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

Laura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

When I had recently turned 18, I went to have my hair styled for my high school’s winter semi-formal. I walked out looking (to me, at least) like Shirley Temple. It was nothing like the long, flowy, soft curls I envisioned or requested, and I was so frustrated and disappointed that I declared, as I frantically fixed my hair at home before my date arrived, that, “No one is ever going to style my hair again but me.” It’s been 14 years since then, and I’ve not only stuck to that, but I built a livelihood as a result of that experience.

I began practicing styling my own hair for senior prom, and that’s when my mom suggested she pay me to style my younger sister’s hair for the dance instead of taking her to a salon. This felt like an absolute win-win: do something fun AND earn some money. From there, I began styling my sister’s friends’ hair for future events, styling college friends’ hair for sorority formals in college, and coming home from college to style my brothers’ female friends’ hair for dances. It felt like the ideal hobby.

Then, in a college course, a professor had us share our “dream job” as an ice-breaker. A job that is beyond the realm of possibility but sounds fun (eg, eat chocolate and watch reality TV full time). I said, “I’d style hair for weddings.” The professor interrupted and kindly pointed out, “That’s a real job.” It had never hit me before, but she was right. It was a real job. I began looking at cosmetology schools within a few weeks of the conversation, but I decided to finish my college degree before making the leap.

A couple years later, I graduated with my bachelor’s, and I had also become interested in a career in mental health counseling. So much so, that I’d applied and been accepted to a master’s program that would cover my full tuition in exchange for being a professor’s graduate assistant. I couldn’t turn it down. It would allow me to pursue both dreams by saving the money I would have used for grad school to put towards a cosmetology program instead. During my graduate studies, I continued to style hair for friends and coworkers, including styling for my first actual wedding. Two years later, with my master’s degree in hand as a couple and family therapist, I finally entered cosmetology school just before turning 25.

For the next 13 months, I worked 3 days a week as a mental health therapist, and I spent 3 days a week, 11 hours per day, attending cosmetology school. During that year, I ended up styling a handful of other friends’ weddings in addition to my first ever “stranger’s” wedding, someone who found me without knowing me personally. It was enough to give me a bit of photographic content for use in attracting new brides, as well as opportunities to figure out what worked (and didn’t) for me as I developed a work flow and order of operations for styling hair on a larger scale.

I graduated in 2016, barely a week prior to my own wedding, and once my own festivities died down, I dove into creating my online presence and marketing my new business. I came up with a name and ordered business cards that I hand-delivered to every bridal dress store I could find within 45 minutes of my home. I set up an Instagram account and made a point of posting a minimum of one new hairstyle picture per day. I made a Facebook page for my business. I built a website. I opened a paid profile on theknot.com in November, just in time to be searchable following all the holiday engagements. I developed email templates, a booking contract, formal reservation policies, a calendar procedure for tracking inquiries and bookings, and a financial bookkeeping strategy.

When January rolled around, I was so excited by the number of inquiries and bookings I received. It quickly became clear that what I initially had envisioned being a fun “side-hustle” I could work a weekend or 2 per month actually had the potential to be much more. I booked up every available Saturday I had, then a few Fridays and Sundays. I started searching on my own for other bridal hairstylists and for makeup artists in my area to recommend to brides. Without even meeting most of these artists, I began sharing their names based on their own online presence. At every wedding I worked, I made a point to introduce myself to the other vendors I met and connect with them online after.

The next year, my schedule filled even more in advance, and some of my bookings were coming as recommendations from the vendors I’d referred people to the year prior, or those with whom I’d networked during the previous season’s weddings. Before I knew it, my brides’ friends were coming to me, or their younger sisters – women I’d styled as bridesmaids a year or more before. I was reducing the hours I spent working as a mental health therapist so that I could spend more of my week devoted to hairstyling. I was getting rave reviews, completing ongoing education to up-skill, and confidently increasing my pricing. It felt like I’d hit my stride.

And just in time, too, as shortly thereafter, the world experienced the COVID pandemic, and the wedding industry was thrown into chaos. The connections I’d made and work flow experience I’d built up in the years prior allowed me to roll with the punches and stay afloat, even as I also became pregnant with my first child and took my maternity leave.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate that the foundation I established in the early years and the primary value system of reliability, kindness, organization, communication, and individual attention has allowed me to continue to grow. What was once a “dream job” is now my primary source of income (I only work as a therapist 1.5 days a week), and it allows me to balance a career I love with motherhood and personal time. I wish I could go back and thank the stylist who “ruined” my hair for the school dance at 18. She set me on a path that has changed my life, in the best way possible.

Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a licensed cosmetologist from Indianapolis, and I have been styling hair for weddings, styled shoots, proms, formals, and more since 2008. I was trained at the Aveda Fredric’s Institute in Indianapolis, and I have won Best of Weddings from theKnot.com every year that I’ve been on the platform, earning the Hall of Fame designation from them in 2022.

I am a formal hairstyling specialist. I exclusively style hair for formal events (I don’t offer haircuts or color), and all of my advanced training is in formal styling. My passion and full focus is making sure that the most photographed formal hairstyle someone will likely ever wear is created perfectly for them. I love styling all textures and densities of hair and being a part of the intricacies of different hairstyling techniques and considerations for various cultures’ marriage celebrations.

My philosophy has always been rooted in the idea that hair should fit the an individual. If there’s one day to ensure your style accurately radiates your personality, it’s on your wedding day. I know what it’s like to leave a salon feeling that the hair is pretty, but just not you. I believe wedding beauty vendors are artists, and it’s important to use our online portfolios to find those that match your specific asthetic. I respect that what I offer, and the way I do my art is not the best fit for everyone, and I will always be up front about what I can provide, and then allow the client to make the choice about whether my skill set, my pricing, or the timing I have open on their day is the right fit for them. Even when my day is so full that no conceivable time remains for additional work, I never want to turn away an inquiring client without sharing at least one lead for them to look into that can hopefully offer what they need.

My mission is for every person who interacts with me to feel cared for and attended to as an individual. I want my clients, their families, and their friends to know that I understand their wedding day is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for them that doesn’t get a “do-over.” I aim to be prompt and clear in all communication and reliable and organized so that everyone I work with knows what to expect and feels at ease not having to worry about any “what ifs” for their special day. I also want to always lead with kindness and warmth. Wedding planning and wedding days can be stressful, and most brides are doing this for the first and only time. I see my job as helping to guide them as a nurturing big sister as they sort through intricacies of timelines, style options, and potential obstacles in a way that makes their resultant wedding morning a fun, relaxed, and pampering experience, where they are the first and foremost priority.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I built my reputation by being the kind of wedding professional that I personally valued when planning my own wedding. I launched my business while planning my own wedding, and that strongly influenced my understanding of what a bridal client is looking for in a vendor. I know how critical prompt communication, clear organization, and reliability are when planning a once-in-a-lifetime event. I also know how excited couples feel and what a difference it makes to have a vendor who is excited with you, who is enthusiastic about the details you pain-stakingly selected, and who wants to celebrate with you and get to know you as an individual. I believe these are the qualities that have led to my word of mouth referrals increasing exponentially over time and are what drive my brides to leave the kinds of glowing reviews that have earned me Best of Weddings and Hall of Fame awards annually on theknot.com.

I also feel adamantly that a “community over competition” mindset makes a huge difference in how a vendor is perceived both by clients and by fellow wedding professionals. I will always refer any client I am unable to work with to another trusted resource in the industry, and fellow vendors have consistently shown me similar support. Wedding vendors who are warmly connected and look forward to working together create a noticable positive atmosphere for couples on their wedding day, and everyone – clients, families, guests, and vendors – benefits with enjoyment of the moment-to-moment experience on the wedding day. This leads to a reputation for all those involved for creating the intangible but always felt sense of “wedding magic,” which I think is what every couple wants to bask in on their day.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

In addition to my direct hairstyling services, which include wedding day styling, bridal hairstyling trials, engagement photoshoot styling, and styled shoots for publication, I also have a side of my business that focuses on educating other stylists. Cosmetology school curriculums are based around the state board exam, which includes skills like perms, cutting, color, and foundational industry knowledge to ensure safety (anatomy, electricity, chemistry, sanitation, etc). Formal styling is typically covered over 1-2 days, at most, or about 8-20 hours total in a 1500 hour program, and this often includes just a couple basic braids and techniques. In other words, not nearly a sufficient amount of knowledge to cater to the diverse needs of a full wedding party’s hair types and desired styles.

I know the difference continuing education in upstyling has made for my business growth and the quality of my finished work, and I’m at a point now where I can pass this knowledge on to others. Teaching lessons allows me to continue to build connections within the wedding vendor and general hairstyling community in my area while also earning extra revenue on days of the week when I’m not working directly with clients. Since most hairstylists are busy on weekends, offering mid-week, daytime 1:1 and small group lessons fits their schedules well and allows me to capitalize on an extra income source without sacrificing family time, since I can schedule lessons while my husband is at work and our daughter is at daycare.

Contact Info:

• Website: laurasnyderhair.com
• Instagram: @laurasnyderhair
• Facebook: facebook.com/LauraSnyderHair
• Other: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/a-do-for-i-do-laura-snyder-hair-llc-fishers-in-1064900 https://id.pinterest.com/laurasnyderhair/

Image Credits
Laura Von Photography (for photo of blonde bride in wedding dress) All other images taken by Laura Snyder Hair