Trials....indeed. Part I

I am plagued with the crappiest hair in the world. I can make it look good, but it takes some effort. It's long and I generally wear it back or up in a what I lovingly refer to as "The Bradshaw Bun." In a pinch, it's my best look. I can straighten it, but it takes about 40 minutes to get totally dry and then another 40 minutes with a flat iron. Hence, the The Bradshaw Bun. I just don't have that kinda time to look spectacular every day. Who does?

I have done my own hair a gazillion times for fancy soirees. It takes time and a lot of energy and sometimes undue stress when things don't go my way, follicle-ly speaking. I decided I didn't want to chance that on my wedding day. Luckily, the fiancee of a good friend of mine is a hair and make-up artist for the theater. She offered to do my hair and make-up for me. SWEET! Our schedules and her wedding made it hard to coordinate the timing, but I had a trial run in April.

The way the world works is funny. To keep things more anonymous than not, a few things happened in The Thirty-Something Bride camp that kind of pushed the friend's offer to the side. I felt bad about it, but had to decide who to appease and who not to. :( All told, I think the situation was for the best. I wasn't loving the hair and make-up, but I thought I just wasn't use to wearing make-up. I really don't wear a lot at all. I probably should, but I I have freckles and I feel like too much makeup just makes me look weird.

The brand of make-up that my friend used wasn't all that flattering on me. It looked pretty cake-y after an hour or so. My skin is pretty dry and I think it might have been a more drying make-up. My eyes looked REALLY wrinkly! I think the base color might have been a little too light too which surprises me as I'm so pale my skin might as well be translucent. From the front, my hair didn't really look any different than if I pulled it back into a ponytail. The back was cool though. She had used a hair poof to make it big, although I am not sure I needed it. It gave a lot of volume, but it did feel a tad heavy.


So this was back in April. Trial number two was this month. A few things I'd like to preface and stress right now:

1. All the people who have worked on my hair and make-up are truly talented people.
   
2. I respect many different artistic outlets and hair and make-up is one of these outlets.
   
3. Not everyone likes the same kind of art.
4. As a bride, you need to feel happy with the vendor you pick. You need to feel comfortable and positive and sure.
   
5. As a paying customer, you need to get what you want. Period.
6. I'm sure someone somewhere will disagree with the five points above! However, it's my blog and this is my word to brides on the street. :)

I had trial numero dos with Sherita Leslie. I had the most fun with this chick! We cracked ourselves up and just had a great time. Sherita took her time on my trial and did what I asked her to do. The one thing I wasn't digging was the false eyelashes, so we took them off. I felt better about that. I felt OK about the make-up. Again, I felt I looked better than the first trial, but I was still not-so-sure. I can't explain it. I couldn't explain it at the time because I was fine at the time. It wasn't until several hours later that I realized, it just wasn't me. The Candyman and I went out to dinner and I had the make-up on. We ran into one of my friends and I felt a little odd - like I wasn't who I was supposed to be. That was the clincher for me. Again, I didn't look bad - just didn't feel like me.

I felt like my hair looked good from the back again, but that it was just the same old me from the front. I didn't get that feeling either until later in the afternoon before we went out. I did feel like the make-up was lighter and I felt less dry. One problem was that my eyes went crazy-bananas from the eyeliner under my bottom lashes. I haven't worn eyeliner there in years and I think my eyeballs rejected it. I had runny, red eyes for most of the night. No bueno. No bueno at all.

So the fact that things weren't groovin' on my head doesn't mean I think the person who did it wasn't good. Sherita is great and she comes highly recommended. I would recommend her to others. She's sweet and funny and incredibly professional. I really liked that about her. It kinda made me upset later that I didn't feel incredible about my trial. Since I was upset, I called Tabitha, my day-of planner (duh, who else?).

She stressed to me what I think all brides need to know: You need to feel GREAT. Not good. Not OK. You need to feel fabulous. She (very) quickly pulled some strings and got me into my next trial run. You will have to wait until my next post to see where we went from here.

I'm curious - have any other brides had this much drama around how you feel about something? I mean, the dress creates some more obvious emotions. Does anyone have flower frustrations? Alter anxiety? Venue vexation? Dress depression? Reception resentment? Groom grievances? I could go on and on with this one.....