Make me up before you go go

Of all the decisions that we've made, all the vendors that we've hand-picked, this process has been pretty easy peasy.

First came Venue, and while it took me awhile to find Riverdale (by find I mean become aware of the existence of, not, like, physically finding it on a map), it took me no time whatsoever to fall in love with it. Highlights include in-house catering, day-of coordinator, chiavari chairs (no chair covers!) and amazing hardwood floors (no old, tacky carpet!!), and most importantly, a venue that is experienced and equipped for weddings, as opposed to weddings being an afterthought. And it's soooo preeetty!

Next came Ben:

This decision was a tad harder, because of the more experienced, more expensive Shea Roggio as competition, but when it came down to it, we knew Ben's personality melded with ours as soon as we met him. And he has continued to seem really eager to please us and make sure we're satisfied.


Next, you all know the ridiculous process that is trying to find that dress, but in my heart, I always knew that the dress was not the most important part of this day. Obviously, Kyle is going to get a little heated when I walk down the aisle no matter what I'm wearing, and he will love me and not run away no matter what (unless there's lace :))


Then came Tara of Splints and Daisies:

This was another insanely easy decision. She has a very unique approach to flowers and is also very eager to please. She seemed really excited by my inspirational photos and is really well-priced. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with. This was the first vendor where I started using the word trust; even though I don't know exactly what the flowers are going to end up looking like, I trust that she is more than competent to make them absolutely perfect.





Now enter Renee of Bella Manse:

Her cake tasted great, I mean really, honestly, I didn't give a crap what it looked like as long as it tasted good. But here again, she seemed totally in tune with our vision for the cake and so I trust that it's going to be great, and taste awesome.


I know you've been with me through bridesmaids dresses and suits. Bridesmaids dresses were my first occasion of Bridezilla-dom. I didn't want to force anyone to wear anything they didn't want, but when I saw my sister in the one we picked, I said 'that's it, that's the one, no more looking."

 

It flatters her and the fabric and style compliments my dress, end of story. My original plan was the let everyone pick their own as long as it was deep burgundy/wine-colored, but then I said 'no, order this.' It took me awhile though to build up the nerve to say 'do this!' I don't like forcing my girls into things, but I finally realized that everyone was waiting on the decision and that for all the weddings that I've had to wear a dress that I would not have picked myself, there is no way you can please everyone. And it won't be the end of the world... hopefully.

Suits was just a matter of finding the right color. I knew what I wanted, but finding it seemed impossible, annoyingly impossible, but I feel very content with our choice, and my man looks sexy in it :)

 

Our DJ choice was very easy as well, because Nick has known Kyle and I for five years and we already know he plays good music, so the only thing that mattered was when we said 'are you going to play what we want, not play what we don't want, and not be annoying and try to get everyone to do the chicken dance?' when he said yes, we were sold (we're so easy). I just hope he also has a good time as well. I don't want him working the whole night.

Rings were easy.

Theme was easy.

Attendants were easy.

Menu was easy.

So many other things were easy...

Why is makeup so gall dern hard?!?! Rikki, the cheapest and sweetest makeup artist so far, turned out to be a huge flake. When I found her, I thought to myself 'wow! here's one more wedding decision that turned out to be super easy!' and then it stopped being easy. It seemed like no one else would travel, and the only other makeup artists that would travel were way way too expensive. I started calling or e-mail-bombing all the salons in Lancaster and it turns out, a fair few of them will travel to the venue, but then several started worrying me about time, saying that three hours was not enough to do 5 girls' hair and makeup (me, my mom, three bridesmaids). Fair point, but what now??

So I've been wrestling with a few different options:

• Option one: Found a great salon/spa in Lancaster (will tell you more about it when and if I choose them); get hair and makeup done AT this salon the morning of the wedding. Do touch-ups on our own.
• Option two: Go to the salon late morning of the wedding and get hair done together, then have makeup artist travel to venue to do makeup there.
• Option three: Go to the salon late morning of the wedding and girls get their hair done, DIY makeup.
• Option four: DIY all the way baby!

My mom is doing a simple, wavy down-do, and I like it. So now I'm trying to figure out what everyone else wants, because I actually need to tell this salon what I want done, or not done, because maybe some hairstyles are simple enough to DIY:

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, I've got more, and they all have braids in them. When you've got hair like mine, you've mastered braids over the years, and I love how these looks are technically boho, but they don't look boho to me, they look low maintenance and chic. Maybe braids can be a tie in, like if one girl wants her hair down, she can do a sort of Jennifer Aniston look but if another wants a side ponytail, she can do a Molly Sims look. And if anyone likes the fishtail look, I know how to do fishtails too, and I love them; love Ashley Greene's look. Am I way off base here?

This subject has become too big for me to think about. Do we DIY makeup but not hair? Hair but not makeup? I'm getting no feedback because everyone keeps saying 'just do what you want to do.' No, now I need real answers. I found the salon, now they need the laundry list of who-needs-what. I've got too many contradicting thoughts going through my head. Tell me what you want! Help me to help you! I have been in a wedding where I was given freedom to do hair the way I wanted and I was in a wedding where my hair was done the way the bride wanted it. I found that I didn't care either way, but, at the former wedding, we all helped each other with hair and makeup and that was actually really fun. But at the latter wedding, the stress was taken out of it because a professional was tending to you.

HELP!!