Why brides are chopping off their hair halfway through their big day (so do their husbands even notice?)
Eliza Morrison and her partner exchanged wedding vows at a picturesque manor house in the Surrey countryside to the cheers of their family and friends.
But once her guests were engrossed in champagne and canapes, she gave her sister, mum and chief bridesmaid a surreptitious nod — before slipping away. Upstairs in the bridal suite with the door locked behind them, her sister, Sara, produced a pair of scissors, held the Hollywood curls that Eliza’s bridal hairdresser had so carefully created hours earlier — and chopped off eight inches of Eliza’s blonde locks.
‘It was a wildly thrilling moment, with us all squealing and cheering as she cut off my hair,’ says Eliza. ‘On reflection, it symbolised stepping into a new beginning as a wife.’
Eliza Morrison says the moment when her was cut off on her wedding day 'symbolised stepping into a new beginning as a wife'
Forget changing unexpectedly into a second gown — or even a third — in order to make your wedding memorable. This summer’s brides are resorting to ever more drastic transformations, with #weddingchop amassing millions of views on TikTok.
Eliza’s wedding planner, Lauren Goodman, even timed the other major events around the revelation of her ‘wedding chop’. ‘It was essential to build it into the timeline because all eyes are on the bride. If she disappears for half an hour people are going to wonder what’s going on,’ says Lauren, founder of Bluebird Creative. ‘I’d never come across a wedding chop before and thought it was a terrific way to up the ante and create something memorable.’
Eliza, 32, who works in event marketing and lives in north London, has been with Julian, 39, a finance director, for eight years.
It was a friend who suggested she try the chop, a few months before the big day last July. ‘It didn’t take me long to buy into the idea of creating a memorable moment,’ says Eliza. ‘It would have cost a fortune to pay my bridal hairdresser for her time, waiting around for me to sneak upstairs — so she showed me how the chop should be done on the day and I came up with the idea of my sister doing it instead.’
Sister Sara is a radiographer with zero experience of hairdressing, which would account for the way her hands were trembling when she did the deed. Eliza’s hair was tied into a ponytail, which Sara simply snipped off.
‘Sara was absolutely petrified,’ says Eliza. ‘Her own hairdresser pleaded with her not to do it for fear of it going horribly wrong. My mum was trying to look away, as she was so nervous about how it might turn out, but also film the moment on her phone.
‘My bridesmaid couldn’t stop laughing as my ponytail fell to the floor and in ten minutes my hair was transformed into a swishy shoulder-length bob.’
Eliza, 32, who works in event marketing and lives in north London, wed Julian, 39, a finance director who she had been with for eight years
Then she had the chop, saying: 'As soon as I looked in the mirror I loved it and didn’t have any nerves'
Julian 'was totally shocked, but loved it'. He told Eliza it reminded him of how she looked the day they met in 2016
She adds: ‘I already had Hollywood-style curls from the start of the day, so all I had to do was throw on a headband. As soon as I looked in the mirror I loved it and didn’t have any nerves. It was something so special to share with the most important women in my life.
‘As soon as we’d finished I literally ran down the stairs to show Julian — who had no idea what I’d been doing — as I was so excited for him to see it.’ Ironically, at first Julian didn’t bat an eyelid. Eliza says: ‘He was waiting in the foyer for our final guests to be seated for the meal and the first thing he noticed was that I’d detached the tulle overskirt from my wedding dress to reveal a long fitted skirt.
‘I ran my fingers through my hair to alert him to my new style and asked if he’d noticed anything else different, to which he replied: “Oh, you’ve put a headband in your hair!”
‘By then I was laughing. He finally noticed I’d cut my hair and was totally shocked, but loved it. He told me it reminded him of how I’d looked the day we first met in 2016 when my hair had been much shorter, which was very romantic.’
Eliza’s wedding chop didn’t escape the notice of their family and friends, who clocked it the moment the couple walked into the reception. ‘There were lots of surprised faces, cheers and people asking if I’d had hair extensions that we’d whipped out,’ Eliza adds. ‘They couldn’t believe I’d actually had my hair cut off in the middle of the wedding or that my sister had done it.
‘I had reasoned that if it looked a bit messy or wasn’t how I wanted it, I’d got a couple of days to get it professionally cut before we went to Tanzania and Zanzibar on honeymoon, but actually the cut was perfect as it was.’
Courtney Sneddon, 27, a PA from Edinburgh, had her hip-length dark hair lopped off into a shoulder-skimming bob in the middle of her big day at a barn in Fife in November 2022.
She had been with business analyst Cameron, 32, for four years when he proposed in 2020. ‘Although our wedding was fairly traditional, I’m known for being fun and spontaneous, and as my hair grows quickly I’ve had it long and short and everything in between over the years,’ says Courtney. Indeed, she spent two years growing her hair long specifically for her wedding.
Her hairdresser — and trusted school friend — is celebrity hairstylist Christopher Laird, who’s worked with stars including Cate Blanchett, Geri Halliwell and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. He suggested the daring move.
‘We were having a wedding hair trial a few weeks before and I asked Chris if he had an appointment the Monday after the wedding to cut my hair.
‘I’d been growing it for two years for the wedding, but looking after it was driving me a bit nuts,’ says Courtney, who now has a three-month-old son, Finn.
‘His response was: “Why don’t we just do it at the wedding, seeing as I’m one of the guests anyway?” He then told me about the TikTok trend and it sounded like a lot of fun. Chris had never done a wedding chop before so we were both pretty excited.
‘My only concern was that I didn’t want to miss much time with my guests, so we decided we’d slope off during dessert when people would be relaxing and moving around. I told Cameron I was nipping to the loo. ‘Chris chopped it all off to well above my shoulders, then ran the curling iron through it.’
Courtney Sneddon, 27, prepares to have her hip-length dark hair lopped off into a shoulder-skimming bob in the middle of her big day in 2022
Just 25 minutes later, Courtney had a new look — one that made husband Cameron do a double take
The PA from Edinburgh wed business analyst Cameron, 32, in a barn in Fife
Just 25 minutes later, Courtney had a new look — one that made husband Cameron do a double take. ‘Thankfully he said straight away that he absolutely loved it, although he was certainly taken by surprise,’ laughs Courtney.
When the couple reappeared, Courtney says the reaction of their 100 or so guests was well worth missing out on her tropical fruit panna cotta for. ‘I walked casually back into the reception and straight away a table of Cameron’s friends noticed and started whooping and
clapping, then the whole room followed suit. It took a few minutes for my in-laws to realise what all the fuss was about and they were in shock.
‘When I look back at our wedding photos, I love the fact I had two different hairstyles. Having very long hair allowed me to wear it up in a formal up-do for the ceremony, while the shorter style gave me a new lease of life to party into the night. My only regret is that I didn’t keep the chopped-off hair as a memento.’
Angharad Jones, 28, also cut her long hair off mid-wedding — to the astonishment of her husband Gavin, 30, an energy consultant, and their 110 guests at a venue in rural Shropshire last September.
When Gavin proposed in April 2022, after five years together, Angharad asked her hairdresser friend Leonie to do her bridal up-do, growing her hair especially to allow her to have a traditional loose bun, with wavy tendrils falling around her face. ‘I wanted to wear it up to show off the pretty lace detailing and cutout back of my dress,’ says Angharad.
After seeing the TikTok chop trend, she ‘loved the idea of then having it chopped for the evening party — especially as we were going on honeymoon to Kenya 36 hours after the wedding. I wanted short hair for the hot weather.
‘Only Leonie and I were in on the secret, and when we had a little break between the reception and the evening do at around 5pm, we slipped away.’
A nervous Leonie took around 45 minutes to chop, blow-dry and re-curl Angharad’s hair, rumbled only by a ‘gobsmacked’ maid of honour who stumbled into the bridal suite mid-chop to re-touch her make-up.
‘The first thing she said was: “I might have known you’d do something like this!” as I’m known for being spontaneous,’ says Angharad. ‘Gavin’s always loved my hair shorter and when I went to find him he said: “Have you cut your hair? It looks amazing!”
‘The look on everyone’s faces was priceless. They couldn’t believe it. Some didn’t twig that it had actually been chopped but made comments such as: “I’m sure your hair looked different this morning”.
‘In years to come, I realise that our guests won’t remember what they ate or what music they danced to at our big day — but they’re unlikely to ever forget the huge surprise of my wedding chop.’
