Makeup artist in Kazbegi

The Georgian Military Road is the only route north. On flat ground 157 km would take two hours; here it takes closer to three, because the road climbs to the Jvari Pass at 2,379 metres and never straightens out.

So a Kazbegi day is scheduled around three hours of driving, not two. Between December and March the pass can close temporarily for avalanche control, which is why winter dates are always planned with a fallback and an overnight stay.

Mountain air holds very little moisture. Skin registers this within a couple of hours, and it shows first on the lips and around the eyes — precisely where makeup is most visible in photographs.

Preparation in Kazbegi therefore starts earlier than it would in the city: skincare and hydration first, base second. It adds twenty to thirty minutes, and it is the difference between makeup that holds until the evening and makeup that breaks down by mid-afternoon.

Gergeti Trinity Church stands at 2,170 metres, and it is where most of the photographs happen. It is windy there — not sometimes, always. Two consequences follow: glossy lip products are out, because hair sticks to them, and setting is mandatory rather than optional.

The second factor is light. Ultraviolet radiation at this altitude is markedly stronger than at sea level, and snow or bare rock reflects more of it back. For photography this means the base must not carry a high SPF: it flashes back white under a camera flash. Sun protection is applied separately, before makeup begins.

Three hours of driving almost always means arriving the previous evening. A nine o'clock start would otherwise require leaving Tbilisi at five in the morning — possible on paper, but a single delay on a mountain road undoes the whole day.

The overnight stay is quoted inside the travel cost and agreed before the booking is confirmed. Nothing is added afterwards. If the ceremony is in the afternoon, driving up the same morning is realistic.

Makeup starts at 150 GEL. Travel, and an overnight stay when the schedule needs one, are quoted separately and stated before you commit.

Send the date, the ceremony time, the hotel or venue, and how many people need makeup. You will get one total figure back and a proposed schedule, including what time we leave Tbilisi.