There’s never been more wedding inspiration at our fingertips than there is today and yet I often wonder whether all that choice makes it harder, not easier, to know what we really want. We save hairstyles, makeup looks and photographs of beautiful brides almost instinctively, collecting hundreds of ideas without always noticing how easily someone else’s idea of beauty can begin to drown out our own.
That’s one of the reasons I wanted to share this conversation with Carla Brooks with you. As founder of Team Glam, Carla has built a London-based, internationally respected collective of luxury wedding hair and makeup artists, trusted by brides across the UK and beyond, as well as globally respected bridal fashion houses including Jesús Peiró. On paper, it’s an impressive business; spend time talking with Carla though and it quickly becomes obvious that the success of Team Glam hasn’t been built on beautiful hair and makeup alone. It’s been built on understanding people.
Throughout our conversation, I found myself noticing how rarely Carla answered my questions by talking about products, techniques or trends. Instead, she talked about listening, earning trust and recognising that every woman arrives with her own story, her own insecurities, her own sense of style and her own idea of what feeling beautiful means. Again and again, the conversation came back to one simple belief: before you can create exceptional bridal beauty, you first have to understand the person sitting in front of you.
That philosophy has a name, ‘Beauty For All, Forever’, but I suspect it’s also the reason Team Glam has earned such an enviable reputation. Whether Carla and her team are looking after a single bride or co-ordinating beauty across an entire wedding celebration including the bridal party and guests, the intention never changes; every person deserves to feel welcomed, understood and cared for. Brides, mothers, bridesmaids, flower girls and, increasingly, grooms too, because everyone deserves to feel their absolute best on a wedding day.
If you’re currently looking for your own wedding day hair and makeup team, I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did. We talked about confidence, creativity, inclusivity, experience, modern bridal beauty and what today’s women are really looking for from their wedding hair and makeup artists, but perhaps most of all, we talked about people. And I have a feeling that’s exactly where this conversation was always meant to begin.
For those discovering Team Glam for the first time, tell us a little about yourself and the journey that led you to founding the agency
I’m Carla, the founder of Team Glam. Team Glam began back in 2015 with a handful of creatives who all believed the same thing: hair and makeup could be so much more than just getting someone ready. It could be the moment a woman reconnects with herself and feels like the most beautiful version of who she already is on one of the biggest days of her life.
At the time, I was working in corporate contracts while doing makeup on the side simply because I loved it. They sound like completely different worlds, but they complement each other.
My business background gave me the confidence to build something from the ground up, while makeup gave me something I was craving real connection. I loved seeing what happened when someone sat in the chair feeling nervous or unsure and left standing a little taller because they could finally see themselves again.
The more weddings I worked, the more I realised there was a gap. Bridal beauty often felt like another box to tick on a long to-do list. Book the artist, get your hair and makeup done, move on. But I always felt it could be so much more than that. The bridal morning sets the tone for the whole day, and I wanted our brides to feel genuinely cared for, celebrated and supported, not just beautifully styled.
That idea became the heart of Team Glam.
I genuinely love hair and makeup, the creativity, the artistry, the products, and the way every look is unique to the person sitting in front of you. That creative side will always excite me. But what I’ve realised over the years is that it’s never just about the finished look. What truly drives me is confidence and the way people see themselves. Hair and makeup are the medium, but the real magic is watching someone look in the mirror and reconnect with who they are. Not because they look like someone else, but because they recognise themselves again, just with a little more confidence, a little more glow, and a reminder of how beautiful they already are.
One of my favourite moments on every wedding morning is watching that transformation unfold. A bride might arrive feeling overwhelmed, emotional or full of nerves, and then, little by little, you see her relax. Brushstroke by brushstroke, pin by pin, she starts smiling more, standing taller and looking at herself with excitement instead of doubt. That moment never gets old.
As Team Glam has grown, I’ve been just as passionate about the people behind the brushes as the work itself. I wanted to build a team of artists who are not only incredibly talented but genuinely kind, calming and supportive. People who understand that they’re not just creating beautiful hair and makeup, they’re part of one of the most meaningful mornings of someone’s life.
More than ten years on, those values are still at the centre of everything we do. We want every woman who sits in our chair to feel seen, cared for and completely herself. Knowing we’ve played even the smallest part in helping someone feel confident on such an unforgettable day is still what inspires me every single wedding morning.
Team Glam’s philosophy is “Beauty for All Forever”. What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it shape the way you and your team approach beauty for clients of different ages, skin tones, cultures, identities and personal styles?
“Beauty For All Forever” has always been more than a tagline to me, it’s the reason Team Glam exists.
I truly believe beauty isn’t something we create; it’s something we help people see in themselves. It’s in every age, every skin tone, every culture, every identity and every story. Our job isn’t to fit someone into a version of aspirational beauty, we’re there to celebrate the beauty that’s already theirs.
That belief must show up in everything we do, not just in the words on our website. It’s why we embrace skin as it changes through life instead of trying to hide it. It’s why we’ve invested in products, education and training so every skin tone is matched beautifully. It’s why we honour different cultural traditions instead of expecting everyone to fit one bridal mould. And it’s why every client, regardless of their identity or personal style, is met with the same care, respect and excitement.
What I love most about our team is that we’re genuinely curious about people. We don’t walk in with one idea of what beauty should look like. We listen, we ask questions, and we get to know what makes someone feel like themselves. Because the most beautiful brides aren’t the ones who look the most glamorous, they’re the ones who feel comfortable, confident and completely seen.
For me, that’s what “Beauty For All Forever” really means. It’s creating a space where every person who sits in our chair feels valued, celebrated and leaves seeing themselves with a little more confidence than when they arrived.
When a bridal fashion house like Jesus Peiró invites Team Glam to collaborate on an editorial, they’re placing enormous trust in your ability to understand, interpret and elevate their vision. How do you approach that responsibility, and what do you believe has earned your team that level of confidence from leading designers?
Even after all these years, we’re still genuinely honoured every time a house like Jesus Peiró invites us to collaborate. Being trusted with someone’s creative vision is never something we take for granted.
For us, it always starts with understanding the bride they’re designing for. Who is she? How does she want to feel? What story are these images telling? Once we understand that, every creative decision becomes much more intentional. Hair and makeup aren’t there to compete with the dress, they’re there to quietly elevate it, helping bring the designer’s vision to life in a way that feels effortless and emotionally connected.
I think what designers value is knowing we’ll care about their collection as much as they do. We take the time to immerse ourselves in their world, to understand the craftsmanship, the feeling behind each piece and the woman they’re creating for. It’s never just about creating a beautiful look; it’s about creating something that feels true to their brand and authentic to the story they’re telling.
Experience gives us the confidence to make those decisions, but it’s our team that makes it possible. Every one of our artists shares the same values, the same attention to detail and the same respect for collaboration. At the heart of it all is trust, and we work hard to earn that trust every single time we’re invited to the table.
Every designer has a unique aesthetic and creative language. How do you translate a fashion brand’s vision into beauty looks that feel authentic to the collection while remaining aspirational, relevant and wearable?
It always starts with listening. Before we pick up a brush or create a mood board, we want to understand the story behind the collection. Every designer has their own language, their own woman in mind, and their own feeling they want to evoke. Our role is to translate that into hair and makeup that feels like a natural extension of the fashion, not something separate from it.
A big part of our creative process is understanding the emotion behind the brand. What does this bride represent? How does she want to feel? What makes this collection special? From the first conversation through to the final moments on set, we’re constantly refining and adjusting, making sure every detail feels connected to the bigger picture.
We collaborate closely with the wider creative team, creating clear visual direction and beauty lookbooks so everyone can see how the hair and makeup will work alongside the collection. But beyond the planning, there is also a lot of instinct involved, the ability to read the dress, the mood, the woman wearing it, and know when something feels right.
The word that always comes to mind is Intentional. Today’s brides aren’t looking to become someone else; they want to feel like the most confident version of themselves. We want every look we create to feel elevated but still believable, beautiful but still human.
For us, that balance is everything. A beauty look shouldn’t only exist in an editorial image; it should inspire a real bride. It should feel like something she could wear, move in, laugh in, cry in and still recognise herself at the end of the day. When the hair, makeup and fashion all come together in harmony, that’s when the magic happens. That’s when it stops being just a beautiful image and becomes a feeling a bride can carry with her.
Many brides admire the beauty looks they see in bridal campaigns and editorials, but may not realise how much expertise sits behind them. What lessons from working with leading bridal designers do you regularly bring to the weddings and clients you work with every day?
One of the things we love most is helping brides understand that the beauty looks they admire in campaigns and editorials are built on so much more than what meets the eye. Behind every image is a huge amount of knowledge, experience and intention, everything from skin preparation and product choices to lighting, photography style and the way a look needs to translate both on camera and in real life.
Most women are amazing at doing their own hair and makeup, and we never want to take that away from them. But bridal beauty is a different kind of artistry. It’s about understanding how to create something that feels beautiful and effortless, while also knowing how it will hold up through every part of the day, the happy tears, the hugs, the celebrations, the dancing and all the moments in between.
Working with leading designers has taught us that the smallest details matter. How a texture catches the light, how a colour photographs, how a finish feels in person versus through a camera lens. That attention to detail is something we bring into every wedding, whether we’re working on a global campaign or with a bride sitting in our chair for her own special day.
But beyond the technical skill, the most important thing we’ve learned is that beauty must feel personal. Having a creative eye is about being able to imagine the finished result, but true bridal artistry is knowing how to bring that vision to life in a way that still feels like the woman wearing it.
That’s the value of experience; we’re not just creating a look that photographs beautifully. We’re creating something that helps a bride feel confident, comfortable and completely herself from the moment she gets ready until the very last dance.
In your experience, what are today’s brides really looking for when choosing their wedding hair and makeup artists, and how have expectations around beauty, individuality and inclusivity evolved over the years?
I wish there was a simple answer to this, but the truth is that every bride is completely different. Every woman comes to us with her own story, her own style and her own idea of what feeling beautiful means to her.
What I think most brides are looking for today is someone who can help them feel like themselves, just the most confident version of themselves, on one of the most personal mornings of their lives. They want expertise, but they also want connection. They want someone who listens, understands them and can guide them, rather than simply recreating a trend or applying a one-size-fits-all idea of bridal beauty.
One of the biggest changes I’ve seen over the years is that individuality has become so much more important. Brides aren’t looking to disappear into a certain idea of what a bride “should” look like. They want to celebrate who they are. Often, they come to their preview without knowing exactly what they want, and that’s where the magic happens. We spend time understanding what they already love about themselves, what makes them feel confident, and then we create something that feels naturally theirs.
Inclusivity has also become such an important part of bridal beauty, and rightly so. Brides want to feel confident that their artist understands their skin, their hair, their identity and their personal style. But it’s about more than technical ability, it’s about creating an environment where someone feels comfortable, respected and genuinely cared for from the moment they sit in the chair.
At the end of the day, I think modern couples are looking for trust. They want to know the people they choose will not only create something beautiful, but will help them feel calm, confident and completely themselves on a day they’ll remember forever. And for us, that’s always been the most important part of what we do.
Team Glam is trusted by some of the world’s most respected bridal brands, but you’re equally passionate about the individual bride sitting in your chair on her wedding morning. What do you believe exceptional bridal beauty is really about, and how do you hope a bride feels when she looks in the mirror before walking down the aisle?
For me, exceptional bridal beauty has never been about creating aspirational beauty. It’s about helping a woman recognise herself at her most confident, most radiant and most at ease. Hair and makeup are simply the tools, we’re there to remind her of the beauty that’s been there all along.
On a wedding morning, there’s so much emotion. Excitement, nerves, anticipation, love. It’s such a privilege to be invited into that space, and we never forget that. Beyond creating beautiful hair and makeup, our role is to bring a sense of calm, reassurance and confidence, so that when she walks out the door, she feels intentionally herself.
More than anything, I hope every bride looks in the mirror and has a quiet moment where she thinks, “This is me.” Not a different version of herself, not someone following a trend, just herself, feeling beautiful, comfortable and ready for one of the most meaningful days of her life.
Those moments never lose their magic. Watching someone stand a little taller, smile a little wider and step into this new chapter with confidence is the reason I still love what I do. Being trusted to play even a small part in that journey is something I’ll never take for granted.
Finally, if a bride is currently searching for her wedding hair and makeup artists, what would you most like her to know about Team Glam?
If you’re looking for your wedding hair and makeup team, I’d love you to know that you’re choosing so much more than someone to create a beautiful look. You’re inviting people into one of the most personal and emotional mornings of your life, and I don’t think that’s something anyone should ever take lightly.
At Team Glam, we genuinely care about every bride who sits in our chair. From the moment you enquire to the moment you walk down the aisle, we want you to feel supported, understood and completely looked after. Of course, we’ll create beautiful hair and makeup, but just as importantly, we’ll help bring a sense of calm, confidence and joy to your morning.
We know weddings inside out, and experience matters. It means we can quietly keep everything running smoothly, work seamlessly alongside your photographer, planner and bridal party, and give you the reassurance that you’re in safe hands. That allows you to do what you should be doing on your wedding morning, be present and soak up every moment.
Above all, I want you to know that our goal has never been to change who you are. It’s to help you walk towards the biggest moment of your life feeling completely yourself, knowing you look and feel your absolute best. If we can give you that feeling, then we’ve done our job.
Connect with Team Glam
Email Carla at Team Glam on [email protected].
Whatsapp Team Glam on +44 7770 468124
Follow Team Glam on Instagram at @teamglamofficial
