4 Ways to Make Your Salon a Bridal Go-to This Season

With wedding season in full swing, salons can find real opportunities for growth in the $55 billion wedding market. Business from brides, grooms, and other wedding party members can be a windfall that pays off month after month—especially during the summer and fall months.

2.5 million weddings are expected to happen this year, making 2022 the busiest wedding season since 1984. With numbers like that, attracting new clients looking for both wedding prep and day-of services is an opportunity you can’t pass up. In this article, we’ll explore several salon ideas for bridal season that you can easily implement in your business.  

1. Spread the word about your bridal services

As a salon owner, you’re constantly interacting with clients. By conversing with clients in your chair, you may often find yourself playing the role of confidant—some may even develop the same type of rapport with you as they do with their closest friends. As you well know, there’s no getting around it—this is the reality of the job, and it’s also a business opportunity just waiting to be seized.   

While you are foiling, cutting, or styling, share your salon’s bridal offerings—you never know who might be in the midst of wedding planning or have a recently engaged loved one. For clients who express interest in relaying your services, give them a discount card to pass along. Be sure to reward the client for their referral with a discounted service or product. This is a simple and cost-effective way to successfully promote your business throughout wedding season. Word of mouth may seem simple, but it works.

2. Bring your bridal services to market

How else can you market your salon as both a go-to spot for cut and color as well as the ultimate bridal destination? Try venturing outside your salon walls. Partner with local wedding venues, set up a booth at a bridal show, or host a pop-up event at a local bridal shop and offer free mini makeup applications and mini stylings. This gives brides and grooms a taste of the experience your salon offers.  

Before any events, make sure you have a strong presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. You’ll want to place your social media handles on any signage or flyers at your booth (and in your salon, for that matter)—so they can follow your work. After all, the more engagement on your pages, the larger the captive audience.   

Again, establishing a presence at an event probably won’t cost much, but it will help cast a wide net to engaged couples in the surrounding communities. Plus, any opportunity you have to collect email addresses is marketing gold at its finest—so make sure to have an email sign-up at your booth. After the event, send out a targeted email blast to those individuals and offer them a savings on their first visit to your salon. Even if some of the women and men aren’t preparing for a wedding, it’s still a great opportunity to grow your clientele.

Ready to become a pro at email marketing? We have a guide to help you do just that. 

3. Make sure you’re easy to reach 

As you may know, planning a wedding can be stressful— but getting ahold of your business shouldn’t be. Use an AI receptionist to automatically text back and book appointments for anyone who calls when you're unavailable—24/7. That way, brides can book when it works best for them—even if that means they’re up late at night scheduling a last-minute makeup and hair trial. 

4. Be prepared to follow up 

So, your cost-effective marketing plan worked, and you booked more brides and grooms than ever this season. They’ve come in for haircuts, highlights, their style and makeup trial, and a myriad of other services. The big day has come and gone, and you have the pictures and the favorable review to prove it. Finally, your work is done—well, not quite.   

Before you kick your heels up, make sure to send out an email blast to the bridal party after the wedding to remind them of your other services, and possibly offer them an incentive to come back as a regular client. A person may have come into your salon for a wedding but will stay long-term because of how much he or she loved the experience.  

All in all, you can see that these methods don’t require a lot of time or money and are a stress-free way to switch up your usual marketing efforts. The lesson here: showcase your salon or spa business any way you can, and just watch the brides gravitate toward your local spot.