Bridal Hair: A Cautionary Love Story
All images from Mark and my wedding were taken by the marvelous Krista Scarlavai Photography.
To say I love a good love story is a vast understatement.
Now that I live with a boy - ugh! - (but no really, I’m referring to my husband Mark and he’s pretty much the cat’s meow), I rarely get a chance to watch those so-terrible-they’re-actually-amazing romantic movies I used to enjoy in my youth with my girlfrends. Le sigh!
My faves are old school, baby. We’re talkin Somewhere In Time starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymore here. We’re talkin’ the vastly underappreciated 1995 Meg Ryan flick by the name of French Kiss,, mmmkay? Honestly, we’re talkin’ any good love story filmed pre-2005. Bonus points if it’s starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (obviously).
As my own love story played out with my now-husband (and we’ll go into that story at some point in another post because it is honest-to-Betsy adorabletown, if I do say so myself) and he decided to make an honest woman out of me, I didn’t even know where to begin when it came to wedding planning. Though I’ve seen Father of the Bride (another classic!) probably 76 times or so in my 30 years on this earth, that was about the extent of my wedding knowledge. I hadn’t become a wedding photographer yet, so the only tips I really had to work with were from Frank (pronounced “Frahnk” and if you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to stop reading this immediately and go watch Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin version)).
The first thing you have to do is select the cahke (cake). If it snows, don’t worry about it because white goes with everything. And the chipper chicken is the most economical dinner option (also, Armani doesn’t make navy blue polyester, in case anyone was wondering).
While the dress, the venue, the shoes, the budget, the music and all of the other trillions of choices brides must make completely overwhelmed me, the one thing I absolutely knew I wanted was the hair style I was going to rock on my wedding day: long, chocolatey, sensual, waves cascading past my delicate shoulders to my tiny waist (in my head I would also be 4 inches taller and built like a pixie on my wedding day because what’s reality anyway?) making me look demure, but sexy and sophisticated all at once (because a girl should always shoot for the stars, ammiright?).
So! I haphazardly wade my way through the dangerous and bizarre world of wedding planning and hallelujah! The Big Day finally arrives. My talented team of hair/make-up ladies arrive to beautify my already gorgeous sisters and BFF’s. When the final spritz of hairspray was applied and the last bobby pin was secured, my wonderful hairdresser spins me around and I look much like I had always imagined (minus the height and frame adjustment but ya can’t win em all):
All of my wedding photos were taken by the marvelously talented Krista Scarlavai.
Expectations vs. Reality
Caroline, my hair stylist, had done a beautiful job nailing down my vision. Romantic, soft, care-free waves that I would tote around for the duration of the day with pride.
Except that this photo was taken at 11:30am.
And our reception didn’t start until 5:30pm.
You probably see where this tale is headed……
In my wedding hair fantasy, I didn’t think of things that were - oh, say - practical or in any way reality based. Like the fact that my hair is naturally straight. Like, straight straight. And pretty long. And stubbornly refuses to obey things like “hairspray” and the vain wish of just really, really wanting curly hair on my wedding day, okay?!
It was not okay.
No sooner than I arrived to the church (a half an hour late, but that’s ANOTHER story altogether and involves one usually very prompt, very stressed out bride and one limo that inexplicably went to the church first instead of to where I was getting ready but I DIGRESS) that my hair decided to just kinda go “pllllbbbbbhhhh” (like the noise you make when you stick out your tounge and make a deflating noise). Here’s a little taste of it at the ceremony:
And here it is a during the wedding photo portion of the day (which I wisely scheduled ample amounts of time for and highly suggest all you brides do, too, if practicalities allow!):
Aaaaaaaaaaand it just kind of got flatter and weirder from that point on.
Now don’t get me wrong. The point of the whole shebang was marrying Mark. It was a gorgeous day at a gorgeous venue spent with the people I love most in the world. All in all, it was a massive success.
Our wedding photographer, Krista Scarlavai, did a stunning job capturing the magic and I love reliving the day through the images.
As time passes (three years next October!), the niggling, annoying feeling I get every time I look at photos of my wedding day hair taken five minutes after the darn ‘do was set (so um, ya know, just the entire day.) has subsided some. In order to save yourself from such a fate entirely, check out some of my top tips below:
The Hairy Truth: The Do’s and Don’ts of Bridal ‘Do’s!
And so, my beautiful and undoubtedly way savier brides, let my sad tale be a warning to you all:
Don’t be like Maura.
Maura didn’t care that deep down she knew that this hairstyle was not going to work out in her favor. Because she had had 27 years of this stuff hanging from her head to play around with and get to know, Maura should have realized that this was absolutely going to happen and plan accordingly.
Do use LOGIC and REASON when planning out your perfect ‘do. Do you have really long, fine hair that hasn’t really ever had much luck in holding a curl? Unless you are will to take a pretty huge gamble, maybe don’t opt for what I decided to go with. If you are one of those lucky souls with actual body to their hair, you have a little more freedom with which to play. Now, my beautiful little sister’s hair was dy.na.MITE. on her wedding day. Her hair is naturally wavy and a little coarser and a little shorter and, um, perhaps most importantly holds curls! See below for proof at different points of her day:
Don’t vainly assume your hair dreams will come true regardless of ignoring the “Do’s” listed above and get an ever-loving hair trial, for the love-of-your-wedding-photos! I did not get a hair trial. Had I done this, I would have realized that my gorgeous curls had fallen out by the time I paid my stylist and put my wallet back in my purse, giving me time to figure out something else.
Do some research. We live in the age of this nifty little site called Pinterest, my friends. There is a frighteningly vast amount of material out there you can use as inspiration. See what’s out there. What do you like? Search away, find what you love and will work for your hair and you pin that shiz, sister!
Do match the vibe of your ‘do with your wedding theme. My sister, above, had a lovely garden wedding complete with a tent, an Indian food truck and an elevated stage in the woods with an exposed rock wall. Her loose curls and cascading florals were so gorgeous and perfectly appropriate for the romantic/boho garden setting.
in summation:
And so if you heed my warnings, dear brides, and apply the advice above you can completely avoid this pain-in-the-hair scenario on your wedding day. While my wedding day was certainly one of the best and most exciting days of my life (I mean, beginning a marriage with the one you love is just an incomparable feeling), this one little regret I have from the day was so laughably avoidable. But quite honestly, I’m happy to have made this blunder so that you don’t have to :-)!
If you have more hair wisdom to impart feel free to share in the comments below!
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