I did my own makeup on my wedding day, and I survived.

Image: Supplied. Carla GS on her wedding day, back in 2008.

Here’s a confession: I did my own makeup on my wedding day.

GASP!

I know, I had no makeup artist and no clue. On your wedding day, it’s usually expected that you will go all out and to show everyone that you are really, exceptionally beautiful. It’s also meant the best day of your life. So why did I decide to just slap on the makeup myself?

Well, the answer is easy.

I didn’t think that my wedding day was the most important or best day of my life, and I didn’t want it to be the height of my beauty.

Related: How to manage stress on your wedding day 

Allow me to explain. Wouldn’t you rather become more beautiful, over your life, rather than just be extraordinarily beautiful for one, single day?

Yes, I do mean physical beauty, but I am also talking about feeling beautiful. There are times when I have been dressed up and made up, but I feel wretched inside. And then, there was that day when I woke up early in the morning in a maternity ward, without even a shower or a wash of my face, and I saw my newborn daughter, and I felt the most beautiful I had ever felt in my entire life.

Of course, there was the more practical aspect of my budget. Do I pay someone to apply my makeup for me, or do I just buy all the makeup? As a total beauty nerd, I chose option b.

Related: 14 makeup things every bride needs on her wedding day.

Why have fancy makeup applied for one day, when you can OWN all of that yummy makeup for the rest of your life? I still own – and wear – the Christian Dior lipstick from my wedding day. I got married in 2008. Lipstick and love are forever! (Don’t judge me for being gross. Okay, judge me, but I haven’t died from it or anything.)

Sadly, my DIY attitude was not popular at the makeup counter. When I approached a popular makeup brand counter (not Dior), the sales assistant actually refused to sell me products.

“You have to make a reservation for a bridal lesson. You can’t just buy the makeup.” she said. I may have been low-maintenance, but I still had a bridezilla streak, so I eventually forced the girl to allow me to spend hundreds of dollars on designer makeup.

She was actually pissed off about it. Such is the experience of being an assertive and unconventional bride; you’re constantly told that you need help, and that you can’t do it yourself. This was the total opposite of what I aspired to be, as a wife.

Related: How to choose a wedding perfume (and go insane). 

When it came to my wedding day, I applied my makeup as I always did, although with a slightly more dramatic touch. I loved it. My only mishap was that my eye makeup smudged a bit during the ceremony, because I cried. But, I don’t regret that; in fact, it was a beautiful thing. Real emotion and love can’t be disguised. I touched it up before my photos, anyway. I’m not an animal!

Don’t get me wrong, I love makeup artists. I always raid them for tips, and I am in awe of their skills. It’s just that, for my wedding day, I wanted to represent myself and my relationship in the best way possible. And for me, that meant putting in the effort myself, being real about it, and also making up excuses to buy more makeup.

Our lives are filled with important and wonderful days, some which we expect, some which we don’t. My wedding day was a special and significant day, but I am blessed to say that I have had many more lovely days since then. And of the day itself, the wedding was not the important part; what I truly cherished was the relationship with my partner, and what lay ahead for us as we legally formalised our relationship.

Related: 19 people on what their wedding night was really like.

So, go ahead and have fun on your wedding day. Dress up, and if you want to, have the best makeup artist in town attend to your face. But remember, beautiful and important days await you in the future, too.

For more beautiful things, check out our gallery of The Glow team's favourite bridal fragrances...