Bridal veils and hair accessories—so many choices, but what to wear?

This past weekend, C-Man and I were in Gainesville, FL for his college friend’s wedding. The beautiful bride, L, went with no veil. It was the perfect choice as the setting sun shined through the Spanish moss to give the bride and groom an ethereal glow. It matched seamlessly with their theme of simple elegance.

If you decide to wear something in your hair, here are a few semi-DIYable ideas to consider:

1. Birdcage Veil

My BFF, also know as Mrs. Hot Wings on weddingbee.com, made a birdcage veil and a large flower fascinator for her San Diego Wedding. (Craftiness brought us together 😉 )

(photo by Hanssie Trainor)

For Mrs. Hot Wings and Mrs. Pashmina’s double bachelorette Vegas weekend, I made them simple, black birdcage veils. I used the instructions from Made By Mary Ann for the veil except I only weaved through the top and not all three sides. (The weaving concept can be applied to making all kinds of veils.) I bought my netting from Etsy and 2-3 inch hair combs from Target. I found pre-made black and white feather pieces on Ebay that I just glued to hair combs.

Below you can see Mrs. Hot Wings modeling the veil. The bachelorettes’ feather pieces look similar to the headband I made for the guests, except with black and white feathers instead of red and black.

It cost about the same to make the birdcage veils as buying a gag bachelorette veil, but it looked way classier. Birdcage veils go especially well with vintage/country/eclectic themed weddings.

2. Tulle veil

Short, tulle veils are my favorite kind of veil because I think they look fun and sassy. Here’s my friend Amy (who’s quite a sass herself) wearing a shorter veil at her Ojai wedding.

An easy DIY version of this veil is to use tulle with a rough cut edge, sewn to a hair comb. Tulle is so cheap and you could easily alter the length to short, elbow length, fingertip length, etc. I prefer simple veils, but if you have sewing skills or some glue, you can add a scalloped edge, ribbon/lace lining, and/or crystals.

Mrs. Hot Wings also made Mrs. Pashmina’s cathedral veil for her Catalina Island wedding with bling glued along the edge. It blew delicately in the island wind.

3. Hair accessories

Hair accessories can include tiaras, headbands, barrettes, pins, etc. with or without sparkles. Real flowers are pretty if you choose a hearty variety like dendrobium or cymbidium orchids, but my favorite are DIY flowers (like Mrs. Hot Wings fascinator above).

Vintage flower brooches – perhaps something borrowed from the collection of a friend/relative, from 100 Layer Cake

Paper flowers, from WedShare

Feather fascinator, from The Girl in the Pink Wedding Dress

Chiffon flower, from Project Wedding

Fabric dahlia, from Martha Stewart

Silk flowers are a great semi-DIY alternative. They can be bought from your local craft store and glued onto a barrette. You can also deconstruct two or three flowers and reconstruct them as one to make it look fluffier. Here’s a lovely one from Etsy.

There are endless semi-DIY possibilities, but try to not overdo it—one to three combos max (e.g. headband only; veil and feathers; three small flowers).