The morning of the wedding was nice and peaceful. I slept in, got served breakfast by my aunt, and worked more on my vows. I had vows already written, but they didn't feel right, and I kept playing around with the wording up until 30 minutes before the ceremony. My brother stopped by the florist and picked up the flowers for me...which were BEAUTIFUL....and my sister was on the way to meet me at the salon for my 1:00pm hair appointment. My awesome family and friends took care of ALL the decorating, music and video set-up, picture-taking, and last minute runs to an antique shop! Any time I would ask how things were going, I would get a bright smile and hear "Everything's going great!". (Which I found out later was a lie - but I appreciated the optimism and reduced stress-level of having to worry about it all) :D
Then I head to my hair appointment. Having had a wedding hair and make-up trial 6 weeks earlier, I was really excited to get this done. I had full confidence in my stylist to make me look like the bride I wanted to be!
I walk in, big smile on my face, and see another stylist who says "Hey Amber. Have a seat. I'll be right with you". Huh? Smiling stops. I freeze. Who are YOU? "Is Liz not here today?", I ask...hopeful she's running late or in the bathroom with constipation. "No, she had another wedding party to take care of. But I'll be taking good care of you today. Liz said you were bringing pictures?".
"No, I didn't bring pictures! She told me not to...we just did a hair trial a few weeks ago!". Panic quickly takes over.
Trying to calm me down, she says, "Okay. No worries. You can just tell me what you want. It'll be fine." Last famous words.
Imagining the picture to my right, I tell her "I want big loops in the back. I don't want curls pinned to my head in a big group. I want a lot of volume on top, since I'll be wearing flowers in my hair, and the veil at the back of my neck. In the front, I want the pieces of hair twisted from one side to another, not just swooped across."
She assures me that she knows exactly what I'm talking about, and that she has 15 years experience, and I have nothing to worry about. I'm really nervous sitting in the chair, because she begins in the back, and I can't tell what she's doing. It doesn't feel right, though. She teases pieces of hair at the crown of my head to create volume, which then makes me feel like she has no clue what I want. Charity can see my obvious disappointment and tries to encourage me with talk about the excitement of the wedding. But my responses are short and negative. I'm convinced the stylist believes I had no desire to marry Chris, as my overwhelming stress and frustration of hating my hair led me to tears. I sat in the chair crying, as I saw my wedding hair develop. It's nothing like I wanted. It's not me. I looked at the clock. There's nothing I can do. Having her start all over again will make me late for the wedding, or leave me with no completed updo at all. So I sat there and cried. Charity didn't know what to do. And the stylist thought I was crying out of nervousness for the wedding.
As she worke
d around to the sides and began on the front, the tears came faster. I look like an old lady! What is she DOING? I have her change the sides and adjust the front, so that if nothing else, the front looks decent. She has me look at the back, but my vision is so blurry with tears, I really can't see the details. (See finished product to the left) Doesn't matter anyway. I have to be back at the cabin with my photographer in 45 minutes, and we still have my make-up to do.
I had asked my original stylist if she could take a minute to pull my sister's hair back and pin it with flowers. She said that would be no problem! So I explain to this new stylist that we just want a real quick pull and pin job. She expresses her gratefulness to my sister in bringing her straightener, as there was not one in the salon. She she straightens Charity's hair and twists two pieces of hair back with flowers. Is it what I imagined? Not quite. Does it work? Yes. Are we running out of time? Definitely!
Moving on to my make-up, I ask if she has the false eyelashes I got last time. Short story - no. But I DID get a pep talk on how beautiful my own eyelashes were, and how I didn't need any fake ones. Lame, a lie, and pure ridiculousness! My wedding make-up turns out pretty. Pretty as in everyday kind of pretty. Not as in "It's your wedding day and are going to have 400 pictures taken of you and you look gorgeous!". It was subtle. Not dramatic at all. Except for the bright pink lipstick she chose for my lips. Eww. I'll save the additional tears for the car. Let's just pay and get out of here!
"Cash or check?", I hear her ask. Neither? Credit?! I paid with credit last time. "Sorry, I can't accept credit today". But my cash and checkbook are at the cabin at the top of the mountain! Ugh!! My aunt Sherry begins digging through her purse.
"How much is it?" I ask...knowing Liz had told me $65 before.
"That'll be $126."
Last straw. I freak out. "What for???!! Liz told me it was $90 for hair/make-up, and I paid a $25 deposit!"
"Well hair and make-up is $96, and I was not told you paid a deposit. Then your sister's updo is $30."
I lost it. Turned my back from her to keep from hitting her, and begin crying again. She jumps up and tells me not to ruin my make-up, and that it's only a $6 difference. Umm no. It's more like a $61 difference. You're charging MY sister $30 for using her OWN straightener, and pinning her hair back like a 12 year old? I don't THINK so! My aunt Sherry runs across the street to an ATM, comes back with the cash, and tells us to get in the car. At this point, I'm supposed to be at the cabin, putting my dress on, getting bridal pictures done. And we have a 20-minute drive up the mountain. Awesome.
I arrive at the cabin with enough time to get Charity in her dress, and me in mine. No bridal portraits, and 10 minutes late to the ceremony.
While my complete disappointment in my wedding day look kept me in tears for 3 hours before the ceremony, walking down the aisle to Chris made all my nervousness and frustrations go away. We had an absolute perfect weathered day with a gorgeous view, and our closest family members there to celebrate with us. It was going to be okay.
The ceremony was wonderful, we got an hour's worth of pictures after the ceremony, and headed to the restaurant for dinner. Although they didn't have our space ready when we got there, we did get bumped up to the private banquet room, which made up for it. The service was great, food was awesome, and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Now let's hope the professional wedding pictures look good!
Thanksgiving this year was quite a treat! Chris and I originally planned to spend Thanksgiving at his parent's house this year. However, since we had to be there for their surprise 45th anniversary party last weekend, we didn't/couldn't make the drive back again for Thanksgiving. So when we were given an invitation to join our family friends Jim and Judy Liby at a ski resort in Virginia, we jumped on board! The Liby's own a timeshare at the resort, and had 2 units available for the entire week. Instead of taking a unit of their own and having us share with Judy's sister and her husband, they gave US our own unit!
We arrived on Wednesday night to find that they had gone in before we got there and left us a surprise!!
The following 4 days were filled with complete nothingness. Which was uh-mazing! Sleep until whenever, eat whenever, curl up on the sofa and watch movies whenever! The weather was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful, and it was all so peaceful and relaxing. We did get out every now and then to enjoy the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains...
And the night before Black Friday, Chris and I decided to join Judy in her shopping goals for the night. It was my first time out, and I quite enjoyed myself! Probably because I didn't have the stress of trying to find and get a particular item on time! I was completely shocked at the large amount of people at Kohl's. The picture below does it no justice! There was an "official" line on the left that went back as far as I could see. Then there was a huge crowd to the right, and a big crowd where in the parking lot where we were. I was shocked that they were counting the number of people going into their store for fire code safety!
