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

I'm Complete!

My look, that is.  Finally!  I finally decided on the shoes.  Remember?  I was all torn and indecisive?  I made an executive decision, ordered the shoes, and loved them.  So?  Here are the ones I chose.  

(personal photo)

I love them, and when I showed them to my sister/MOH, she loved them, and Mom loves them.  I ordered them from Sonja's Brides.  I'm not sure it's something I'd do again.  The shoes were $65, which is a good price.  But then shipping was $15!  For one pair of shoes!  It seemed a little extreme to me, but I couldn't find them anywhere else on the web, so I sucked it up and paid it.  When I got them, I tried them on immediately (right after a mile walk home in 99-degree heat) and they were slightly too tight.  I thought I'd exchange them for a bigger size.  But to exchange them, I would've had to pay to ship them back, pay a $15 restocking fee, and pay to have the new pair shipped to me.  So that would've put these shoes well over $100, which really seemed extreme.  So I tried them on again when my sister came up for my bachelorette party, and they felt much better.  I decided to keep them as is.  I know, I know - my feet will swell on my wedding day, I'll be standing for the whole ceremony, blah, blah, blah.  I plan to only wear these shoes for the ceremony and for pictures - max, 2 hours.  They'll be fine.  I'm gonna work on breaking them in between now and the wedding, so I should be ok.  So, yay, shoes - DONE.

If you remember, the bracelet that I ordered from Etsy seller sparklyshoes.  Apparently, after making mine (which was a special request that she make a bracelet instead of the necklace she originally had) she now sells the bracelets, too!  So I guess it worked out for both of us!

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And, of course, my hair feather, from Etsy seller PowderBlueBijoux.  I love, love, love this hair clip. 

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AND, I found a clutch that I want to use, too!  Another Etsy purchase, this time from seller syl2830.  I kept it exactly as is - navy blue with a brown letter.  

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And, as you know, I got my opal ring back, and we got our wedding bands!  So that's it!  My look is complete!  I'm debating about showing you the dress....stay tuned to see if it pops up in a future post!  Before the wedding, that is...

Shoes

I am so. not. a shoe girl. Never have been. I'm not one of these women who walks around noticing other women's shoes. I don't enjoy shopping for shoes. I've never understood women who own hundreds of pairs of shoes. I don't understand the need to own shoes in several different styles and colors (except for flip-flops, of which I own about 10 pairs, because in the summer, you're supposed to wear bright fun colors and have bright fun shoes to match - duh). And I definitely don't nod in agreement when other women say, "I had such a horrible day, so I went out and bought myself these really cute new shoes!" What?! If I have a bad day, I buy myself a big brownie or some new music on iTunes.

Never. Under. Stoodit.

And then, I got this sparkly little ring on my finger. Suddenly, I'm Carrie-Freakin-Bradshaw. I'm shopping online for shoes every day. I'm stopping back at DSW every other week or so. I'm stopping in the Nine West outlet in the train station every couple of days. What have I become?!

I'm completely indecisive when it comes to my shoes for the wedding. I don't know what I want. I don't necessarily want anything super wedding-y. I like the recent trend of wearing colored shoes, especially blue shoes for your "something blue," but I already know what my something blue will be. Plus, I don't really think I can pull off the colored shoe thing. That seems to be more for women who actually care about shoes on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure I want to get two different pairs for the day - more formal ones for the ceremony, and then something less formal for the reception. But even that has me all confuddled. Do I want to get something casual but cute for the reception, or just trust my old comfy Old Navy flip-flops?

I've never been so concerned or confused about shoes! It's so not me! In the meantime, here's some shoe porn for you to take a look at:

So far, these are my favorite contenders. I like the little toe loop. They're slightly reminiscent of flip-flops, so they fit me and they kind of fit my dress. But they're 3 1/8" high, which is a little higher than what I'm used to wearing. And I certainly don't want to be stumbling down the aisle!

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I also really like these. The strap across the toes is a pretty close match to the beadwork on my dress. And I like the ankle strap. I always feel like those make people's feet look very...delicate. Or something.

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So, umm...these have blinged-out heels. Seriously! Click on the source link and take a closer look. How cool is that!?

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I like these for the reception. They're really cute, and they're super-comfortable. I tried on a champagne-colored pair at DSW. But they might be a little too cute and frilly - they're not really me.

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I've posted these before. I'm totally in love with them. If I could find them onsale, I would snap them up in a second for the reception. Unfortunately, though, they're $275, which is just absurd for a little pair of rubber flip-flops. But for real...they are so awesome.

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And then, of course, there's my old loves. My trusty Old Navy flip-flops. I'm strongly considering just slipping these on for the reception. I know they'll fit, I know they're comfortable, and this pair is a little bit more exciting than my regular old white ones - these are called "Pearl" (just like my dress!), and they have a bit of a shimmer to them. Maybe that's a sign...

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So those are the ones at the top of my list for now. If I were made of money, I'd get the Valentino Bow Thongs for the entire day. But I'm not, so I won't. Oh well... I'm sure I'll find something that I'll totally love.

Hair Accessories

My hair is about shoulder length. It's got some natural wave/curl to it, and I used to use curl cream to enhance that and kept it curly. About a year ago, though, it seemed that the curl fell out of my hair, and now it's just sort of this weird, wavy mess. If I try using curl cream now, it just ends up doing really strange things. So I have been straightening it. They say your hair changes every 7 years or so, so I guess I was about due. I'm sad, though, because I loved my curls. Anyway. Because of the natural wave in it, it holds "manufactured" curls really well. So I intend to wear my hair mostly down and have my stylist gently curl it - almost finger-curl style, if you will. Very laid-back but pretty. Kind of like this:

I just can't decide what to do as far as accessories go. I'm not really a veil kind of girl, but I find myself being drawn to the birdcage veils that seem to have come back into fashion. I am considering something like this:

But my hair would be down, with just the side (probably the right side, which would be "facing" the congregation during our ceremony). I'm just not sure if the birdcage fits with the style of my dress. My dress is kind of "hippie-ish" and ethereal; the birdcage veils evoke more of a vintage-y vibe to me. So another option is to just do the feather fascinator and skip the veil altogether.

My other thought is to skip the feathers entirely and try something like a headband. I like this one:

It's the one on the bottom right. The pattern matches the beadwork on my dress.

I'm torn.

Dress!

I found my dress. THE dress. It seriously is absolutely perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. It was, of course, the first dress I tried on - for the day, for the year, for the shopping, for the wedding. First dress, ever. So, with 2 other appointments scheduled for the day, I felt like I shouldn't just stop there! So, like a fool, ignoring the sage wisdom of my bridesmaid, Abriel, who also is a bridal consultant, I did not stick with that, but went to my 2 other appointments and thoroughly confused myself. To the point where I actually put a deposit down on another dress! Can you believe it?! After I got home from the shopping trip, even though I really did love the other dress, I kept going back to the first one in my mind. It was all I thought about! When I closed my eyes and pictured myself in a wedding dress, I pictured that one, not the one I bought! Ugh! So, I confessed my bridal sin to my mother and she said, "Ok, let's cancel the order then!" And we did, and I called the first store and told them to hold onto that dress!

It really, really is perfect. I could not have designed a better dress for my wedding day. I am SO excited! In searching for a picture of it online (because it's no longer on the designer's website - it's a discontinued style, and I'm actually purchasing the store sample), I found another "sample" for sale in a size 6, which is bound to fit me MUCH better than the one at the store where I now have a $400 deposit holding it. My mom convinced me that it's better to get the one that is closer to my size and have it taken out the little tiny bit that it may need to be taken out, rather than get the one that is about 3 sizes too big and they would need to basically reconstruct the top to make it fit my chest. Soooo...we're ordering the size 6 with 2-day shipping so that it'll be there by Friday when I go back to my mom's to try it on. If it's terribly mis-sized, we still have the one at the store to fall back on. Oy! Such a mess!! But I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.

The actual brick-and-mortar store where I found the dress is Cocoa Couture. We're ordering it from My Dream Dress, which is basically a warehouse of "oops, I bought it and then didn't use it" dresses. The price difference between the 2 is pretty much nonexistent, so neither one ends up being a better "investment" - unless we end up saving significant amounts on alterations with the size 6. So, I guess we'll see! Nonetheless, the folks at Cocoa Couture were awesome. I absolutely loved my consultant (though I don't remember her name - I'm sorry!).

I'm also going to meet with my coordinator at JDK again on Saturday to talk about flowers. It's the one part of the wedding planning that Matt is soooo not interested in, so I'm going with my mom. Cuz she's good at flowers. And cuz she's awesome.