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 country house in the Surrey countryside to cheers from their family and friends.

But once her guests were engrossed in champagne and canapés, she nodded secretly to her sister, mother and bridesmaid before slipping away. Upstairs in the bridal suite, with the door locked behind her, her sister Sara took out a pair of scissors, held the Hollywood curls that Eliza’s bridal hairdresser had so carefully created hours earlier—and cut off eight inches of Eliza’s blonde locks.

“It was a very exciting moment, where we all screamed and cheered when she cut my hair,” says Eliza. “On reflection, it symbolized a new beginning as a wife.”

Forget about unexpectedly changing into a second dress – or even a third – to make your wedding unforgettable. This summer’s brides are resorting to increasingly drastic transformations, with #weddingchop amassing millions of views on TikTok.

Eliza’s wedding planner, Lauren Goodman, even timed the other big events around the unveiling of her wedding chop. ‘It was essential to build it into the timeline because all eyes were on the bride. “If she disappears for half an hour, people will wonder what’s going on,” says Lauren, founder of Bluebird Creative. ‘I had never come across a wedding suit before and thought it was a great way to raise the bar and create something memorable.’

Eliza, 32, who works in events marketing and lives in north London, has worked with Julian, 39, a finance director, for eight years.

It was a friend who suggested we try the pork chop a few months before the big day last July. “It didn’t take long before I came up with the idea to create a memorable moment,” says Eliza. ‘It would have cost a fortune to pay my bridal hairdresser for her time while she waited for me to sneak up – so she showed me how to do the chop on the day and I came up with the idea of ​​showing my sister the have it done instead. .’

Sister Sara is a radiographer and has no experience with hairdressing, which could explain the way her hands shook when she did the deed. Eliza’s hair was tied in a ponytail, which Sara simply cut off.

“Sara was absolutely terrified,” Eliza says. ‘Her own hairdresser begged her not to do it, fearing it would go terribly wrong. My mother tried to look away because she was so nervous about how it might turn out, but also filmed the moment on her phone.

‘My bridesmaid couldn’t stop laughing as my ponytail fell to the floor and within ten minutes my hair was transformed into a flowy, shoulder-length bob.’

She adds: ‘I already had Hollywood style curls from the start of the day, so all I had to do was put on a headband. As soon as I looked in the mirror, I loved it and had no nerves. It was something special to share with the most important women in my life.

“As soon as we finished, I literally ran down the stairs to show Julian – who had no idea what I was doing – because I was so excited for him to see it.” Ironically, Julian didn’t blink at first. Eliza says: ‘He was waiting in the foyer for our last guests to sit down for the meal and the first thing he noticed was that I had untied the tulle overskirt of my wedding dress, revealing a long fitted skirt.

‘I ran my fingers through my hair to point out my new style and asked if he’d noticed anything else, to which he replied, “Oh, you put a headband in your hair!”

‘Then I was laughing. He finally noticed that I had cut my hair and was totally shocked, but loved it. He told me it reminded him of what I looked like 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 attention of their family and friends, who scored it as soon as the couple entered the reception. “There were lots of surprised faces, cheers and people asking if I had hair extensions that we had taken out,” Eliza adds. ‘They couldn’t believe I had gotten my hair cut in the middle of the wedding, or that my sister had done it.

‘I had figured that if it looked a bit messy or wasn’t how I wanted it, I had a few days to have it professionally cut before we went on our honeymoon to Tanzania and Zanzibar, but actually the cut was perfect because it was.’

Courtney Sneddon, 27, a PA from Edinburgh, cut her hip-length dark hair into a shoulder-length bob in the middle of her big day in a shed in Fife in November 2022.

She had been dating business analyst Cameron, 32, for four years when he proposed in 2020. “Although our wedding was quite traditional, I’m known for being fun and spontaneous, and because my hair grows quickly, I’ve had it long and short and everything in between over the years,” says Courtney. She grew her hair for two years, especially for her wedding.

Her hairdresser – and trusted school friend – is celebrity hairstylist Christopher Laird, who has worked with stars including Cate Blanchett, Geri Halliwell and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. He suggested the bold move.

‘A few weeks before we had a trial hair for a wedding and I asked Chris if he had an appointment to cut my hair the Monday after the wedding.

“I’d been growing it for two years before the wedding, but looking after it was driving me a bit crazy,” says Courtney, who now has a three-month-old son, Finn.

‘His response was, “Why don’t we just do that at the wedding since I’m one of the guests?” He then told me about the TikTok trend and it sounded like a lot of fun. Chris had never done a wedding competition before so we were both pretty excited.

‘My only concern was that I didn’t want to miss a lot of time with my guests, so we decided that we would hang out during dessert when people would relax and move around. I told Cameron I was going to the bathroom. “Chris chopped it all off way above my shoulders and then ran the curling iron through it.”

Just 25 minutes later, Courtney had a new look — one that made husband Cameron do a double take. “Luckily he immediately said that he absolutely loved it, although he was certainly surprised,” laughs Courtney.

When the couple reappeared, Courtney said the reaction from their hundred or so guests made it worth missing her tropical fruit panna cotta. ‘I casually walked back to reception and straight away a table of Cameron’s friends noticed and started screaming and

clapped, and the entire room followed suit. It took my in-laws a few minutes to realize what all the fuss was about and they were in shock.

‘When I look back at our wedding photos, I love that I had two different hairstyles. Since I had very long hair, I was able to wear it in a formal updo for the ceremony, while the shorter hairstyle gave me new life for partying late into the night. My only regret is that I didn’t keep the cut hair as a souvenir.’

Angharad Jones, 28, also cut off her long hair halfway through the wedding – to the surprise 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 updo, growing her hair out specifically to give her a traditional loose bun, with wavy tendrils falling around her face . “I wanted to wear it to show off the beautiful lace details and cutout at the back of my dress,” says Angharad.

After seeing the TikTok heel trend, she “thought it was a great idea to then have it heeled for the evening party — especially since we were honeymooning in Kenya 36 hours after the wedding.” I wanted short hair for the warm weather.

‘Only Leonie and I were aware of the secret, and when we had a small break between the reception and the evening meal around 5 p.m., we slipped away.’

A nervous Leonie took about 45 minutes to cut, blow-dry and re-curl Angharad’s hair, only to be fumbled by a ‘flabbergasted’ bridesmaid who stumbled into the middle of the bridal suite to touch up her make-up.

“The first thing she said was, ‘I should have known you would do something like that!’ because I am known to be spontaneous,” says Angharad. ‘Gavin always liked shorter hair and when I went looking for him he said, ‘Did you cut your hair? It looks amazing!”

‘The look on everyone’s face was priceless. They couldn’t believe it. Some didn’t say it was actually cut, but made comments like, “I’m sure your hair looked different this morning.”

‘In years to come, I realize that our guests will not remember what they ate or what music they danced to on our big day, but it is unlikely that they will ever forget the big surprise of my wedding snack.’