Once Upon a Bride

Profile

As a top hairstylist for television and film, Stacey Lyn Weinstein regularly fielded requests to work her clients’ weddings. Her response: “I don’t do bridal.” That all changed in 1999, when she opened Once Upon A Bride, a full-service agency for wedding beauty. Fed up with the poufy, matronly style of most nuptial looks, the entrepreneur set out to create a company known for modern, elegant hair and makeup influenced by current fashion and red-carpet trends, sometimes using clip-on extensions. They're also adept at intricate knots (for updos and half-up looks) integrating bejeweled barrettes, tiaras, hair sticks, and brooch combs from their collection of couture hair accessories made of Swarovski crystals, pearls, and glass beads. Overseeing fourteen other top freelance artists, she now dispatches beauty troops for on-site work at more than 100 weddings a year, both in the five boroughs and the Hamptons, as well as in far-flung locales like Mexico and Puerto Rico. After a consultation, Weinstein will recommend an appropriate beauty team who specializes in your desired look—such as a modern updo, smoky eyes, or air-brushed glamour. In 2005, she moved her operation to her own Violet Salon, a cozy, one-room space where brides can come for makeup trials and pre-event cuts, color, and/or extensions. — Carolyn Murnick