Photos by ​Peter Beliaev Photography

It is always great to browse around and find photos that were not posted yet! Here is a gallery from Olga and Adam's wedding, back from October 2015. Olga had a very unique veil, I love this vintage feeling! Hair by stylist Erika 

Kara's wedding was an "emergency booking" - she had the hair and makeup arranged at the salon, but something fell through, and she contacted us on a Sunday morning, a week before her wedding! We set everything up in just couple of hours, and met for the trial just a few days before Kara's big event! Her story inspired me to write my other blog topic "On location hair+makeup on your wedding day vs going to the salon" And how surprised I was when found out that her photographer was Darling Photographers, wonderful person and great professional, I knew photos will be amazing, and here they are!

Photography: Darling Photographers
Planning: Tarra Morgan The Plannery
Gown: Katherine's Bridal Boutique
Tux: THE BLACK TUX
Hair and Makeup: Makeup and Hair by Alina Karaman (​Bridal hair and makeup - Alina Karaman main stylist, Elina (makeup) and Irina (hair for bridesmaids) helping stylists)
Flowers: Little Shop Of Flowers

For this photo shoot, I wanted to show different ways of wearing bridal pieces - who knew they can be so fun to work with!
It was a great time shooting, because the model is a very good old friend of mine, and she is a makeup artist herself, it was her first time modeling for this kind of shoot!
The photographer Tatsiana is a good friend of mine that I've met here, in US, 7 years ago. She is super creative and can shoot for hours non-stop! She mainly shoots family/lifestyle and weddings, but we collaborate for fun projects like this from time to time, and I always love the outcome
Thankful for Hair Comes the Bride company - they've been wonderful to work with, and their pieces selection ware great to work with - there were so many more, but we only had so much time to shoot the looks.
It was my first time selecting the clothing for the shoot and pushing the view no one approved at first. But I am very happy with the results, and our whole team as well!

Styling, hair, makeup - Makeup and Hair by Alina Karaman
Photo - LAi Photography
Model - Eka Kolubaieva
Hair Pieces - Hair Comes the Bride ("Ruby", "Amelia", "Aruna", "Chrissy" Use code alinakaraman for 10% off)

Please enjoy the engagement photos of our future bride Beth, photos taken by her friend, and wonderful photographer Debra Cohen!

Photos of Joanna and Jan's wedding, taken by her wonderful friend Anthony Belotto (what a wedding gift!). Preparation - at Georgetown Suites, Washington, DC

It was an April in DC, but it was snowing in the morning! Thankfully, by the time we met with Tetiana, the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon. Hair by Alina Karaman. Photos by Olivia Jacob. The link to more photos is here

Coordination | Kara Britanik, Capitol Romance Weddings
Venue | Fathom Gallery
Flowers | Twin Brook Floral Design
Cake | Fancy Cakes By Leslie
Hair | Alina Karaman
Gown | BHLDN
Catering | Well Dunn Catering

I am receiving last second bookings sometimes from the brides who originally planned to go to the salon for their hair/makeup, and then all of the sudden their booking was cancelled/double-booked - whatever happened! I wanted to point out the main differences for brides between going to the salon vs hiring a team for your wedding day. I am not talking about all of the salons out there!

1 - when you go to the salon, you are the regular client there in the book, there is no "the bride" slot  - you book the appointment as if you book it for cut/color. What does it mean? It means that if someone is late before you - you are delayed!  When you hire a team, we come to you and all the scheduling is done around your timeline - limo arrival, ceremony time, etc

2 - you are booking Saturday morning/day time - chances are the stylists behind the chair are busy! If you have a big party - it is a big production! If one of the client is late for one of the stylists that are working with your bridesmaids - the whole party is late! This doesn't happen when the team comes to your place/hotel and each stylist works accordingly to the schedule that was set up ahead

3 - you are booking vendors 6-12 months ahead. The chance that your stylist may change the salon you went to (and did the trial with) are high if you book so far ahead. While when you hire the team - no one quits, because it's our own business! Worse case (if any health issue, for example) - owners are sending their colleagues instead, with photos from trials, and all ready - someone will come, because we care!

​4 - most of the stylists at the salons are great with cut/color/blow dry - not so much with updo's. Yes, there are great people out there, but 90% of the time they do chemical/cut service. Updo's are a completely different story, and to be able to do them - our hands need to be trained all the time, otherwise they "forget". On location teams do 10-20 updo's every weekend - it's a lot of practice. I am not speaking about all salon stylists, but about the majority. Again, there are great people out there who can do both - but it is so rare. That's why your regular hairstylist most likely won't be thrilled when you ask them to do your wedding updo. You may see it in their eyes, but they might be too nice to say no.

​5 - when you go to the salon, you need to wake up earlier plus driving around. I think this one doesn't need an explanation. What if you have an early ceremony? Would you rather wake up at 6 am, or 8:30 am? Some hairstyles I see are falling apart by the time bridesmaids and bride are coming back to the hotel to continue getting ready

To summarize my post - I understand that hiring a team costs more, and yes, it is a luxury service. You can do your own makeup, curl the hair and look like million $ - we all can do that for ourselves! But if you decided to do this professionally - those are my observations. If you truly have limited budget for this service and want to use the salon, I recommend at least hiring someone like us at least for yourself and "key" people - mothers, maid of honor, for example - and send bridesmaids to the salon/blow dry bar. They most likely will be late though - I've seen this too many times. But at least you will be on time!

We started the year of 2016 with the beautiful Karen's wedding! Please enjoy the photos, taken by Tim Riddick. Bridal hair - by Alina Karaman; helping hair stylist for guests/bridesmaids - Suzanne

Photographer: Tim Riddick

Venue: Fairmont Hotel Washington DC
Makeup: Real Doll Makeup
Video: Michael Brazada Films
Florists: Yellow Door Florist
Hair: Alina Karaman
Bridal: Ellie's Boutique

Throwback from December 2014, Jessica and Greg's wedding photos, celebrating at Corcoran Gallery of Art. Makeup and Hair by us (hair - Joy Greene for Makeup and Hair by Alina Karaman)

Venue: Corcoran Gallery of Art
Photography: The Happy Couple Photography
Wedding Coordination: Bright Occasions
Catering: Spilled Milk Catering 
Florist: B Floral Event Design
DJ (and lighting): Dan Goldman, Bialek’s
Rentals: DC Rental 
Make-up and Hair: Make-up and Hair by Alina Karaman
Calligraphy: K. Lankford Calligraphy