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Celebrity Bridal Stylist Hope LaVine’s favorite part of styling is connecting with brides and making them feel their best version of themselves. Hope shows us a day in her life styling a bride-to-be and what her day-to-day life in her career entails. Watch to see how Hope makes a living as a celebrity bridal stylist.

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Transcript
00:00This is my dress closet, which I think might have 100 or 150 dresses in it.
00:06Wedding guest dresses, bridesmaids dresses, even wedding dresses in this closet.
00:11I like to compare myself to the movie 27 Dresses.
00:14She was always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
00:17I'm the bridal stylist, never the bride.
00:20I'm Hope Levine, and I make $65,000 as a celebrity bridal stylist for a living.
00:30I started bridal styling when I was right out of high school.
00:33I was 17. I was super intimidated by all of these amazing brides I was working with.
00:39But I knew that I loved helping people, and I loved love.
00:44I love fashion. I always have.
00:46I just always had dreams of being in the fashion industry.
00:49I officially started styling my own personal clients in 2020.
00:54I wanted to work specifically with celebrities when it came to bridal styling
00:59because I think they have just an added level of pressure when it comes to their wedding looks.
01:05People think that celebrities should have the craziest, most outrageous,
01:10new and inventive outfits when it comes to their bridal looks.
01:14But at the end of the day, they are also just a bride,
01:17and they just want to feel beautiful in themselves like you would.
01:21When I started in the bridal industry, it was very different than it is today.
01:26Today, personal bridal stylists were hardly a thing.
01:30Today, you can have full-on bridal service from a specific individual or team.
01:36They can come with you on your wedding day, fluff your train,
01:40make sure those bows are tied beautifully.
01:42So the level of service that you can find from a personal bridal stylist
01:46didn't really used to exist.
01:49I also store wedding dresses under my bed.
01:51I've completely run out of space in my closet,
01:54so under the bed is the only place that makes sense to me.
01:58So I've been a celebrity bridal stylist about a year now.
02:01It wasn't until recently that I knew I wanted to pursue this fully.
02:04I have always done bridal styling,
02:08but specifically working one-on-one with clients,
02:11I feel like you develop an extremely intimate relationship with them.
02:15And I really like that close connection,
02:18being able to work with someone from day one to the wedding day.
02:23Hannah G is a Bachelor franchise success story,
02:26and I was super lucky to style her for her wedding.
02:30I realized her wedding was probably coming up in the next few months,
02:33so I made a TikTok about what I would style her in.
02:38She saw it, she commented on it, and we just clicked.
02:41And we started out super simple with the styling of her bachelorette party looks.
02:46And then we went on to the bigger things like pre-wedding events and wedding.
02:51It's so fun being a part of every single wedding event
02:55and getting to tell a cohesive story through the fashion
03:00over multiple months of celebration.
03:02One of my favorite moments of styling Hannah G
03:06was when we put on her welcome party look.
03:09As I was placing the diamonds on her neck,
03:13I was tying the bow on her dress,
03:15and we saw for the first time this look come together so perfectly.
03:19A vision that I had been working on for a while,
03:22and it kind of just like clicked when we put those diamonds on.
03:26Hey, I'm so excited for this.
03:30Thanks for coming.
03:31Yes, I'm so excited to see these dresses on my bride.
03:34So I'm super fortunate to have worked with Sync Bridal on some collaboration dresses.
03:40Macy is so talented and has been in the bridal industry for a few years as well.
03:45She's a newer bridal brand, but she has blown up on TikTok and Instagram.
03:50She has a super unique look and design,
03:52and I'm so excited to share that with my bride today.
03:57Hi.
03:58Hey.
03:59Come on in.
04:01So today we are going to be styling Genesis.
04:05Genesis is an amazing bride who actually got married during COVID,
04:11but is now going to be having a bigger wedding ceremony.
04:14So we definitely need some wedding looks that fit the bill.
04:19She is just sunshine and so sweet.
04:22She's also going to look amazing in anything we try on.
04:26So that will be a little bit of a challenge,
04:28but that's why I'm here to help her stay focused
04:31and remember the overall wedding vision.
04:35For Genesis, I'm thinking we go full-on romantic and ethereal.
04:40Okay, so we tried on a lot of gorgeous looks today.
04:44But I think we should get back into your favorite
04:47and see it one more time.
04:50What do you think?
04:51Stunning.
04:52Back in the favorite.
04:54I think we could check with the mood boards,
04:56make sure the vision's all here,
04:58but I don't know if I see anything beating this one.
05:01It's pretty perfect.
05:02I don't think I need to look anywhere else.
05:04I don't want to try on another dress.
05:06This is it.
05:07I think the most rewarding part of my job
05:09is just helping all of these brides feel beautiful
05:14and confident on their big day.
05:17It's really hard when you're looking in the mirror
05:20and you see a bride looking at herself,
05:24almost assessing everything
05:26that she wants to change about herself
05:28or she doesn't love about herself.
05:30And it's stepping in in those moments
05:32to validate them
05:35and almost work with them
05:37to see the beauty that you see within them.
05:40My first bridal styling job,
05:42if I remember correctly,
05:44I think I was making like $12 an hour
05:46and 1% commission.
05:48And then when I started personal bridal styling,
05:51it was definitely hard to price
05:54and know how much to charge for these services.
05:57I spend so many hours looking up inspiration,
06:02talking to these brides about what they don't like,
06:04what they do like.
06:05Ultimately, I've landed on some numbers
06:07that I think are comfortable
06:08and compensate me for my time
06:10and talk to the years of experience
06:13that I have as a bridal stylist.
06:15So the range for bridal styling
06:16can run anywhere from two to $10,000,
06:20depending on which package you need
06:22or how many bridal looks you have.
06:24One of the more popular services
06:26is day of bridal styling.
06:28I fluff the train.
06:30I make sure every button is buttoned.
06:32The bows are tied cute.
06:34It's more of that like hands-on day of styling
06:37and that starts at $2,000.
06:39Then you have a la carte bridal styling,
06:42which is about two or three bridal looks.
06:45That can be priced anywhere from $2,500
06:48to all the way to $7,500,
06:51depending on how many we're working on.
06:54Full-service bridal styling,
06:56that's about $10,000
06:57and that is when we are doing
06:59every single wedding look
07:01that you will be wearing.
07:03Think bachelorette party,
07:05welcome party, rehearsal dinner,
07:06engagement photos, the whole thing.
07:09So my overall salary
07:10is typically about $65,000 a year
07:13working one-on-one with brides,
07:15but my income is definitely supplemented
07:18by content creation.
07:19Social media has totally skyrocketed
07:21my career as a celebrity bridal stylist.
07:24I have been so lucky
07:26to have been able to land
07:28on People's For You pages
07:30or Instagram feed
07:32with my content
07:33about these celebrity weddings.
07:36My content primarily focuses
07:37on all bridal fashion,
07:39so wedding dresses,
07:40reception dresses,
07:42wedding event looks,
07:44even wedding guest dresses,
07:45and bridesmaid's dresses.
07:47So I try and work with
07:48only about 10 clients max a year
07:50because of the level of service
07:53that I provide.
07:54All of the hours that I spend
07:56thinking specifically
07:57about one bride's full wedding looks,
08:00it can be months at a time
08:02focusing on one bride
08:04and one bride alone.
08:05So that's why I offer
08:07the rates that I offer.
08:08It's more one-on-one,
08:09it's more individualized,
08:11and it is my undivided attention
08:13on your wedding.
08:20I hope my future
08:22in celebrity bridal styling
08:23is long and fun and rewarding.
08:28There's so many ideas
08:29that I have for all
08:31of the engaged brides today.
08:33For anyone that is interested
08:34in pursuing this career
08:36as a living,
08:37I would say that
08:38you should just ask around,
08:40see if anyone needs help,
08:42if anyone needs interns,
08:44get your foot in the door
08:46in the bridal industry.
08:47Anyone can do this job,
08:48you just have to have patience
08:50and an eye for fashion.
08:53To watch more videos like this,
08:54you can subscribe here.
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