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!