Table of Contents

1. Hair/make-up for bridals
2. New Low Updo Hair Inspirations
3. Hair Trial 1
4. Original Half-Up/Half-Down Hair Idea Inspirations
5. Make-up Ideas
6. Jewelry
7. Hair Accessories
8. Veil
9. Shoes
10. The Dress
11. Bustle and Alterations
12. Dress Steaming

Actual Hair and make-up from my Bridals session

Here are some pictures I took of my hair and make-up after I did my bridals on 11/1. I added my hair pieces once I got home,  but never wore them for the actual pictures. Sorry these aren't the best pictures. It's not easy taking ones of yourself! This was after a full 2-2.5 hours of pictures and dressing/un-dressing, so the curls may have fallen a little, but you can still get the idea of what it looks like.
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New Hair Ideas

Update as of 9/10: I have now decided I want a low updo. I had my hair trial today and we tried out a half-up/half-down look, which is originally what I wanted. While it was still very pretty, I really don't have the hair for it. I could get extensions, but I don't really want to pay for them. AND I'm afraid that the curls will either fall out as the night goes on or I'll be worrying that they will, and I really don't want to be thinking about my hair the whole time. Sooooo I've decided to change things around.

Here are my new inspiration photos.

Hair Trial 1 - 9/10

This is when I thought I wanted a half-up/half-down look. I have now changed my mind, but thought I'd post these anyway.

For whatever reason I don't think the make-up photographed very well. I thought it looked nice in person, but these pictures just don't look like me. I accidentally dabbed on WAY too much concealer around my eyes so it's glowing weird and messing up how I look. I know I'm going to have her change the eye make-up a little to make it a bit more dramatic, and maybe lighten up on the blush (I was also very hot in that dress in that room, and my face turns red very quickly when I'm overheated, so I don't really need any extra blush).

Also, the bangs were not styled in these pictures. I just had them down but not curled like I would have had them done for the real thing.
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Here is my original idea. I thought I'd leave the pics up as inspiration for any of you other girls wanting to do this style.

I've been collecting the hair pictures for a while and I just found another knottie's wedding page. She was absolutely gorgeous and her hair and make-up is exactly what I'm looking for. Now I'm just hoping that I'd be able to pull that off with my hair, assuming I can grow it out more and mine isn't too fine/thin. Hers are the first 4 pictures, credit goes to KappaUCF20 and her photographer Jamie Smith Photography.

Make-up Ideas

I'm going to try to go for something natural but still romantic and dramatic, if that makes sense. Again, KappaUCF20 had gorgeous make-up as well.

Haha. Ok so my possible hair/make-up lady works for Mary Kay and sent me her site to play around with their virtual make-up thingy. Here are some of my creations. I put my before shot first so you can see how much of a difference it makes. And that's not exactly how I'm planning on doing my hair, but that particular hair choice is close, and the color is not too far off my normal color either.

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First one has Garnet Frost lipstick, Pink Petals blush, and Sweet Pink, Raisin and Espresso eye colors. I think its my favorite combo so far.

I don't know how much difference there really is in the blush and lips from my regular color. I'll probably just wear a little bit of blush and some gloss on my lips. Not a huge fan of lipstick. I'm hoping the eye colors look good in person.
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Second one is Spun Silk, Raisin, and Navy eye colors. Cheeks and lips are the same.
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Last one is the same lips and cheek, eyes are Moonstone, Chocolate Kiss, and Espresso.
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Jewelry

I just bought this set on Etsy from seller Handwired. I did customize it a bit so that there are only white pearls, clear crystals (as opposed to aurora borealis ones), the chain on the necklace is shorter, and there are some extra pearls and crystals along the length of the chain. The earrings were $26 and the necklace was $30. Definitely an awesome price considering the quality of the necklace.

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Yay! I got my jewelry today and I love it! I was having a fight with my camera, but you can at least see the general details and colors. It's so beautiful in person! And please excuse me not looking so good in those bottom pictures, haha (and of course I had to throw on my veil to see how that looked with it).
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Hair Accessories

I've decided I don't want a traditional tiara type hair piece. Partly to save some money, partly because that's just not the style I'm going for. I'm actually going to attempt to make some pearl and crystal hair pins to stick in my updo. Since I'm planning on having the hair low on the back of my head, I think I will make some of the vine type pins to put above the top of the updo. I can't decide if I will make some simple just pearl or crystal pins to randomly scatter in the mess of curls too.

Here are some examples of the pins I'm going to try to make and how I'll probably wear it.
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Veil

I ended up ordering this one from Chicbridals.com for only $80. I got the 36" in white. It finally came in early July and I love it! The only thing I'm not crazy about is the length. I think I might take it in with me when I get my dress hemmed and see if they can shorten the length of the longer tier to about 2" below the shorter one. I haven't actually tried it with my dress so maybe I'll end up loving the long length, but I'm not thinking so. I posted some pics below of it on my head. I'm sure it'll look a lot better with my real dress though. ;o)

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Shoes

Here are my shoes! They're Touch Ups Nona Pumps. I got them from endless.com (awesome site, btw) for $51. The size I ordered is just slightly too big, so I was gonna send them back and get the smaller size, but I managed to get the side dirty and now I'm thinking they won't take them back. Sooo I ended up dyeing the larger size to wear for my bridals and will be keeping the white ones for the day of.

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Here were some other ones I was looking at. The top ones were my favorite style, but they just don't fit quite right.

The Dress! - Tyler don't look!

Finally! My dress has arrived! Quick back story first: after I got engaged, I started looking at dresses online. I found one on Maggie Sottero's website that I just fell in love with. Well unfortunately it was a newer dress and none of the stores in town had it yet. I went and tried on probably about 15 other gowns in case I could find another one I loved, but I still kept comparing them all to this one. Finally one store that I called recommended that I come in and they would try to find me all of the gowns in their shop that would fit similarly to my dream one. After doing that and deciding that the style would be good, I ordered my dream gown without actually having seen it in person. It took almost 4 months for it to finally come in, and needless to say I was super nervous about it. I even had nightmares about it coming in and being completely hideous. When I finally got the call that it had arrived, I was out the door in about 10 min and on my way to see it. Fortunately for everyone involved (I do think Tyler had had enough of me complaining about not having my dress), I absolutely loved it when I put it on. It needs a few alterations, but for the most part fits wonderfully. And it makes me feel like an absolute princess. I'm so excited!

Here are some pics of me trying it on for the first time. I'll add more once I get the wrinkles out of the dress.
I loved the way the others ended up fitting, so I just went ahead and ordered this one.

It's Maggie Sottero Harriet, and it's perfect. :o)

Bustle and Alterations

I turned my dress over to the seamstress at Joan's Alterations on 9/11 and she said I can come back in a month to pick it up. It ended up just needing around a 1" hem in the front and the bustle in the back. I told her I liked the multiple point bustles and showed her some of the pictures below. She suggested a 3-point under bustle (French bustle). I'm really excited to see how it turns out!

This last one is actually called an Austrian bustle. I think it would be really pretty, but I'm assuming it would also have a large bill to go along with it.

Dress Steaming

When I pulled out my dress two days before my bridals portraits I realized it had lots of wrinkles in it. I started freaking out and even got my dad's fancy camera to see if the wrinkles would show up in the pictures. They did. Sooo I tried bathroom steaming it (hanging it in the bathroom with the hot shower running) but that didn't work. I ended up going to Walmart the night before and I bought a $50 Conair Fabric Steamer (I can't remember the exact model name). I tested out my parent's work shirts first and it worked great. I was still too freaked to touch it to my dress though, and it definitely does not work from like an inch away. I ended up wrapping the head of the steamer in a light cloth and then running it over the organza. It worked really really well and I'm so glad I did it.

So, for those of you trying to figure out how to get out wrinkles, I would highly recommend buying a steamer and doing it at home. Worked like a charm!