Wedding Blog

After my makeup trial (which was fun but in need of some fine-tuning), I moved on to my first hair trial, also at Sage Salon & Spa.

I truly love getting my hair done… it’s so soothing and relaxing. But this time I was more than a little tense. I still didn’t know whether I wanted my hair up, down, or half-back. After showing my stylist my hair inspirations and talking about the location and qualities of our wedding, we decided that an up-do would be best.

The first deciding factor was that if there is wind or weather, an up-do would (hopefully) stay in place longer and function better than leaving my hair down. Secondly, an up-do would give me a more functional place to hold a veil, should I so choose. Finally, talking about styles helped me realize that I really did like the classic look of pinned-up wedding hair.

To help get a feel for what I did want, we talked about the things that I didn’t want. I told her that I didn’t want my hair to look too prom-like, or too “severe,” which meant avoiding high, piled-on the head, tight, scalp-pulling ’dos.

I said that I fancied something whimsical, a little loose, soft, and feminine. I wanted to try a style with a side-part, like Miss Petunia, gathered low on my head.

So we had a first go of it, and she tried this approach with the top layer of hair pieced into three parts, the side pieces twisted near the nape of my neck and all gathered into messy curls at the back:

BACK:

FRONT:

SIDE 1:

SIDE 2:

I think you can see from my face in the photos that I wasn’t super thrilled. It just didn’t work for me. Aside from baring my obvious desperate need for a full foil (see the nice dark parts on the side of my head?) this style sort of made me feel like Princess Leia. I think it was the twists. They were a no-go. And it was messy and loose. I know it’s a trial but I want to at least get an idea of the final product.

I mentioned my apprehension to my stylist and she set out to tighten it up. She took out the twists, secured the sides, gave it a bit of volume, and cleaned up the back. The end result was (I think) a much better product with a fun little button:

BACK:

FRONT:

SIDE 1:

SIDE 2:

I thought this second style was cute, but it was still kind of messy and loose and it started to fall out in less than half an hour. (Not to mention during the disastrous misadventure only an hour later.. but I’ll get to that.)

I still had that niggling feeling that something wasn’t right. Maybe it just wasn’t me? Maybe I still didn’t know WHAT I wanted. Well, thank goodness for trials, right? I’ve still got another one on the night before my wedding and I’ll try and try again, as they say.

Since coming home, I’ve found a few new hairstyles that have tickled my fancy:

As mentioned in my makeup trial post, I love the front of this style on Hayden Panettiere. I think that it’ll hold together nicely while the loose bangs give it some whimsy. I don’t mind a bit of a trim before the wedding as I’m planning to continue the Bee trend of chopping it all off afterwards anyway.

[Image Source]

I’m digging the bun/chignon back in this next photo. It’s got room for a flower, hairpin, brooch, or veil. It also looks like it should hide hairpins and stay together much better than the piecey bits in my trials.

[Image Source]

So that’s what I’m going for next time.

I have to admit that I’m still really nervous that I’ll never find something that suits me, or that my next trial will suck and my day of hair will be awful. It’s not that big of a deal because I’m sure it will turn out OK in the end - I’ve got nimble hands and skilled ladies at my beck and call. But still… eek. Any words of reassurance? Comments on the styles & trials above?