Two Brides, One Vision: Queer Love, Representation, and the Beauty Chair

There are wedding mornings you remember for the gowns, the venue, the flowers. And then there are the ones you remember for the way the room felt.

At their trial, Bride 1 sat in my chair first. When I turned her toward the mirror, she lit up.

"Omg, I literally couldn’t have imagined anything more perfect," she said, and then kept glancing back at her reflection …three, maybe four more times, even while her fiance was in the chair.

Bride 2 beamed watching her."She looks amazing. Oh, I’m so excited."

By the end of her own trial, she was holding the mirror with that same look of joy."It’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect," she said, before pulling out her phone for a round of selfies.

As soon as they left, an email came through… another selfie, this time of the two of them together. The caption read:"We’re so happy!!!"

I wrote back:"I am genuinely so excited that you guys are so happy. It means so much to me to make sure that all of my brides feel amazing, but especially my queer family brides. Because I know how it feels to not be seen fully and to be worried that somebody’s not gonna see you in whatever version of authenticity you present in, and I always wanna make sure that I get that right. So I’m just super honored that you guys have chosen me to be a part of your special day and feel really confident about it."

Their reply was simple but it sat heavy in my heart:"Jahara… you’re truly amazing and we couldn’t have asked for a better fit to have you be part of our day. THANK YOU."

Even in 2025, queer couples are still underrepresented in bridal beauty. Not just in the obvious ways, like the lack of two-bride or two-groom imagery in mainstream wedding marketing, but in the subtler ways, too.

When you search for bridal makeup inspiration, the results still lean toward a narrow, heteronormative ideal: one bride in a white gown, often light-skinned, paired with a groom.

If queer couples are featured at all, they’re often framed as a novelty, their photos tucked into a single “LGBTQ+ weddings” gallery instead of seamlessly woven into the fabric of wedding culture.

For many of my queer brides, this means they have to dig deeper, sometimes scrolling for hours, just to find looks that feel authentic. And honestly they sometimes never find it. I can’t tell you how many queer brides have sat in my chair and said “well I don’t really have any inspo because I couldn’t find any”

And for couples of color, that search becomes even harder. Representation is still not intersectional enough. You’re not just looking for makeup that matches your skin tone, you’re looking for images where the love looks like yours. That absence sends a message, even if unintentional: your version of love is an outlier.

It’s the opposite of what your wedding day should feel like.

This is why I’m intentional about what I share, how I show my work, and how I hold space in my chair. I want my queer couples to see themselves not as a “special case” but as part of the standard.

When two people sit in my chair for the same wedding, I never see them as a set that needs to be “matched.” I see two individuals, each with their own style, comfort zones, and ways they want to be seen. My job is to honor those differences while still creating a visual thread that ties them together in their photos, their ceremony, and the memory of the day.

For these brides, we started with conversations that had nothing to do with lipstick or lashes. I asked how they envisioned themselves walking down the aisle, what kind of energy they wanted to carry, what version of themselves they most wanted reflected back. Bride 1 leaned toward skin focused, softness at the edges, but with a little more drama in the eyes. Bride 2 wanted something polished but radiant, with a glow that felt timeless.

Rather than forcing them into a matching style, I looked for what I call “beauty bridges” which are subtle connections that make two different looks feel like they belong in the same story.

The result wasn’t identical, but it was cohesive. Side-by-side, they looked like themselves, elevated, confident, and in sync. And in the way they kept looking at each other during the trials, I knew I’d done my job before either of them even picked up a mirror.

Because in the end, it isn’t just about foundation shades and lash styles. It’s about what happens when someone sits in your chair and feels fully seen. For my queer couples that feeling can be rare in the wedding world. Too often, their love is treated like an exception to the rule, a box to check for diversity.

I don’t ever want my clients to feel like they have to edit themselves for their wedding photos, their families, or for the artist standing in front of them. My job is to create a space where their most authentic self is the starting point, not something they have to fight to hold onto.

When these two brides left their trial, their follow-up email wasn’t just a thank-you, it was a reminder of why I do this. It was a reminder that beauty work, when done with intention, can affirm someone’s identity as much as it enhances their features.

That’s the real privilege of being in this industry. The makeup will fade. The hair will come down. But the way you made someone feel, the way you honored their love, their truth, their story will stay long after the wedding day is over.

If you’re a queer couple planning your wedding, know that you deserve glam that feels like you in every way. I’d be honored to help you feel fully seen, celebrated, and beautiful on your day. Let’s create something unforgettable together — inquire here