Vendor Review - Steele Salon

I might be a little biased, but Steele Salon is the best place in the Hershey/Palmyra/Hummelstown area for hair/makeup services.  Why might I be biased?  Well, I went to high school with 1/2 the staff.  One of the stylists was one of my best friends in high school.  One of the other stylists is my "fake" little sister.  I kind of love the staff there.  On a deep, personal level.  It feels like home when I walk into Steele.  So when I needed to decide where to get my hair/makeup done for the wedding, there wasn't even a consideration.

I booked 8 appointments (me, my 6 girls, and my mom) with 3 stylists, plus a makeup artists for me.  Easy-peasy.  We were given Rachel (my stylist/close high school friend), Staci (my "sister"), and Mindi; Sara did my makeup.  Rachel has been styling and/or playing with my hair for at least 10 years, so she knows the texture of my hair and what works and doesn't work for me.  There was no doubt in my mind that she would do an awesome job on my wedding day look.


Me and Rachel.  I look 10.  And thrilled.



Done.  With the feather.

We arrived at Steele at 9am.  And we basically took over.  My dad dropped off bagels from Panera, we brought champagne, and the salon also had champagne and coffee and water for us.  There were 8 of us, plus BM Abriel's baby boy and her mom.  We were easily more than half of the people in the salon all morning.  They had on a fun mix of music, and we basically spent the morning talking, laughing, eating, and sipping mimosas.  Kind of a perfect morning with my best girls. 


 "Sister" Staci and BM Stephy



My sister/MOH Callie, making a mimosa



BM Abriel with her son and her mom


Unfortunately, no one got a picture of our spread, but we had tons of stuff there!  We were there till about 1.  During the time at the salon, I was calm and relaxed.  It didn't feel real yet.  And time was moving at a normal pace.  In fact, it kind of seemed like it might have been crawling.  I just wanted it to be 4:30.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a vendor review, not storytime.  Steele Salon was great - accomodating, friendly, quick, and - best of all - talented!  Each of my girls looked absolutely beautiful.  The stylists really listened to what each girl wanted, and everyone ended up looking like a perfect version of herself.  Definitely, definitely, definitely - if you're looking for a salon in Central PA, go to Steele. 

*all photos courtesy of BM Mel or BM Tina

Practicing Pretty-fying

I had my hair and makeup trial this weekend!  It went really well, and I love what we worked out.

For my hair, I knew I wanted to wear it down and curly.  Not super curly, nothing too structured.  Plus, my hair feather clip would come into play.  I took some inspiration photos with me to show my stylist.  My stylist is Rachel, at Steele Salon.  Rachel and I were very good friends in high school, and up until about a year ago, I still came back to Hershey to see Rachel when I needed a haircut.  I wouldn't trust anyone else to do my hair on the most important day of my life!  So, based on the photos I took her and what we talked about, here's what she came up with:

side

side with feather

back

You'll see the front-on shot in a second.  For my makeup look, I wanted to keep it pretty natural.  I don't wear a lot of obvious makeup on a day-to-day basis, and I don't want to totally overdo it on our wedding day so that Matt doesn't even recognize me!  My MUA, Sara (also at Steele Salon), asked me about what I wear usually, and also about our wedding colors.  Based on what I told her, she used a very subtle powder foundation, a bit of bronzer, and easy on the blush.  For my eyes, she did a neutral smokey eye, and used some dark green to play up my eyes and also to tie in with our wedding colors.  And for my lips, she used a slightly pinkish gloss.  Again, I was really happy with the way everything turned out!

from the side

full-frontal

After my hair trial, I went for an hour-long dance lesson with my dad, and then out to a windy dinner at an outdoor restaurant.  My hair stood up and my makeup lasted all night!  Rachel is going to curl my hair a little bit more on our wedding day, since my appointment is at 9am - she says this way even if the curls fall a bit throughout the day, it'll still look good.  That's just one more reason I love Rachel - she's such a little smartie!

*all personal photos