How to Put On a Wedding Veil, Step by Step

Put your veil on last, once your hair is finished and your dress is on. Find the top of the comb, slide it into your hair with the teeth pointing back, then pin across it with two bobby pins through the comb loops. Shake out the tulle, and if your veil has a blusher, settle it over your face last. That is the whole job, and it takes about two minutes once you have practised it.

Before you start

Decide where the comb will sit before your hair trial, and tell your hairdresser. The comb needs something to grip, and the right spot depends on your hairstyle. Our guide to wedding hairstyles with a veil shows where the comb goes for an updo, a bun, half up and hair down.

Have these ready on the morning:

• Your veil, hanging since it arrived so the creases have dropped out
• Four or five bobby pins in your hair colour
• A hand mirror, so you can see the back
• Someone to help with a long veil

Step 1: Get dressed first

Put your dress and jewellery on before the veil. Pulling a dress over your head, or doing up buttons behind you, is the easiest way to catch the tulle. Earrings with hooks and bracelets snag it too, so put those on first.

Step 2: Find the top of the comb

Hold the veil up by its comb. On our single tier and two tier veils the tulle is gathered and stitched along the top of the comb, and the teeth curve gently towards your head. The gathered side faces out. On a drop veil, the comb is wrapped in ribbon in your hair colour and the shorter layer, the blusher, hangs to the front.

Step 3: Slide the comb in

Hold the comb with the teeth pointing towards your face and rest it on your hair just in front of where you want it. Turn it over so the teeth point back, then push it into your hair in one smooth movement. The hair underneath now holds it, much like a hair slide.

If it feels loose, take it out and go again a centimetre lower, where there is more hair to grip. If your hair is down or very smooth, give the comb an anchor first. Our post on wearing a veil with your hair down has six ways to do that.

Step 4: Pin across the comb

Slide a bobby pin through one of the end loops of the comb, catching some hair as you go, then do the same at the other end. Cross the pins over the comb if you want more hold. Our combs are silver plated metal, about 7.5cm wide, and you can bend the teeth a little to grip better. Our post on the combs on our veils shows them close up.

Step 5: Let the tulle fall

Lift the veil by the edges and let it drop behind you. Run your hands gently down each side so it hangs straight. Check the back in your mirror: the comb should be hidden and the tulle should fall evenly on both sides.

A long veil needs a second pair of hands. Ask your helper to carry the end until you are where the photographs or the aisle begin, then lay it out behind you.

Step 6: Bring the blusher forward

If your veil has a blusher, the layer that goes over your face, bring it forward last, just before you walk. Lift it from the edges and let it fall over your face in one go. Our two tier veils have a 72cm blusher measured from the comb, which falls to around your waist or a little below.

Outdoors and in the wind

A breeze lifts tulle nicely in photographs, but it can also wrap a long veil around you. Magnetic veil weights clip onto the hem in seconds and help it fall back down. You put them on yourself on the day, and take them off for the evening.

Practise once before the day

Do a full run with your hairdresser at your trial, comb and pins included. It is the only way to know your hair will hold it. When the veil arrives, hang it straight away so the creases drop out, and keep it hanging until the morning.

If you are still choosing, all our wedding veils come on the same metal comb, and our wedding veil guide explains every style.

Sarah Jane x