to DIY or not to DIY (beauty and hair)

So I'm getting married near my parent's home town, which is a very, very small town.  My two options for hair and makeup seemed to be: either go to the one salon in town, or try to find (and afford) a stylist who would be willing to drive the more-than-an-hour trek to where I'm getting married.  I went to the small town salon last week, and was really quite unhappy with how they did my hair, and don't really trust them 100% to do a good job on the make-up.  My  hair is pretty short, so there aren't a lot of styling options, and now I have been unable to find someone at any cost to drive down on the day of the wedding.  So now I either DIY the hair and makeup (gulp!) or stress myself out by trying to drive the two-hour round trip and have my hair and makeup done the morning of in the nearest city (not a fun proposition on an already stressfull day!)

SO - to sum it up, has anyone out there had great success doing their own beauty? what tips would you give me? Anyone had utter failures with hair and makeup, and warnings?

Also, how big of a no-no is it to not really have any great hair and make up options for the bridesmaids? All these questions obviously affect them too - any insight would be SO appreciated!

I was planning on DIYing my hair and makeup, but ended up asking my aunt (former hairstylist) and cousin. Is it possible to find a friend or relative who is good with hair or makeup? Personally, it was definitely less stressful than if I had tried to do it on my own. 

A lot of make-up companies will do a makeover/ do your makeup for you if you buy a certain amount of product. I do it with clinique all the time, and it's no that expensive at all. My suggestion would be to call one of them and tell them you situation, see if you can come in a non-busy day and try out make-up looks and once you've picked one do it yourself with them directing you. If your going to buy all these products anyway, you'll be getting a free tutorial. You could probably even bring a video camera with you, and I would bet you could do the same thing with a hairstylist.

As far as your bridesmaids go, it's not inappropriate to have your girls do their own make-up and hair, unless you tell them you want it done a specific way, in which case you need to hire someone to do their up do for them.

While I didn't do my own hair, I did do my own makeup.  I was turned on to Youtube tutorials by some PWers, I did some searching, and found a look that I positively loved.  I was able to use some of my own stuff as well as purchase a few things inexpensively, and it turned out nice, or so I felt.

Inspiration:

Reality:

My ladies did get their hair done as well, but they did their own makeup, and they were just fine with it.  If you're nervous about doing your own hair, see if you know someone or if they know someone who would be willing to travel to your location to do it.