Luxury Wedding & Elopement Hair & Makeup
CA
Service area
Cara Hopkins
OWNER
Located in Carmel Valley, CA, Face Forward Bridal is a wedding styling service that specializes in skincare, hair, and makeup. Face Forward aims to enhance your natural beauty while honoring your style and vision so that you can look and feel your best on your special day.
Cara Hopkins opened Face Forward Bridal in 2002 as a way of combining her background in cosmetic dermatology with her passion for helping people feel confident in themselves. Since then, her team has grown into an award-winning wedding styling business. The Face Forward Bridal team has ample experience and even styled Anne Hathaway for her wedding in 2012.
Face Forward Bridal is a one-stop shop for all your cosmetic wedding needs. In addition to traditional day-of hair and makeup services, they also provide various treatments to get you prepped and primed for your wedding. These include silkpeel facials, laser teeth whitening, waxing, eyelash extensions, and more. Whether you're going for a full-glam look or something more natural, the team at Face Forward will make sure that you feel comfortable and beautiful on your wedding day.
Woman-owned Business
+23 years in business
Speaks English
Prices & packages
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Details
Beauty
Beauty Group Bookings
Hair Stylists
Makeup
Airbrushed Makeup
Eyelash Extensions
Makeup Artists
Makeup Trials Available
On-Site Hair & Makeup
Spas
Facials
Massage
Waxing
Tanning
Spray Tan
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Meet the team
Cara Hopkins
Owner
Cara offers a unique and caring approach to Bridal Beauty. She believes in an honest and open communication between herself and the bride. This is not just a career, her true passion is in the wellbeing of others. Bridal styling allows her to help brides look and feel beautiful in their own skin on their wedding day. She enjoys the planning process with her brides and will go out of her way to make sure they are overjoyed with the results. From start to finish Cara is there for you with an open heart and exceptional, cutting edge experience.
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Reviews
5.0
out of 5.011 reviews
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Ginny M
Highlighted review.
5.0
1/02/2018
Cara and her team were simply incredible. They not only listened to my vision for my look on my wedding day but even reached out to my bridesmaids to be prepared and ready to personalize the look and visions they had as well. Face forward bridal left me feeling more beautiful than I have ever felt, and they were extremely professional, flexible, and SUCH a pleasure to work with. I would recommend them to anyone!
Caroline V
5.0
12/11/2018
Cara was an absolute dream to work with. She provided such a calm and beautiful energy. She knew exactly the vision/look I wanted and made sure we achieved just that. Working with her felt like she was an old friend and I was so comfortable the day of my wedding. I cannot recommend her services enough.
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Elizabeth J
5.0
10/25/2018
Cara was outstanding. She did my hair and makeup for my small wedding in Big Sur, along with my mother's and one of my other guests. Everyone was so happy with the results. She nailed the natural, sparkly makeup look I was looking for. My hair was the perfect braid and messy bun.
I chose Cara and Face Forward for a few reasons. First is the professional and personal way that Cara communicates through email. You can feel both her expertise and how much she cares from what she writes. She mentioned being a "calming force", and that is absolutely what she is. As a nervous bride, I was glad to have someone calm and confident in my corner. Second, I loved that her package included a hair and makeup trial. Because I'm a worried bride, a test run was very important for me. Adding a trial to the other packages I priced would have made them more expensive. So while Face Forward was not the least expensive option for a bridal package I found in Big Sur, it was the best value. Cara was very receptive to the minor changes I wanted to make on my wedding day after my trial.
My bridal package also included Cara's travel to my remote venue in Big Sur. She was an absolute pleasure to spend time with on the morning of my wedding and had my hair and makeup completed promptly and perfectly. My mom also had her hair and makeup done by appointment, and Cara was generous enough to give her a makeup lesson as she did her makeup. She also did the makeup of one of my other guests (and gave her a makeup lesson) without an appointment.
My only complaint is that Cara can sometimes take a while to reply to emails. But she does always reply eventually and she was timely and awesome on the day of my wedding.
Overall I am so glad that I went with Face Forward. Cara is a wonderful person that I'm glad to know, and my hair and makeup was perfect.
Katy L
5.0
5/11/2018
I had such a wonderful experience with Cara! On the day of our (small) wedding we were worried about inclement weather and she very kindly arrived early so that we could start the ceremony before the rain started. My hair and make-up looked so beautiful - even though I had trouble describing what I envisioned, she understood perfectly and the outcome was exactly what I hoped for. She is also such a warm and calm person, which was so reassuring to me during the stressful hours leading up to the wedding ceremony. I so highly recommend her!
Taylor H
5.0
12/28/2017
Cara and Nikki did a fantastic job at making me and my wedding party look and feel great for the wedding! They were super accommodating and communicated and handled all the different personalities of our group with such professionalism! They were great to work with and really understood the look I was going for! I don't wear much make-up and always worry I'll feel clown-ish when I get it done. Cara knew exactly how to make me feel beautiful and I didn't feel clown-ish at all. I would highly recommend Face Forward Bridal!
Erica S
5.0
11/24/2017
Cara and her team were wonderful! I had trouble finding the right person who could appreciate the same vision and the day of was great!
Brittney C
5.0
9/21/2017
Cara and her team were just amazing, sweet, and so incredibly talented. I'd go as far as saying miracle workers! Cara made the whole process fun and easy from start to finish, from being very organized and responsive during booking, to a super fun trial that my mom joined in on, collecting info on everyone's look ideas and requests, and working their magic with my bridesmaids and I on the day of. Cara even did eyelash extensions for me a couple days before the wedding, which I highly recommend as they made my eyes look amazing and stayed on through my honeymoon! Everyone told me that I was the most beautiful bride they had ever seen, and I owe that to Cara and her team. I can't recommend them more highly!!
Jennifer v
5.0
2/07/2017
Cara was an absolute dream to work with. She responded to my initial reach out almost immediately and her responsiveness did not change throughout the process. She is extremely communicative and easy to work with. Even though I wasn't able to arrange a pre-wedding trial, not to worry, Cara made me look stunning. She arrived early on the wedding day and was calming, flexible and offered to help wherever she could. I highly recommend Cara, you will not be disappointed.
MacKenzie S
5.0
1/04/2017
I am a woman who does NOT enjoy having my hair and makeup done. But I’m also a woman who does not excel at doing my own hair and makeup (beyond my usual day-to-day look), so I need professional help when preparing for life’s special occasions. I was extremely nervous about finding someone for my wedding, but after searching for the perfect hair and makeup vendor on various wedding websites (mostly, The Knot and WeddingWire) I found Face Forward Bridal. I hit the jackpot! Cara Hopkins and her team are the best of the best! They made me, my bridesmaids and maid of honor, our flower girl and mothers, all look and feel gorgeous! The hair and makeup they gave each of us lasted all day and night, even though our wedding and reception were held outdoors in extremely windy (and chilly) conditions. Cara and Ariel (who did my hair and makeup) also gave me the wonderful gift of “calm” on my wedding day and I have never felt more beautiful or like myself in professional hair and makeup. They are truly gifted artists and I could not be more grateful to have worked with them. The entire team of Face Forward Bridal was an absolute delight! They are so professional and punctual (and fun!); and I cannot recommend them enough!
Cara – Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did for me and the most special ladies in my life. You helped make my day less stressful and more beautiful, and I truly appreciate your heart and hard work. Thank you!
All my love, MacKenzie
5.0
6/02/2016
OMG. I can't begin to express how absolutely amazing Cara and her assistant Ariel were to work with. When I first reached out to Cara it was to handle my hair for myself and bridesmaids. Prior to my hair trial Cara sent through an awesome packet of questions which made it super easy for me to put my vision into words and picture reference. During the trial I decided to have Cara also do my make-up ... got to love pre-wedding stress face. I absolutely loved the look she created for my hair and makeup and that she actually listened and understood my version of "natural". I never wear makeup and live with my hair in a messy bun yet felt completely comfortable in the look. The day of couldn't have gone smoother! Cara and Ariel were sweet, professional, and fun - they even went with the flow accommodating to some last minute hair style changes . The girls and I could not be happier with our look.
Stephanie C
5.0
3/11/2016
Cara was awesome to have on my wedding day, not only for her incredible make up skills, but for her calming and soothing demeanor which really helps calm a bride down! She was very organized, she had a list written down of the names of the bridesmaids whose turn it was to get their makeup done. She was flexible, in that, if that particular bridesmaid wasnt ready, she easily moved on to someone who was ready. At my makeup trial, she really made me feel like she knew what she was doing, and constantly checked in with me to make sure that I liked how she was doing my makeup. I would definitely recommend her to anyone who wants a fun, professional makeup artist to make them look beautiful!
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Face Forward Bridal
Cara Hopkins
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Owner
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