WILLOW HOUSE BEAUTY — Local services in New York

Where do I start? Willow House is simply the best beauty vendor in NYC, period. We booked our wedding venue two years in advance, so I had plenty of time to research and compare vendors. I probably reached out to 20 different beauty vendors, but when it came to making a final decision, the choice was obvious. Let me tell you why!

Communication: I never waited more than 48 hours for a response from Willow House. Every single message from Michelle and her team was friendly, professional, and informative. It’s clear from the way they communicate that the team at Willow House is proud of what they do and really value the way they make brides feel about themselves on their wedding day. I am so grateful for the kindness I received from everyone at Willow House in the weeks and months leading up to our wedding.

Compassion: From the very beginning, the team at Willow House listened attentively to my concerns and understood, intuitively, what I was looking for. Regarding my own hair and makeup, I wanted to make sure that when I looked in the mirror on my wedding day, I recognized the person looking back at me. I wanted to feel elegant and beautiful, but I still wanted to feel like myself, and I have never been an airbrushed person. But the person I was most concerned about was my mother. My mom is a good person, in every sense of the word. She dedicated her life to caring for the health and happiness of others. She never spent much time on her own appearance, and consequently I never saw her wearing makeup of any kind. I knew that she had a lot of anxiety about getting her makeup done for my wedding, although she kept those feelings to herself. So it was important to me that the hair and makeup artists I hired would be sensitive to her needs and find a way to make her feel beautiful and special without causing her any discomfort. Aneta knew exactly what to do. She gently guided my mom through the whole process, offering suggestions rather than asking questions she wouldn’t know how to answer. She joked with my mom, helping her to relax instead of making her feel insecure. My mom, of course, looked stunning. But more importantly, she was glowing from within. When I look at our wedding photos, I see my mom feeling her best, radiating happiness, and I can’t thank the Willow House team enough for making that happen.

Artistry: You only need to spend five minutes on Instagram to know that Willow House only hires the best of the best. Abi, Carley, Megan, and Aneta are all incredibly gifted and creative. They absolutely delivered the perfect hair and makeup for myself, my bridesmaids, my sister-in-law, and the moms. Everyone was thrilled with their looks, and I was so happy to see the women I love feeling confident and relaxed on my wedding day. The team at Willow House really knows how to enhance a person’s natural beauty. They excel in clean, natural looks, perfectly blending glamour with effortless grace. There’s a reason everyone on their Instagram looks like an ethereal goddess having her best skin day ever.

The Whole Damn Package: When I went in for my makeup trial 4 months prior to our wedding, Aneta recommended several skincare routines that would hydrate my flaky face. I followed her advice and woke up on my wedding day with the dewiest, smoothest skin of my life. One of my bridesmaids took a tumble on her way to our hotel and showed up with a bloody knee. And there was Abi with Neosporin and a bandage. No one knew how to tie a bow for the back of my wedding dress. Guess what? Megan is some kind of bow tying expert. What I’m trying to say is that the Willow House team has got you covered. No matter what. They are just the full package, and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to work with them. I cannot recommend Michelle and her team enough. THANK YOU FOR...

I truly cannot say enough great things about Willow House!! I would give them 100 stars if I could. I met Michelle and Gina in July for my hair/makeup trial for my wedding in January, and from the moment they walked in the door I knew they were who I wanted on my wedding day. Not only are they both so nice, fun, professional, and extremely knowledgeable, but my hair and makeup looked incredible!! I felt just like myself, but enhanced. That night I went out with some friends and everything stayed intact, even through 90 degree NYC summer heat. For my wedding, we had Michelle and Aneta doing our makeup, and Gina doing our hair. I also had Michelle and Gina do my hair/makeup for my rehearsal dinner and it was such a fun way to kick off the weekend! On wedding day, they were such a fun and positive group to have while getting ready. On an already stressful day, they could not have been more calm and collected, and I really appreciated that!! Michelle was super communicative and organized through the entire process. We had a larger party, and she managed fitting everyone in the timeline with ease. Also, everyone looked and (most importantly) felt amazing!! The most crucial thing to me during my search was finding someone who would help me and my friends feel our best. Nothing is worse than getting your hair/makeup done and feeling like a completely different human - and I can honestly say that Michelle and Gina made me feel like the very BEST version of myself! I even had multiple people come up to me at the wedding ask “who did everyone’s glam?! They KILLED it!” You expect people to comment on the flowers, food, venue, etc. so I thought it was really special that multiple people took notice of how great all the girls looked! Bottom line, I cannot recommend Michelle and the rest of the Willow House crew enough! If you’re looking for a group of kind, fun, inclusive, and truly incredible people to do your hair/makeup for your wedding -...

I am beyond thrilled that I chose Willow House as the glam team for my wedding. I am a pretty low maintenance gal with a very limited makeup kit of my own. I had no idea what I wanted for a hair/makeup look for my wedding, but I knew that I didn't want to go from no-makeup to insane overdone makeup. When I first browsed their site and Instagram page, I knew that Willow House could make people look absolutely stunning without making them look like different people from who they are on a day-to-day basis.

By the time I got to my trial, I wasn't that much closer to knowing what kind of look I wanted and the Willow House team found a look for me, after looking at my dress, that they thought would compliment the dress and stay true to my natural look. I am so so so grateful for them for pushing me to be a little bit more glam because I felt completely special and completely me even just from the trial.

After the trial, when I came up with an additional thought to go with my look (pearls in hair!!), they were supportive and excited and extremely helpful in figuring out how I could achieve the look. In general, their communication from the time I booked them through the wedding day was great and I was happy to have a badass team I felt comfortable reaching out to with my dumb (to me!) questions.

THENNNN the wedding day came and OH. MY. GOD. My entire wedding party looked and felt beautiful. Every single person who was there to help us with hair + makeup (we had a 5-person glam team total for my 12 gals) was amazing at what they did. They were able to work with so many hair styles, textures, skin tones and they were all so pleasant to spend the morning and afternoon with while we all got ready in a tight space.

I can't recommend Willow House enough if you're looking to feel like it's the biggest day of your life, but you want to feel like you as you do it. THANK YOU MICHELLE + YOUR...