the why.
- Bride: $200 CAD
- Each bridal party member: $150 CAD
- Travel inside Fredericton city limits: flat $50
- Travel outside Fredericton: $50 base + $0.80 per kilometre, both ways
- Booking fee: $100 CAD, paid online when you book, non-refundable, separate from the day-of total
The booking fee secures your date and is paid by card on this website. Everything else is settled in cash when I arrive on the wedding day.
What the bridal rate actually covers
$200 for the bride includes the full application: prep, skincare-led base, custom-blended foundation, brows, eyes, lash strips if you want them, lips, and a final touch-up duo handed to you for the day. On-site means I'm coming to your suite, hotel, Airbnb, or venue — there's no salon, no chair you have to drive to. You're in your robe with your bridesmaids, and I'm set up in the corner with my kit.
That number reflects experience, kit, and time. A bridal application is usually 60 to 75 minutes for the bride alone, and the kit involved costs four-figures to maintain — professional foundations alone are typically $60–$90 per bottle, and a working artist carries dozens of shades to match any skin.
Bridal party math
At $150 per person, a bridal party member's application is roughly 35 to 45 minutes. That price stays flat regardless of how many — so a party of three pays $150 each, and a party of seven pays $150 each. There's no bulk discount, but there's also no surcharge.
A working example: bride + 4 bridesmaids inside Fredericton.
- Bride: $200
- Bridal party (4 × $150): $600
- Travel: $50
- Day-of total in cash: $850
- + Booking fee paid online: $100
- Total makeup investment: $950 CAD
Travel: how the kilometres add up
Travel inside Fredericton city limits is a flat $50, regardless of where you are in the city. Outside the city, it's $50 base + $0.80 per kilometre to the location and back. Driving to a venue in St. Andrews from downtown Fredericton (about 120 km one way) lands at $50 + 240 × $0.80 = $242 in travel.
If travel is more than an hour each way, additional charges may apply — those come up in conversation before the contract is signed, never as a surprise on the day.
Why bridal pricing differs from "regular" makeup
A bridal application costs more than a salon makeup appointment for three real reasons:
- It has to hold through 14 hours of weather, hugs, tears, and dancing. That requires longer-wear products, more setting steps, and a different technique than an evening-out look.
- It has to photograph well in mixed light. Wedding photos are taken in window light, sunlight, flash, sparkler light, and overhead reception light — all in the same evening.
- The schedule is unforgiving. If anyone is late, the photographer is late, the ceremony is late. A bridal artist plans the timeline so the bride is finished long before the photographer arrives, with margin for the unexpected.
"The least useful number in wedding makeup is the cheapest one. The most useful is the one that comes with a contract, a timeline, and someone who's done this enough times that nothing surprises her."
How to budget on a wedding spreadsheet
If you're building a wedding budget from scratch, the rough rule for makeup is:
- Bride only, no party: ~$325 all-in
- Bride + 2 party members: ~$575 all-in
- Bride + 4 party members: ~$825 all-in
- Bride + 6 party members: ~$1,075 all-in
Compared to the typical Atlantic Canadian wedding budget ($25,000–$45,000), bridal makeup lands at roughly 2–4% of total spend. It's one of the smaller line items, and one of the most photographed.