Weddingbee Blog

You know that feeling of getting ready for something really fun and important with your best friends? And everyone is running around borrowing makeup, getting help with their hair, laughing hysterically about who-knows-what, and dancing around to the best high school sing-alongs?

That was totally my wedding afternoon.

All the guys and gals of the Jam wedding got ready together in the basement of our venue, which has locker rooms, plenty of mirrors, space to run around, and was far enough away from the gathering guests so they didn’t hear our insane scream-laughs.

My college roommate did my makeup in about five minutes, which we borrowed from everyone else since I forgot all my belongings back at the hotel. Oops! Thank goodness for prepared friends and eye shadow hoarders!

Mr. Jam’s cousin (also one of our greatest friends and a bridesmaid) did everybody’s hair, including giving everyone sweet feather extensions the night before at the hotel while we slathered on green face masks and drank Cupcake wine straight from the bottles. The hotel staff almost kicked us out for being too noisy.

No, really. We almost had to sleep in our cars the night before the wedding AND on the wedding night. More on that later.

Mr. Jam and his dudes got ready and helped each other with their budget-friendly suspenders and bow ties. I don’t think any makeup sharing happened in their area of the basement, though I could be wrong.

Finally, FINALLY, I was ready enough to put on my dress. It fit surprisingly well considering our whole crew ate a giant fast food lunch only hours before the ceremony, which was both delicious and relaxing. And fun, of course.

My only regret of the getting ready phase was that there was a LOT of rushing around. Just 30 minutes before our scheduled first look, I was in work clothes trimming grocery store flowers for ceremony decorations and peeling stickers off dollar store shepherd’s hooks.

In hindsight, we probably should have followed our itinerary more closely; but then again, it felt nice to just have a good time and let things happen organically. The whole day had a similar feel, which we’re OK with.

Coming up next: Our first look and the best-looking wedding party I’ve ever seen.

MORE JAMBOREE RECAPS:

• Our ultra-dancey wedding video trailer