A long time ago, when I had time for Pinterest, I pinned the following photo onto my wedding board with the caption, “Love this look for wedding nails!”
Image via Nature Nails by Tenshi no Hana
When full-nail applique kits started becoming popular, I looked for the lacy look I had pinned and couldn’t get out of my mind. Imagine my excitement when Essie introduced their new line of Sleek Stick Nail Appliques, one of which was aptly titled “Embrace the Lace”!
Getting engaged made me do something I needed to do. Really, I should have done it a lot sooner, but once I got engaged I knew that soon time wouldn’t be on my side and I needed to get a move on. I needed to fix my skin.
I never had awful skin as a teenager, just normal teenage skin. A bit spotty, a bit oily, but not really bad acne that I’d seen others suffer with. However, as I got further into my 20s, I realised my skin wasn’t getting any better and with planning a wedding I figured I’d better get a move on to see if I could sort this out.
I made an appointment with my doctor for 9:00 AM so I could go and see her before putting on my makeup. When I walked in the room she asked me what my problem was, and when I told her it was my skin her response was, “Oh good! Because when I saw that I thought ‘well, if she’s not come about that then I will definitely have to mention something!’”
Naturally at first I was horrified—was it really that bad? But then I realised that this could only be a good thing. I had been worried at first that I’d be brushed off and it would be described as “cosmetic” and not really a problem, but she was adamant that we do something “aggressive” to sort this out.
Let me start by saying I must really like this community if I am showing some of the pictures posted below. All for the love of the hive!
Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day, there is just no way around it. It is the day all eyes and camera lenses will be on you. Your hair has to look its best, your teeth should be their brightest, your skin its most flawless. Well, easier said than done. I live in the real world over here—a world where I can’t get a trim and facial every few weeks. A world where sometimes I am so dead tired that I can’t bring myself to take off my makeup before going to sleep. (In all honesty, I’ve gotten better about at least using a cleansing cloth like this.) A world where a bowl of ice cream and a glass of red wine sound like more fun than a plate of broccoli.
I will never be perfect—no one will be. But I am trying my best to be the best version of me I can be, both inside and out. I should say before we begin that I originally planned on including a weight/health section here, but I have so much to say there that it will unfortunately (for me) get its own post. Also, I plan on doing a follow-up post in a few months to see how these treatments worked for me. The main superficial concerns I want to address before my big day are: skin, hair, teeth, and body.
As I mentioned last week, I found my signature scent and was able to snag it for free (holla!!). As I continued to walk through Sephora, I started thinking about Mr. M and how it would be cool (at least in my mind) for him to have a wedding-day scent as well. But Mr. M is not really into “man scents.” The only hint of fragrance on him is his Irish Spring soap and Old Spice deodorant—such a manly man. Actually, the first cologne he ever owned was a bottle of Armani Code for Men I bought him during the first year of our relationship. He ended up wearing it for quite a few months but now, eight years later, I believe it’s sitting in a box somewhere in the basement. Oh well, at least he tried!
So while in the men’s fragrance section, I asked the lady what were the new hot scents for guys and what she would recommend as a wedding-day man scent. The first one she highly recommended was Gucci Guilty for Men.
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Gucci Guilty / Image via Sephora
Hive, this scent is DIVINE—it smells incredible. I couldn’t stop sniffing the scent stick and was instantly hooked.
Next up was Cartier Declaration for Men.
I used to be obsessed with perfume and body scents. I would hit up Bath & Body Works every few months like it was no one’s business and probably owned three or four bottles of fancy perfume at any given time. But when I developed seasonal allergies 10 years ago, strong scents started to irritate the hell out of me and I could no longer stand ones that were too flowery or fruity. The only perfume I could tolerate was Armani Code—it’s a sexy, musky scent that’s my going-out-at-night go-to. I first used it seven years ago and it is still the only bottle of perfume I own.
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Armani Code / Image via Sephora
Back when Jack and I were long distance, he had a little Cushie pillow that he used to sleep with.
One weekend, as I was leaving, he said he’d miss cuddling up to me and so I took out my bottle of perfume and spritzed a bit onto his little pillow.
He curled up to that pillow every night, and I used to refresh the scent every time I visited him.
That was back when I had excess cash to throw around and didn’t wince at the thought of wasting a spritz of not-cheap perfume on a pillow.
Nowadays, I hardly ever wear that perfume. I have a bottle of it on my dresser, but it’s only used for special occasions because I just cannot bare the thought of the bottle being empty. Instead, I will wear every other perfume I own just to avoid using all the good stuff.
But when I do wear that perfume, Jack notices. So I’ve decided to buy myself a new bottle of this perfume to wear on our wedding day.
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Image via The Perfume Shop
I used to bite my nails a lot when I was growing up. In fact, it was when I was 19 and had false nails put on for the very first time that I stopped my habit. When the false nails came off I saw that my natural nails had grown underneath them for the first time ever, and seeing them like that was enough to stop me from biting them ever again.
Seven years later, though, and that’s pretty much the only thing I’ve done for my nails. Not biting them. I don’t get manicures (in fact, when I got false ones that was the first and only time I’d ever been to a salon), and apart from the occasional hand moisturiser, I did nothing.
It was only when I got that shiny ring on my finger that I actually started paying attention to the quality of my nails, what with people grabbing my hand to look at it and all.
For once, I painted my nails, but after a day or so the polish just chipped right off. At first I put it down to tapping keys a lot at work, but then I realised it was actually because the quality of my nails was so poor.
Look at them! Brittle and flaky. Eugh. What have I been doing all these years?!
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Personal photo
If you recall wayyy back (OK, just a few months ago) I detailed my pre-wedding primping in Big Primpin’ Part I and Big Primpin’ Part II. I just wanted to give a quick update on how everything’s been working so far and the new things I’ve added to my regimen.
First off, the best decision I’ve made was to get monthly facials. My face has never looked as healthy or my skin tone as even as it has over the past 12 months. Since I don’t spend a lot on beautifying (I rarely get mani/pedis, only go to the hair salon a few times a year for my perm/relaxer, and get my eyebrows threaded once a month for $9), it was well within my budget to splurge on a monthly facial—and it’s been worth every single penny.
And in addition to drinking a TON more water and getting more sleep, I’ve also been trying to take vitamins as regularly as possible. I take a multi, vitamin D, biotin, and folic acid, and I’d like to think these have contributed to fixing my skin as well.
Another thing that’s worked wonders for my face has been my Olay ProX exfoliating face brush (which I use a few times a week). So with exfoliating in mind, I was in Whole Foods recently and got drawn into the beauty section, which features some great-smelling organic body salt scrubs.
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Various salt scrubs by Woodspirits
I had my hair and makeup trial recently and I have to tell you all, I cannot believe I’ve hit THAT time. Time for a trial and vendor meetings and everything else. The Palm Trees are a little more than one month away and it’s INSANE. After a year and a half of planning, it’s so exciting to be so close.
I digress—this post is about my hair and makeup trial and at the risk of spoiling everything, it was so incredibly successful. First and foremost, I love Nicci, of Bella Brides by Nicci is phenomenal. She is so talented and just knows what she’s doing and how to do it. I’m sure this is par for the course for beauticians, but truthfully, this is the first time that I’m getting my hair and makeup done professionally for an event. In the past, I’ve relied on my friends (who are also talented, don’t get me wrong) and I was just thoroughly in awe of her abilities.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, I love big hair. I’ve always known that I’d want my hair half-up, half-down, big and curly. Of course, as I learned when we searched for both my dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses, sometimes what you think will work just doesn’t. I am so excited to say that this DID work and I’m in love with the result.
I brought Nicci four inspiration pictures, including the following:
photo via Getty Images, found on WomensDay.com
The other three were all Carrie as well, of course. As far as makeup, I had zero inspiration. I told her that I wanted something that really made my eyes pop. She delivered on both counts, in my opinion.
all photos personal
Parts one and two of the “Hairy, Scary Monster story” focused on my incredible anxiety as well as my less-than-comfortable results post-taming.
I am beyond elated to share the details of my follow-up waxing, specifically the one that goes a little like this: IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER!!!
I actually went for the bikini wax this time instead of the Brazilian. Although I was initially going to go Brazilian again, they didn’t have a time slot available that would work for me, and I half chickened out, half took it as a sign. The girl on the phone offered, “We could do a bikini instead?” Hmm…bikini, you say? Cheaper, you say? Less land mass to be irritated and swollen, you say?
A lot of questions on my last post (and PMs I received) related to two of the five Ws—what and where—so I’ve decided to use my MS Paint skills and create a slightly better than stick figure (but not really), somewhat crude illustration to help explain. All potentially offended people please exit now.
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This was all me, baby.
Is it charm, is it poise? No, it’s Hairspray.
A more apt title for this post could have been “Hairspiration,” but this song just kept popping in my head so I decided to try and be clever. 
I am always on the lookout for hair and makeup inspiration pictures (to pin to my “Wedding—EEE!” board on Pinterest, ahem). At this point, I haven’t nailed down exactly what I want my makeup to be like, but I know—and honestly, have always known—what I want my hair to be like.
Mr. Palm Tree and I both share a WTF sentiment at this new craze that has had girls wearing their hair down and straight, like in everyday life, for special events. I have absolutely no clue where this came from, but it makes no sense to me. We both much prefer Princess Giselle’s look in everyday life than the ridiculousness that was her “elegant” look for the ball. (I must have my hubby James Marsden on the brain; after looking at those pictures I YouTube’d “True Love’s Kiss.” Not ashamed, folks, not ashamed.)
True confessions (I do this a lot, huh?): I will never be the person who gets out of bed early enough to perfect hair and makeup and arrive at work impeccable. Quite the contrary, I am the person who barely wakes up with enough time to do enough with her hair and put on enough makeup to arrive at work acceptable. This, of course, is something I feel should carry over to my wedding-day look – although I will undeniably spend much more time and effort on how I look, I still want to look like myself.
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Image via Kristin Newman Designs / Found on A Low Country Wedding / As gorgeous as this is, it would never work for me.
I’ve always known that a half-up, half-down style would suit me perfectly. It will keep the hair out of my face, and I’ll still be able to get curls (something I can almost NEVER sport, ever) and huge volume. My favorite hair has always been giant, country star hair (…foreshadowing… ahem), but pictures like this still look my breath away:
After heavily weighing the pros and cons of waxing “down there,” I decided to grab Bridesmaid Y and go on a trial run.
Both of us were pretty terrified. Being the pro Googler that I am, I had read TONS of horror stories. Skin getting ripped off? Bacteria? I was hoping that, at the very least, I’d scream here and there and be done with it.
First and foremost: we knew that—despite all information telling us otherwise—we had to find courage in liquid form.
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Image via Mad Mex / Mad Mex’s “Big Azz” margarita: 22 ounces of liquid courage
Seriously, you haven’t lived (and by lived, I essentially mean died a terrible morning-after death) if you haven’t had one of Mad Mex’s legendary margaritas.
Down to the nitty gritty we go, folks.
You know that episode of Full House where Stephanie tries to scare Michelle by referring to the haaaaairy scaaaaaary monster? You know, the one that scares the Cookie Monster?
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Image via imgur / This has nothing to do with anything, except that it came up on a Google search and made me laugh.
Well…I’m not talking about him.
How are you spending the day before your wedding? Are you having a rehearsal followed by a rehearsal dinner like us? Are you going to a salon with your bridal party to get pampered? A couple’s massage with your betrothed? Or are you doing something adventurous and random like rock climbing or go-kart racing?
For our big day before the Big Day, Mom Sword will be hosting a luncheon for all of the women in our very small families and the bridal party ladies at her house. It’s called “Lunch with Princess Miss Sword” and it will be a time for me to relax and chat with 17 of my favorite people in the whole world. This is the only event that my FMIL and FSIL will be able to attend since they live in Scotland and weren’t able to attend the bridal showers or other planning events for obvious reasons. Mom Sword wanted them to feel special and included and I know this is going to make for one awesome memory. How often will I get all of these women in the same room again? Plus, it’s a great way to kick off the wedding weekend festivities!!
Immediately after the lunch the bridal party and I will head out to get our nails done at Livvy Nails and Spa.
I’ve said before I’m a bit of a nail salon snob and I’ve gotten spoiled living in Chicago. I have about three salons I alternate between and I’m really weary of trying new places. I decided to use Facebook to ask my Minnesota friends for recommendations of fabulous nail salons and went to check them out when I was in town.
I’m so happy with our choice and so far the owner of Livvy Nails and Spa has been very helpful, and they even have this adorable pink butterfly chair for Littlest C to use. How adorable! I can’t wait!
With my hair & makeup trial coming up in a month, I’ve been scouring the interwebs to find the perfect looks and started off with hairstyles. I pinned ones that would look great with a feather fascinator and veil, like the images below.
Image via The Knot.com
