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Bride’s Outfit I: Head wear, hair, and make-up

Before I tell you about my dress (which might not happen until I get to my re-caps as M might read this now) I thought I’d look at ideas for head wear, hair and make-up. I started to collect images which I like for head wear and veils and have collated some of them into the board below. As you can see, peacock feathers feature predominately, as does the bird cage veil. Which is why it might surprise you to know that I have decided not to wear anything like this at all in the church, rather be all white (except my shoes) and wear an elbow length traditional veil instead.

hair-and-headpiece
{Images top row L-R: Birdcage veil from Style Me Pretty;  photo by Leigh Miller, headpiece by Sweetsnlo, Kate Triano, headpiece by Unveiled Bridal Designs;
Images bottom row L-R:  Headpiece by Boring Sydney, photo by Jennifer Behr, hat by Emily-London, birdcage veil via Style Me Pretty;
Image centre: Portobello}

As I have said before, our general theme is that it has to be vintage, recycled, bought from a charity shop/e-bay/etsy or on sale. I think the veil might be one of the few exceptions to this. I was going to make my own using an ikea net curtain (much nicer than it sounds and a bargain at £1.50) but T, my bridesmaid, sister-in-law-to-be and fashion designer extraordinaire stepped in and said she would like to help me make the veil and would give me the silk tulle for my birthday. We have ordered the samples and looked at some ideas, so will share that with you when it is finished.

That said, I only plan to wear the traditional veil for the ceremony. Once we are in the car on the way to the reception I plan to do a quick change, swapping my white belt for one that matches my shoes and my veil for something else. Only I can’t decide what. A birdcage veil? A peacock feathered headband, a peacock feathered hat? The possibilities are endless and I just can’t decide. Perhaps I can incorporate the two for the best of both worlds.

Make-up wise, I went for my first trial yesterday. The girl doing my make-up is a good friend who I met in the desert in Morocco when we were both on a camel trek with our partners. We were in the same land rover that drove from Marrakesh over the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara desert and we all slept in the same berber tent and beat berber drums round a camp fire surrounded by sand dunes as far as the eye could see. It turned out that she lived in London too and we stayed in touch, becoming great friends. She works as a brand manager for Laura Mercier and is also a freelance make-up artist and I was lucky to catch her this week for a trial as it is London Fashion Week here. The lighting isn’t great in these photos which I snapped on my blackberry but hopefully give some kind of idea. This was the first look we tried and I rather like it, as I don’t look too different to my usual self. I shall introduce her when we have made some final decisions (and once she has got her website back up and running as it is down at present being updated).

makeup-beforemakeup after
{Images from Author’s personal collection}

As you can see from these photos, at present my hair is rather dark as it is (a) winter and (b) I haven’t been to the hairdressers for a while. I am trying to decide whether to have it highlighted a shade or two lighter and what style to wear it in. Obviously this decision needs to be made before the final make-up trial as hair colour and style will alter the look of the make-up. It is rather a challenge to create a look which suits the bride, the dress and the occasion and which translates from a formal day ceremony to an evening party.

What hair and make-up and head wear choices has anyone else made?