HAIR & MAKEUP

probably two of the more important decisions to make for many brides, your wedding hair and wedding makeup can make all the difference in helping you feel your absolute best on your big day, and this is coming from a girl who pretty much never wears makeup nowadays and considers it a small miracle if her hair manages to stay presentable from sun up to sun down.  the trick to it all, as several past brides have told me, is to let the stylists create a wedding day look that simply enhances, not masks, what the good Lord already gave you.  well, when i look at it that way, i’m much more open to the idea.

now, the question regarding hair and makeup is where do you begin your search?  as far as things go for me, i first started with what i knew, which was who my sister-in-law kari hired when she and kyle got married back in 2014.  she happily gave me some contact information, and i quickly turned around to send the first of many e-mail messages.  kyle and kari got married in roswell, georgia, which meant most of their vendors were local to the greater atlanta area.  therein was a bit of a problem for me:  with our wedding being in peachtree city (practically on the complete opposite side of town and definitely outside the greater atlanta area), i would have to pay travel fees per mile for the stylists to get to me.  now, if we were having a remote destination wedding, i’d understandably bite the bullet and pay, but before committing, i decided to investigate and see if we had other options.

as it would end up being the case for many of our vendors, i asked the director at glendalough manor if they had any preferred recommendations for hair and makeup.  what do you know, they did!  as soon as i was able, i booked the trial appointments and invited the crew to come along for the fun.

now, if you aren’t in “the know” in this regard, oftentimes you do a trial or dress rehearsal for hair and makeup before your actual wedding day.  i know, i know.  among all the other things on our to-do list, you might not feel like you have time for this sort of thing.  i used to think that way, too.  however, i highly encourage you go through with the trials and here is exactly why.

not so much on the makeup side, but for the hair i had a decent number of ideas from pinterest, magazines, and simply my own imagination.  so, armed with visions and excitement, my mom, kari, jamie, and i went to n v hair studio down in peachtree city.  the girls made themselves comfortable while i settled into the chair and described to connie my stylist what i was thinking.  she listened and looked and quickly got to work teasing and twirling and pinning and placing each hair.  it wasn’t too long before she gave me the mirror so i could see her work for myself.  i looked and looked and looked some more while everyone waited eagerly to hear what i had to say, which ended up being, “i really don’t like it.”  oh no, the horror!  what ever shall we do?  the girls all jumped in quickly with compliments, hoping to lift my spirits, but after talking through it, what i had originally envisioned really just wasn’t me at all, despite the fact that the stylist had pretty much done exactly what i’d asked.  i was truly ready to feel defeated as i let the handheld fall to my lap, but connie didn’t miss a beat and got right back to work.

connie had been really soaking up my feedback and initial reaction to the original design and was able, by the end of the appointment, to get all this hair on my head styled in a way that was better than what i could have come up with myself, clearly.  lol!  i’m relieved to say i am very happy with the final style and am not too proud to admit a few lessons learned:

1 – even if you come to your appointment (hair, dress, makeup, whatever) with ideas, do try to keep an open mind in case what you think you want isn’t what will ultimately work best for you.

2 – trust the experts!  they do whatever they do as professionals, day in and day out.  that counts for A LOT.

3 – let your bridesmaids or groosmen or parents or friends or whomever be there to support you.  in some cases they know you better than you know yourself, so lean on them when you’re feeling unsure.

4 – and lastly, speak up for yourself when you have an opinion.  although we aren’t at our wedding day just yet, i imagine the last thing phillip or i would want is to see something at the ceremony or reception that we just absolutely hate and regret.  remember, you’re hopefully only getting married once, so make sure the day is as you want it to be.