Third time is a charm

Seeing as yesterday I posted about vendor indecision, I decided to continue that theme with today's post.

Remember the first hair trial that lead to a second hair trial? I never really elaborated on what happened at that second hair trial. It went well, the stylist that did my hair was really nice and easy to talk to, they style was good, and the salon is great. Too good to be true of course. The nice people at the salon told me that they would only book us if we booked the entire bridal package for myself and my girls. That was $250 for me plus $99 for each girl. I kindly told the lady that ran the salon that I didn't need all the services offered in that package and neither did my girls. I failed to tell them that my parents were not about to lay down $500 to get myself and my two younger sisters pretty. I was in tears when I walked out. My mom and I went to lunch and talked about our options. I decided to call the salon and try to compromise. They problem with us and the salon is that they didn't want us taking over the salon just to get our hair done. So I asked if they would be willing to schedule us seperately. I waited a day for them to call me back and they said yes. However, when I told my maid of honor, she thought it was unacceptable for us to get ready seperately. I can't say that I disagree, I had always imagined my mom and my girls by my side while I got ready.

My maid of honor, my bestie, took it upon herself to call salons here (she is based about 3 hours away) in search of a place that would do our hair and allow us to be there together. I was so touched by this, it was a moment of above and beyond the call of duty. It only took her a day to find a place. She got quoted for every girl, she made sure they could get us out by 12:30, and she even scored us some food to snack on. Completely amazing. I had a trial there yesterday and the girl that did my hair was uh-mazing. By midnight last night after laying on my hair, head banging a little, walking around outside, only a few hairs were out of place, my hair looked fantastic. And no you don't get to see pictures, I'm leaving the final hairdo for my recaps.  I'm so happy that this is done and I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Anyone else have a 'maid step above and beyond? Were the results awesome?

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.

The Big "D"

Doubt that is. In my previous post I listed some reasons for my months long absence from blogging, most of those are pretty self-explanatory, at least I think they are. However, number three indicated some doubts had arisen between Mr. Tal and myself. Rest assured these doubt were in no way about us getting married, we are sure about that. No, our doubts stemmed from the big, evil budget.

Our budget is decent, we settled for about $9,500 that we would feel comfortable spending on a single day. I think current weddings are averaging in the $20,000 range, so we felt really good about our own budget. Most of our expenses are fitting well into that budget, but in recent months with my unemployment situation, I felt less and less convinced that spending any money on a wedding was a good idea. Combine my lack of income with some wedding planning stress and voila, a recipe for doubts. Being the level-headed guy that he is, Mr. Tal assured me that we are doing the right thing and if we eloped we would certainly regret it. I never really believed him the days when he said these things but always the next morning, I would agree and we would move on. I still have some concerns but we have done our best to create a beautiful, fabulous wedding on a respectable budget and that's the best I can hope for.

Gah, too much seriousness for me today. Okay, I promise a fun post either tomorrow or Tuesday. Maybe a little post on the final (for real, I promise, they are paid for) bridesmaids dress selections.

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.