Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tara. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Over 20 years ago, I was working behind the chair at a salon in Malibu. While I loved doing hair, my favorite days were always prom season and wedding season. There was something magical about helping someone get ready for one of the most important days of their life.

I quickly became known for event styling and bridal hair, often booking weddings, proms, and special events months and even years in advance. The more weddings I did, the more I realized that this was what I truly loved. I found myself asking, “How can I do weddings and events all the time?”

So I took a leap of faith.

I built a website, signed up for a bridal show, and introduced something that was still relatively unheard of at the time: a mobile hair and makeup company. Back then, most brides either went to a salon on their wedding day or had a friend help them get ready. The idea of a professional team traveling to the bride wasn’t common.

The response was overwhelming.

Brides loved the convenience of having professional hair and makeup services come directly to them. What started as a one-woman business quickly grew beyond what I could handle on my own. To keep up with the demand, I began bringing on talented artists who shared the same passion for weddings, beauty, and creating an unforgettable experience for our clients.

What started as a simple idea grew into a team serving brides throughout Southern California and beyond.

Today, Fairytale Hair and Makeup is made up of dozens of incredible artists who share one mission: helping our clients look and feel their absolute best on life’s most important days.

And it all started with one hairstylist in Malibu who couldn’t wait for the next bride to walk through the salon door.

Tara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Tara Fontana, and I am the founder and owner of Fairytale Hair and Makeup. What started as a passion for weddings and special events has grown into one of the largest on-location hair and makeup teams in the country.

Today, Fairytale Hair and Makeup provides professional hair and makeup services for weddings, elopements, destination weddings, special events, photoshoots, corporate events, and television productions. We serve clients throughout Southern California, Las Vegas, Orlando, and destination locations across the United States and beyond. Our team specializes in bringing professional beauty services directly to our clients, whether they are getting ready in a luxury resort, a private home, an Airbnb, a cruise ship, or a Disney wedding venue.

What sets us apart is that we are much more than a beauty company. We have built a team of over 40 talented artists, allowing us to provide something many independent artists cannot: reliability, flexibility, and backup. If an artist becomes unavailable, we have a team ready to step in. If a bride needs services for a large wedding party, we have the resources to accommodate it. Our clients have the confidence of knowing they are supported by an established company with decades of experience.

We also take great pride in artist matching. Every bride has a different vision, personality, and comfort level with hair and makeup. Some want a natural, effortless look, while others want full glamour. We work hard to pair clients with artists whose style and personality are the best fit for their needs.

The thing I am most proud of is the experience we create. Hair and makeup is important, but the memories made while getting ready are just as meaningful. The wedding morning sets the tone for the entire day. Our team strives to create an atmosphere that is fun, calming, professional, and filled with positive energy. We often say we are the “pre-party to the party” because some of the best memories happen during those hours spent getting ready with family and friends.

I am also incredibly proud of the longevity of our company. Fairytale Hair and Makeup has been serving clients for over 20 years, earning recognition from The Knot Best of Weddings and WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards year after year. While awards are wonderful, what means the most to me is the trust our clients place in us and the relationships we have built throughout the years.

At the end of the day, our mission is simple: we want every client who sits in our chair to feel confident, beautiful, and like the very best version of themselves. Whether we are helping a bride prepare for her wedding day, a professional get ready for a photoshoot, or a family celebrate a special occasion, we consider it an honor to be part of those moments.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Yes, it absolutely started as a side hustle before becoming my full-time career.

When I first came up with the idea of specializing in weddings, special events, and on-location beauty services, I was working five to six days a week behind the chair at a salon in Malibu. During the day, I was doing hair at the salon, and at night I was building a website, marketing the business, and trying to get my name out there any way I could.

This was long before social media became what it is today. There was no Instagram, Facebook advertising, or TikTok. Marketing meant bridal shows, bridal magazines, Yellow Pages ads, wedding websites, and exchanging links with other businesses online. I spent countless hours outside of work trying to grow the business while still maintaining a full-time salon schedule.

As the wedding side of the business continued to grow, I started taking weekends off from the salon so I could focus exclusively on weddings and special events. Before long, I realized there was a real demand for professional hair and makeup artists who would travel directly to clients. At the time, mobile beauty services were still relatively uncommon, and brides loved the convenience of having artists come to them on such an important day.

One of the biggest turning points came when I had my daughter nearly 20 years ago. Becoming a mom motivated me to take the leap and focus on Fairytale Hair and Makeup full-time. As a single mother, I wanted the flexibility to be present for my daughter while building a business I was passionate about. What started as a side hustle became both my career and a way to create the life I wanted for my family.

Around that same time, the company was growing rapidly. We began working closely with Disney weddings, which became a major milestone for us and helped establish Fairytale Hair and Makeup as a trusted name in the wedding industry. We expanded our team throughout Southern California and built a strong presence in Las Vegas. Later, we launched our Orlando division to serve Disney World weddings and destination clients, which became another exciting chapter in our growth.

Looking back, the key milestones were taking that initial leap from the salon to weddings, hiring my first artists, becoming a full-time business owner after my daughter was born, partnering with Disney weddings, expanding into multiple markets, and building a team that could serve clients across the country.

Today, more than 20 years later, Fairytale Hair and Makeup has grown far beyond anything I could have imagined when I was building a website after work in my Malibu apartment. What makes me most proud isn’t just the growth of the company, but the incredible team of artists we’ve built along the way. They share the same passion, dedication, and love for helping clients feel beautiful and confident during some of the most important moments of their lives. That’s what has fueled our growth from day one, and it’s still what drives us today.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe our reputation was built through consistency, reliability, and genuinely caring about our clients.

The wedding industry is unique because every event is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. There are no do-overs for a wedding day, so clients need to know they can trust the vendors they hire. From the beginning, I focused on showing up, doing what I said I would do, and providing a great experience from the first inquiry through the final touch-up.

I also think one of the biggest factors in our growth has been word-of-mouth referrals. Brides tell their friends, photographers recommend us, planners trust us, and venues continue referring us because we’ve consistently delivered for more than two decades. Those relationships have been invaluable and are something we never take for granted.

Another thing that helped build our reputation was creating a team rather than relying solely on myself. While many beauty professionals work independently, I wanted clients to have peace of mind knowing there was always a backup plan. Building a talented team of artists allowed us to serve more clients while maintaining the level of professionalism and reliability that people expect from us.

I also believe we’ve been successful because we’ve never lost sight of the experience. Hair and makeup is important, but people remember how you made them feel. We want our clients to feel relaxed, confident, and excited while getting ready. We often become part of some of the happiest and most emotional moments of their lives, and we take that responsibility seriously.

Over the years, we’ve also been willing to evolve. We were early adopters of mobile beauty services, expanded into destination weddings, Disney weddings, cruise weddings, and new markets like Las Vegas and Orlando. Rather than staying comfortable, we’ve continued looking for ways to better serve our clients and meet them where they are.

Most importantly, we’ve always operated with the mindset that every client matters, whether it’s a bride getting married in a luxury venue, an elopement with just the couple, or someone attending a special event. Treating every client with the same level of care and professionalism has helped us build a reputation that has sustained the business for more than 20 years.

At the end of the day, I think our reputation comes down to trust. Clients trust us with some of the biggest days of their lives, and we work hard every day to earn and keep that trust.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fairytalehairandmakeup.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/fairytalehairandmakeup
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/fairytalehairmakeup
• Other: TikTok: @fairytalehairandmakeup

Image Credits

I have the rights to share