Dig_035

I have short hair and have no interest in growing it out for the wedding. When I do searches for short hairstyles, you would not believe the psychotic blowout do's that come up. Where can I find a good selection of cool short hairstyles online? -Nicole

Nicole, look no further! I'm not sure how short you mean by short (inch-long pixie cut or chin-length bob?) or whether you're curly or straight or wavy, but regardless short hair means you can go high drama with your style. I went and scoured the archives and a few of my favorite shots from the photo pool, and here's what I came up with for you …

Katie's short and shiny curls with an amazing vintage-look headband:

over the shoulder

Astrid's styled waves with a simple flower:

Astrid

En has a classical shape with a hint of netting:

During the ceremony

Jess' whole lotta gorgeous headdress with short wisps peeking out:

fixing the headdress

Beca and her bob with a floral net veil:

Wear your false eyelashes.

Chrissy's side-swept, curlier bob with a single flower:

Thai Wedding

Our former intern Becca sporting bright red sleek with a handmade rose:

Me

Caitlyn with a spiked pixie cut and a floral fascinator:

Wife and The Blue Vixen

Two inspirations in one: finger curls with a veil on the left, and faux hawky hotness on the right:

DSC_3984

Sarai's straight bob with a dramatic cocktail hat:

wedding hat

Jenn's straight bob with a mesh headband:

Jenn and Justin's Wedding

Kimberley's sweet and wispy style with a delicate clip:

Blue bird Kim

Another double inspiration from Melissa and Lydia: sexy, waved bob and bangs with a headband:

LM-64

Short isn't boring. And it can also be ultra-colorful, à la Megan:

Rainbow Bride =D

Natalie's sleek bob and orange flower:

BuxtonWedding_ (217 of 504)

Twila Jean's wavy bob with a floral net veil:

wedsmall16

Emmalyn's renaissance crown details:

Bridal henna pose

Pinkee's dark bob with bright purple feathers:

Portrait before ceremony

Wanjiru embracing the shortest of short and showing off the gorgeous face:

getting dressed up

I could keep going, but I'll open this one to the peanut gallery — offbeat brides, what's your favorite short-hair wedding style inspiration? Let's shower Nicole with links!

Want to see a bazillion more? Check out our MASSIVE archive of short-haired bride posts!

Meet our fave wedding vendors

Comments on Short hairstyles for hottie brides

  1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of the mesh headband in that last picture. It’s pretty, and a little frou-frou but with a modern take. so cool!

  2. Thank you for this! I’m growing my hair a little bit just so I have more options, but it’s great to finally (FINALLY!) see some short wedding styles.

  3. I love the mesh headband in the last one. It’s quite cute.

    Sadly, I have no suggestions for short hairstyles. I have classic length hair (butt length). I love having long hair. :o)

  4. I know that the picture shows a long style, but I love these little feather pins! One of the great things about short hair is that you can do a lot with it with just a handful of hairpins :). I’ve seen a couple of good ones on theknot.com if you are willing to wade through all the frou-frou stuff.

  5. Thanks so much for this! My hair is growing back from chemo and I have been kind of stressing on what to do!

  6. Wow! These are great…I’ve got short hair and it drives me CRAZY when I look for wedding hairstyles and they are ALL long…thanks offbeatbride! 😉

  7. Yay! I like the wavy bob with the floral net veil best, but my hair doesn’t do wavy (boo hoo). I also like the straight bob with the veil, that’s about my length. I will keep checking this page for more comment post suggestions!

  8. I think there’s also a lot to be said for ging to a hairdresser you trust a few weeks before and saying “Do whatever you want” and see what they come up with.

  9. O love the finger curls and the mesh band… but they’re all good and suit each bride. I also LOVE that red cocktail hat…. that thing rocks.

  10. I’m a short-haired bride and I’m going to be rocking the mesh hair band, most likely. I’d love to do a feather headpiece, but the ones I’ve been looking at are most expensive than my dress. 🙁

      • I know it sounds cheap but check ebay, that or craft shops. Most wedding stuff is pretty easy to make, just gets overpriced because of the ‘wedding’ tag. Good luck!

  11. Another option for where to find feather fascinators is Ebay– I’ve found a few really fabulous ones for really reasonable prices. Another of my fave wedding hair looks is the classic Billy Holiday flower behind the ear.

  12. Yummy! Thank you so much for doing this! I HATE having my hair “done” (i.e. curled and poofy) and am glad see DIY ways to rock my bob.

  13. I really love the floral net veil. That’s just gorgeous. (They all are, but that’s the one I most see myself having.)

  14. Thanks for this section! I have always had long hair, but recently cut 11 inches off for Locks of Love. I love my short hair so much and I have no plans of growing it out anytime soon!

    Maybe I can ad some highlights to my hair to match my flowers. 🙂

  15. THanks for all your great advice. I have a very short and modern looking A-line bob and got a sleek, informal gown. I never thought I’d like the long veil but I tried a floor-length one clipped to the BACK of the crown of my head and I loved it! It made my informal dress look a little more special.

  16. THANK YOU!!

    I’m so glad I came across this. I’ve been shaving my head bald for a couple years and have been growing it back for the wedding. I recently gave up cause it’s not me. It’s awesome to see these! I love the finger curls and the mesh headband too.

  17. yay! I had always had crazy long hair all my life , and chopped it when I turned 18 and never went back (just shorter and shorter) and have had an A-Line due for quite a while now. I grew it out for almost a year after getting engaged and HATED it. So my “hair girl” and I decieded it was not worth it and am now going with the finger curl type look with nice big side bangs pulled to the side for a nice elegant feel to it. Plus I am rocking the rinestone vail for the rockstar touch! 🙂

    • I am right there with you. I’ve been growing my hair out from a pixie cut since getting engaged about 14 months ago. It’s collarbone length and I can’t stand it! Definitely thinking of saying screw it and going short again.

  18. this was PERFECT! where were you last Oct! I did a pixie with a wreath of rosebuds with ribbons, but I was looking for non-icky pics JUST LIKE THIS!

  19. I had short hair for my wedding, and I went with a simple flower over one ear. It wasn’t until after the wedding until I found some great floral clips at retroglamourgirl.com. They seem great for the non-veil, DIY-impaired types (i.e. myself).

  20. I appreciate these for sure… but what about serious curls? my hair has also been growing back from chemo, but it’s super thick outta control curliness. I want to look myself for the wedding, but don’t know how to tame my curls, or what to tame then into…

  21. Hmm….maybe I could do the mesh headband, but my hair is super short, like, just an inch or so, but I want to do something fun with it. I need some dyke suggestions–nothing too feminine, but not super butch, either.

  22. I love the Mesh Headband. Does anyone know where I can find one or how to make one?

  23. I keep my hair shaved very close, so I was spazzing out about what to do for a tiara or some-such to decorate my head. I love the feather fascinaters! I’ll just have to spirit gum it to my scalp!

  24. Hmm, my wife is going to have her hair cut short soon. Maybe I should show her these pics before she goes! 😀

  25. please help, i’ve got short spikey hair, im only getting married but dont want to grow my hair, i love it, i need a style thats going to make me look sophisticated and im wearing a veil over my face…please help, i beg you all

  26. where might i find a veil similar to the ‘wavy bob with floral net veil’? i LOVE that look. wasn’t thinking i wanted a veil but that photo may have just changed my mind.

  27. try etsy!! look under “french netting” or birdcage veil. i just purchased one for like $20.00… you can find good prices or you can find vendors that are willing to make custom ones for you. you might have to buy the fascinator (headpiece, flower, feathers, etc.) seperately.

    thanks for this, by the way. i’m sick of looking at luscious-long-haired bridal updo’s. 🙂

  28. I am soooo glad I found this. It was not easy to find this site though. I have short hair and just wanted something to look at other than long , curled updo hair. All the other suggestions I found were “get extentions”!!!

  29. i don’t only have short hair but i am also going bald. can any one tell me what kind of short style will be good for me?

  30. Now this is just fabulous for any girl who just does NOT look good with longer-than-ears hair [[namely, me]]. It’s so hard to find nice ideas for short wedding hair but I think I got a few now that I found this page.

  31. I also love the mesh headband…never would have thought about that..i HATE long hair so this givens me confidence to keep my short for our upcoming wedding!! Thanks!

  32. Yay for offbeatbride! I have short hair and went to a wedding expo yesterday and when we spoke to the hair people, they said I could grow it for my june wedding or just get extensions. another woman suggested i wear a dress that’s a bright colour like red to go with my ‘funky’ hair. what is wrong with these people? can’t they accept that i want a plain white dress and short hair? am totally choosing a dress around my veil. am having a birdcage veil. might even cut my hair shorter.

  33. Tracey, how about making your very short hair very flat on your head with gel? Then using a poofy-veil mounted on a headband..

  34. look up Burlesque clips….or Feather fascinators, or why not just use hair falls?

  35. I really appreciate this. I’ve been feeling like I have to grow my hair out for the wedding. I hate having long hair. I dont like it on my shoulders. But this makes me feel like its possible to have short hair and still be bridely. 😀

  36. thanks so much for this! i love the feather and the mesh headband idea! 🙂 i have a “rihanna” style pixie with long bangs in front and have no idea if i want to grow my hair out or not for my wedding!!!! these were so helpful!

  37. i also have short hair. it varies from a super short pixie, to an asymmetrical bob. for my sister’s wedding a few years ago i did finger-waves.

    my husband and i are renewing our vows and i want something a little more relaxed. i’m trying to figure a way to make my short hair work for this up-do shouldn’t be too hard.

  38. Thank you so much! my family seems to be dead-set on me getting some sort of extensions so that i can have an up-do that most people envision on brides… i'm hoping that i can show them some of these ideas and turn them to my side!

  39. My hair is quite short, under 2 inches. For my wedding day, I just wore my hair as usual, but I had really long, dramatic earrings from an Indian store. They were gold with black stones, and they were huge, all the way to my shoulders. Anything more would have been too much.

  40. My mom threw such a fit over my dreadlocks, that I chopped them off just to make life easier on me. Now I have short hair and a wedding in 6 months. I knew I could find some short-hair pics here, there are none on theknot.com–go figure! Thank you!!!

  41. I am cutting my hair off this Friday, my wedding is in 4 months. I was trying to grow it out for the wedding (I made it to sholder length…) and I just thought “long hair isnt me anymore, why do I want to have this for the wedding?” so off it goes! But I was very discouraged that even when I searched short bridal styles, I got pictures of brides with hair that is much longer than short. This is why I love you OBB… You help us find what we want.. not the crap that we are expected to do/wear!

  42. I’ve always had short hair and wouldn’t have it any other way! There are so many dramatic, fun updos you can’t do with longer hair. Love these suggestions! Thank you 🙂

  43. I have a really short, sleek classic bob, which I absolutely love. For my wedding day I’m not wearing any headpiece/veil, I’m making my dress and my hair the main features. I’ll just be having it perfectly straightened and curled under. Simple, elegant and easy.

  44. glad to see that the birdcage veil i want is going to look excellent with my aeon flux inspired cut (yeah, i cut may hair based on a crazy cartoon…i win!).

    but more importantly, i wanna squish rainbow megan cuz she is too freaking adorable! LOVE!

  45. I dont know if you still read these comments, but when I got to Wanjiru, I cried. Thank you for including not only a black bride, but one with a conpletely shaven head. I rarely see that; and it gives me hope as a black woman with a shaved head that I’ll look as beautiful as she does when it’s my turn.

    Thank you, and so much love.

Comments are closed.