Getting Ready

I will begin by saying, no wedding morning is complete without mimosas. Besides an agave margarita prepared by the husband, mimosas are my favorite cocktail and the perfect way to calm wedding nerves. 

We had a Noon wedding which means everyone had to be up and at it by 7am. Makeup and hair arrived at 8am as did my sister who came prepared with multiple snack options. Mimosas with chips and hummus are the ideal wedding breakfast, right? 

I absolutely adored my makeup artist Wendy. She is the lead makeup artist for Blush by Wendy Ballance which is part of Studio Wed. Studio Wed is a complimentary wedding planning studio that is comprised of multiple wedding vendors. Food, makeup and photography among others. It is a great concept that I wish I would have discovered earlier on. 

At this point, Wendy had done my make up three times and I 100% trusted her and her talents. She even helped with a "how on earth did makeup get on my dress" and "my hair is pretty but I don't like it" disaster. 

I don't know what I would have done without her. I have seen many brides do their own make up or have a friend do it and all of that pressure would break me. The stress of having it look great, adjusted to take beautiful pictures all day, and having enough time was worth whatever her fee was. Thanks Dad :)  

My mom and sister had their makeup done as well. It was there big day as well... 

I still wasn't happy with my hair because it wasn't what we had practiced. Everyone tells you to do a trial run and I did. I even went the day before for a second trial/needed to look good all day practice run. The bathrooms were not large enough for the style team and all of my bridesmaids to get ready so we set up shop in the kitchen. The kitchen without mirrors. It felt like she was doing the same thing but when I finally looked in the mirror it wasn't. I was devastated but there wasn't enough time to start 100% all over. Lessons learned. 

For my bridesmaids gifts, I gave the ladies these matching robes by Plum Pretty Sugar. When I found them online I knew I had to order them. They are made to order and you provide your wedding date to ensure on time delivery. 

I ordered myself one in white. They are made of cotton and super comfortable. 

I just love how the group pictures turned out with the robes. 

I wish we would have had more time to take additional pictures but the boys were on lock down in their cabin until we went inside. 

One of my favorite parts of the morning was reading the letter Geoff wrote me. It was simple, sweet and nearly made me cry. It was perfect. 

For any future groom, I highly recommend writing your bride a letter. Its an inexpensive touch that will make all of her bridesmaids jealous. 

Growing up I was never a fan of dresses but then I moved to the South. I still recall my first few weeks of college and all of the panic shopping trips for dresses for events. A dress for a football game? Yes. That being said, I now love dresses but I knew I wanted my wedding dress to be simple. Horrible flashbacks to shopping for prom dresses made me realize that I wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to a bridal shop, trying on multiple over priced dresses while being critiqued. So I went online. 

Anyone close to me knows that I have a mild obsession with Jcrew. The clothes fit me well and they have amazing sales. $110 pencil skirt on sale for $30? Yes please. When I found out Jcrew had wedding dresses I knew I had to scope it out. I found one and fell in love with the "picture". It was even below what I had budgeted. DONE. I then remembered that their is a Jcrew distribution warehouse outside Asheville. One quick phone call by my mother later, they were holding the dress for her to pick up. The only negative was that it was about 2 sizes larger than I typically wear BUT it was about 75% off. Now we are below the number my father budgeted. 

Being 5'3", I knew whatever dress I purchased was going to have to be altered. Geoff's mother is amazing with a sewing machine and had a few wedding dress alterations under her belt already and kindly offered. She did an amazing job. It fit perfectly. 

My only complaint was the number of buttons. At one point I asked the photographer to stop taking pictures until they were done. It took forever but they were a pretty detail. 

Shortly after the high of getting ready was over, the nerves set in. 

Today was the day I had dreamed of for my whole life.