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.

Bah. Humbug.

This week has been one of those weeks where I am just blah. I have had a few set backs wedding wise and it is throwing me off. These decisions that were made months ago aren't turning out as planned and it is very disconcerting. Need a specific example? Done.

We hired a Day-of-Coordinator, she is amazing and my personal hero. When we hired her she told us that she had chair covers we could use for free to cover our ugly, ugly chairs at the reception site. Totally awesome right? Like too good to be true? Because it was. Our DOC rented out said chair covers in September and didn't get half of them back, and those she did get back were damaged beyond repair. I don't know who you are chair cover renter, but I am totally vibing you where ever you are. So now I am trying to figure out what to do, should I make covers or rent them or buy and resell them? No matter what I do it isn't in the budget, so I'm not happy.

Oh and remember the second hair trial, well let me tell you it turned out beautifully and it works perfect with my dress. The girl that did my hair was amazing and so nice. However, the salon where I went won't let us book there unless our entire party books the bridal package with them. A package that includes things that none of the girls or I want or need.  Now I am currently still trying to negotiate this little problem with the salon owner so it may turn out alright, but for now it sucks.

I try to be a roll-with-the-punches kind of girl but I'm not very good at it. Mr. Tal says I have a problem letting things go, which is so true. I'm trying but when money is involved in the setback it really upsets me. I just have to have faith that next week will be better and know that Mr. Tal and I will figure it all out somehow.

Are you a roll with the punches kind of person, or do you hold on to things for dear life like me?

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

Hair Trial Woes.

I had my hair trial yesterday with a lady that I found on the internets. Through e-mail communication this lady seemed really nice and a dream since she would be willing to travel to where we are getting ready. I know this seems like she wasn't nice, but that's not what I mean, she was very nice. However, during the trial we were discussing time frames and how long it would take for her to do all the girls hair and to complete 5 updos and 2 styles she would need to start by 9 in the morning and go for 6 hours. I was okay with this at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I really didn't want to have all of us sitting around for 6 hours. Also, my hair, as lovely as it was, didn't work with my dress. It looked nice after the trial was over and all through the rest of the day but once I got home and put my dress on, it was all wrong. Like so wrong that I decided to go for another trial with a salon in town this week. Take a look at my pictures:

See what I mean? Very pretty and exactly what I asked her to do. However, with my dress on it DOES. NOT. WORK. It's a bit too prom-ish. Sad panda. I think I need to do something simpler, more elegant. I would share my dress pictures but as I stated in the past Mr. Tal frequents my blog and I would have to hurt him if he saw my dress. I have been digging through bridal magazines, theknot.com and brides.com looking for something else. I have come up some new words to discribe what I am going for: old hollywood glam, grace kelly, timeless, elegant. I think that will work much better than the look I was going for before which was casual, laid back, messy and a bit complex. The salon where I want to go isn't open today so I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if I can get an appointment this week. I am aiming for Wednesday so I can have my mom come with me. I am really hoping that this works out. If I really like the work the lady at the salon does and they can fit the bridal party in on the 16th then we will probably end up going with them simply because they can do all of our hair at once or at least fairly close together so maybe it will only take a couple of hours versus six.

Anyone else have a hair trial that didn't work out like they envisioned with their dress?

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

Hairspiration

I'm actually having someone do my hair for the wedding. Unlike my makeup, I don't trust myself enough to do something fabulous with my hair. Also, unlike my face, I like to have my hair played with and pinned up. It makes me happy, euphoric even. I find it very relaxing.

I have a hair trial with Amy in a few weeks and I'm a little stuck on what I want to do. I have a veil and a hair flower to wear:

(Hair flower picture from http://www.davidsbridal.com/, Veil from http://www.weddingbedazzled.com/)

I thought that I had everything figured out hair wise, I'm in love with messy bun type styles:

(Not sure where this image is from, I saved it to my computer when I found it months ago, probably a result of Google "low messy bun updo")

But my dress would really work well with a more vintage finger curl updo like so:

                  (Source)

I can't post my dress on here because Mr. Tal frequents my blog and I would have to hurt him if he saw my dress before the big day. My dress would work with any updo really. I don't know if it's really that big of a deal, I like all sorts of updos, I like having my hair done and just seeing how pretty it is. We'll see how I feel on the day of my trial and take some pictures, see how looks and go from there.

Anyone have any opinons? Share please.

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