Wedding Blog

… trial and retrial again! After reading about Mrs. Cupcake’s awesome hair and makeup pros, I reached out to Natalie Pagano and Emily Aznavourian to inquire about their availability for my wedding day. Since I wanted to see how both aspects of my day-of look would come together, I asked Natalie and Emily if we could arrange for a joint trial.

Both happily agreed, and we planned to meet at Emily’s house. (They often work together for weddings, but this was the first time Natalie and Emily did back-to-back trials together!) Mama and Sister Bruschetta came along, and captured the trials on my camera.

~~~ Now entering a NO MR. BRUSCHETTA ZONE ~~~

Google led me to my inspiration photos (thanks for the helpful suggestions about my celebrity double!):

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Natalie modified the woven bun slightly, adding a slightly poofy look to the front/top of my hair. We also discussed how my ideal wedding day look would be a slightly lower bun, incorporating more of the “woven” look. What do you think? (Oh, and be nice — we did hairstyles before the makeup trial, so this is a bare-faced Bruschetta!)

We even played with a wedding veil Natalie had brought along — definitely helpful, since I haven’t purchased my own yet!

Emily’s work was simply flawless. She used a variety of products (way more than I do on a regular basis!) to achieve a look I can’t wait to repeat on my wedding day — it’s me, just more polished. It looked great in both artificial and natural light… and Emily was sweet enough to ham it up for a picture!

But, it wasn’t all so easy. Less than two hours after my trials — while just relaxing at home — my updo started falling out. A short while later, big pieces of hair randomly hung sloppily from my once-neat hairstyle. I phoned Natalie immediately, expressing my anxiety. And, she immediately agreed with my concerns, and suggested we do another trial — this one complimentary — so she could figure out how to manage my fine hair properly.

So, this past weekend, I headed over to Natalie’s apartment. She told me she wanted to shampoo and blow-dry my hair, to give it extra body. And then, we attempted the woven bun again (but this time placed the style a little lower) — and posed for a “candid” shot together.

Nope, still not my veil…

After the second trial, I hid out at Mama and Daddy Bruschetta’s for the afternoon, since I don’t want Mr. Bruschetta to see my wedding day hair yet. On the day-of, we’ll take the bun a bit lower still — aiming for it to fall right between my ears — and Natalie’s confident the style will hold even better (though I’m happy to report it stayed up perfectly all day!) and have more of a woven look, with this slightly altered placement. I love how, from the front, this style looks classic and somewhat retro — I feel like I’m channeling Holly Golightly — but from the back, it’s crazy and whimsical.

Any other fine-haired girls out there? What are your tips for a successful updo? And, did it take more than one trial for you to get your hair and/or makeup looking wedding-day ready?