Tucked down the back streets of many villages across Bali are tiny bridal salons. Hanging on wobbly racks are rows of silk and satin, rich in gold and silver embroidery.

Glass-fronted cabinets are laden with flower-embellished golden head dresses, carved silver belts and buckles and narrow lengths of precious tapestry known as songket.

These salons are the domains of the bride makers whose art transforms young women into princesses and their grooms into demigods on wedding days, the dates often selected by priests to give the couples the best chances of a joyous marriage.

With greasepaint and gorgeous outfits, these village bride makers offer young couples the height of beauty without breaking the bank.

In the village of Tengkulak Tengah on the outskirts of Ubud, one bride maker and self-taught makeup artist, Putu Sutanaya, is preparing his makeup kit and costumes for an upcoming wedding.

Picture:vintage wedding dresses

Starting his career in makeup and wardrobe for dancers, Putu explained the various traditional styles his couples choose for their nuptials and the differences between doing makeup for dance and weddings.

“I started out back in 2002 by accident. I had danced when I was younger and a dancer friend asked if I could do his makeup; after that I was doing a lot of makeup for dancer friends and then in 2005 I branched out into bridal wear and makeup. The two makeup forms are quite different,” said Putu.

In dance makeup strong black lines called caling kaidang echo the marks on deer, vibrant blue eye shadow makes the eyes a focal point and heavy shading refines the nose, bridal makeup is more subtle, but still is so refined and pronounced that brides are almost unrecognizable from their everyday selves.

Eye shadow and eyebrow definition are the last elements applied to Putu’s human canvasses. First comes a sage green foundation that calms redness, next a heavy greasepaint foundation, several layers of face powder, deep tan shading around the nose and chin, topped with a rose-pink blush on the cheeks.

“I always pray before doing makeup to get a good result. For brides I like to use yellows and golds for eye shadow, as it is more natural looking than the heavy blue of dancers. I find the gold eye shadow makes eyes more beautiful, while still natural looking. The eyes have the angung [good-hearted] character,” said Putu, adding that it takes up to two hours to make up and dress a bride. Grooms, who also get makeup, take just 30 minutes.

“In Bali, we use makeup for grooms as well as brides, because the skin becomes more handsome and can better match his wedding clothes,” says Putu, adding that makeup for the couple can also cover imperfections and even facial deformities.

“When I have a person with facial injuries, I use a darker makeup and even darker shading that can hide problems. For rounder faces I use a lot of shading to define cheekbones and I can fine down noses so they become neater, again through shading.

“All faces are my favorites. I’ve had some faces that are very challenging, while good faces can be made even better,” said Putu, who has a steady stream of clients during the most popular months for weddings.

Ayu Rantini, a kebaya seamstress from Putu’s village, remembers well her wedding day and her makeup applied by Putu’s skilled hands.

“When I looked in the mirror after the makeup was complete, I was surprised. I had never had professional makeup and I looked really different. I honestly felt much more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. My husband too, he looked so handsome. We both looked like different people, and it was not expensive,” said Ayu of the magic wrought by Putu and his greasepaint and the fact that bridal clothes can be hired rather than bought outright.

Fabrics and headdresses worn in traditional Balinese weddings are expensive; women often wear an underskirt of cotton topped with a sarong of luxurious gold and silver worked songket tapestry, their upper bodies wrapped in lengths of narrow songket topped by a gold filigree belt. Men also wear songket sarongs with formal jackets of silk or satin. Both wear intricate gold headdress.

“To rent the clothes and have makeup done is about Rp 5 million [US$375], all inclusive for the bride and groom. If they were to buy these wedding outfits, couples would spend more than Rp 15 million, so most people here and in villages around Bali hire their outfits.

“If you rent, your wedding is affordable, but if you buy these items, it’s a lot of money to spend on clothes that you wear on just one occasion,” said Putu, putting the finishing touches of makeup on a bride he has transformed from an attractive 30 year old into a goddess for the day. This bride maker has made her day.

- See more at:cheap bridesmaid dresses