On the anniversary of the day Brian proposed, Angela Stott, the masterful photographer who shot our wedding, sent us the link to our wedding album online. Great timing, right? We spent the evening remembering our wedding day – it couldn’t have been a more perfect way to celebrate the day we decided to become husband and wife.

I’m SO excited to share them all with you, but I have to figure out how in the world to split them up – while I loved looking at them all at once (and on repeat over and over again!), you probably would get a little overwhelmed… So, I’ll start chronologically, but I can’t promise I won’t jump around!

The day started with getting ready. I had my bridesmaids and mom helping me, and boy did I need them! Not only did they help me pull everything together, but they helped me to remember to breathe as I got more and more excited about the upcoming ceremony. While we had a beautiful cabin to get ready in, the light was too perfect outside. So, Angela asked me if I would be okay getting ready out there. While I was a little nervous about stepping out onto the porch in my under-thingies, I decided that I wanted to do this right, which meant I should probably listen to the professional. Plus, my cabin was somewhat hidden from view, so I wasn’t too worried about people seeing me. [I did end up flashing an unsuspecting wedding guest, but fortunately it was one of Brian's mom's fabulous friends and she just chuckled about it with me later... could have been a lot worse!]  So, I bravely stepped outside and my mother and Maid of Honor helped me get into my dress.

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With four months to go, we’re moving full steam ahead! Here’s a post to catch you all up on what’s been happening in my neck of the woods.

{Photo from here}

After a long debate and many nights of arguments ending in “harumpf!”, we booked our tickets to Japan for our honeymoon. We plan to spend 10 days, half of them in Tokyo, half of them in Kyoto. (For anyone who is researching honeymoons, the ladies and gents of EAD suggested some fabulous locales in this post!) The honeymoon, by far, has produced the most amount of conflict in our relationship out of any other aspect in the planning process. We weren’t seeing eye to eye on many things.

Mostly I was getting stressed out about our dollar not stretching in more expensive cities that he wanted to visit, and I really did not want to stay in hostel-like conditions on our honeymoon to compensate for high airfare prices. He finally swayed me by promising no hostel-like conditions (still to be determined where we’ll stay…), sending me a ramen guide from the NY Times, and noting that I would get to 1. visit the Studio Ghibli Museum, 2. see some Hiroshige prints that I studied in college, and 3. be surrounded in kawaii. I started to get excited too, despite all the arguing and hair that was pulled. Maybe I’ll see you there Abby!

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So, on the big day (third big day if you’re counting), I had a bridesmaid tea with my ladies and our mothers & grandmothers and then we were off! And running behind. I think I took the whole “getting married beforehand means less stress” thing too seriously, and the tea didn’t get kicked off right on time so we were a little rushed but once we made it to the chapel things felt great.

Yes, I committed the coat hanger sin. I had changed the coat hanger after san francisco just to make sure it would stay on the hanger and forgot to change it. Ugh. You really can’t see it though, so I’m thankful for that.

That’s right. Three pictures of my shoes. That’s what you get when you’re dealing with me. I really like the white on white and kind of want to incorporate it in my house when/if I get one.

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Yes, I woke up to rain on my wedding day. Every bride’s worst fear. I laid in bed for 20 minutes, listening to the raindrops hit my window, but I felt surprisingly serene.

Then it was off to Escape Salon, where all of my best girls met me for primping and pampering. The salon staff couldn’t stop talking about the weather. Three women said it rained on their wedding days, and they’re happily married. Two women said it did not rain on their wedding days, and they’re divorced. Of course everyone said it’s good luck. I always figured that was just to console the brides facing wet weather, but maybe there’s some truth to the statement after all!

Despite the many attempts to turn the weather into a positive circumstance, I could not help but pray. “Please stop raining. Please stop raining. Please stop raining.”

{photo credit to bridesmaid}

As much as I wanted to believe the rain would stop, I also knew I had to be prepared. And so I asked my bridesmaids to stop at Boscov’s on the way to Lauxmont Farms and pick up as many tan colored umbrellas as they could get their hands on. I thought these would nicely compliment the red ones we had purchased earlier that week.

And then we were off to the wedding venue! The third floor of the stone house was reserved for us, and once we reached it, the mothers and bridesmaids got to work arranging the dresses and accessories.

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Although I love fashion and adore shopping, wedding dress shopping was a different story. It took me a while to actually want to go dress shopping, but when I went, it was easy and fun. My mom and I met in Nashville (halfway between Memphis and Louisville) and I had made three appointments. The first was at The Bride Room and although I didn’t ultimately get my dress there, the experience could not have been better. I recommend it to anyone in the area.

While at The Bride Room, I fell in love with Monique Lhullier’s Monet dress, but it was out of my budget. Although I didn’t get that dress, I then had my heart set on a lace dress, which made the rest of the search much easier. I now knew what I wanted when I went into stores and could be much more efficient. I ultimately settled on this dress from Mikaella Bridal:

I have long hair (a few inches below my shoulders) and would have loved to leave it down, but since I knew it was going to be so hot out, that wasn’t an option. I was also open to the idea of wearing a flower in my hair. I found this bride’s photo on Our Blog of Love, which I loved and took with me to my hair trial…

I decided to let the ladies in our wedding choose the black dress of their choice. This was a personal choice and something I decided not to be picky about. I love the look of matching bridesmaid dresses, but it just wasn’t necessary for me. As for the guys, Matt and I liked the idea of everyone wearing black suit tuxes and our fathers wearing traditional tuxedos.

You’ll see the finished product later this week!

How are you outfitting your bridal party?

There was another bride at the salon for my hair trial – she was with her mom and bridesmaids. They were sipping mimosas and enjoying bagels with the stylists, taking turns having their hair done. The bride had a pretty veil and really cute short hair, super shiny and full of volume. There she is in the corner behind me – bride and bride-in-training.

I really liked how my hair turned out for the test run. But it didn’t stay “up” very well, partly because I have a ton of unruly hair, partly because it had been messed with too much, and partly because it needed better pins. Those pins shaped like a U never work for me – do they for anyone? I need the grippy ones you have to pry open, and an entire can of hairspray.

And here’s the last of the difficult questions. Hairstyle chosen, menu approved, timeline set, song list delivered. But what color will I paint my fingernails?

Dear Future Julia,

Please stop buying neutral nail polishes. You have too many, and you are not very good with minor decisions.

xoxo,
Julia

Tomorrow is the big day!

I have straight hair.  Thick, fine, long straight hair that doesn’t hold a curl for more than ten minutes.  Oh, also I twirl my hair so if there are any stray pieces on my wedding day they will end up being long, straight, strings hanging from my head – boy, doesn’t that sound attractive!  And to make matters worse, I have never successfully had my hair “done” by a professional – they always underestimate the amount of hair/type of hair I have and it ends up looking a hot mess.

I could tell this was going to be a major task for the poor soul I hired to do my hair for my wedding.  So, I decided not to rely on a person at a salon up in Cashiers who would only see me the day of – I needed a practice run, and as it turns out, I needed several practice runs.  I talked to my regular hair stylist who has been cutting my hair for the last five years and thus understands my issues, but she doesn’t really do “up ‘dos”… Luckily, she has a friend whose bread and butter was in wedding hair and I contacted her immediately.

Our first trial went badly. Very badly.  She spent probably two hours curling, teasing, pinning, etc. to no avail.  I left with no ‘do and pretty soft curls that were straight by the time I got home – Brian said “I thought you were going to get your hair done?” when I got home… Fortunately she was not discouraged, in fact she was even more motivated to conquer my hair and make sure it was what I wanted on my wedding day.  We scheduled another time to meet up for a trial and this time… SUCCESS!  Here are the pictures of the ‘d0:

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I’ve put my face on a beauty regimen, which is something I have never done before.  I’ve always had pretty clear skin, which means that I totally neglect my face (I’m ashamed to admit that I used to only wash my face in the shower, even if I had been wearing makeup – yikes!).  I always felt pretty okay with this system because I never really wear make up (out of laziness mostly – if I know there are going to be pictures taken, I wear makeup, that’s pretty much the only thing that will motivate me – I mean, I need to look good on Facebook, right?!) and I’m diligent about wearing sunscreen.  I just didn’t see the point in spending a lot of money on something I thought I didn’t need.

This all changed when I received the gift of a facial at my local salon as an engagement present – I think it was for the relaxation/pampering benefits more than the “your face needs help” benefits, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself!  During my facial, I chatted up the lovely esthetician who told me that people who have good skin tend to neglect their face and end up having bad skin sooner than those who have temperamental skin growing up!  Shocking!  This scared the bergebers out of me and I quickly started peppering her with questions about products, techniques, routines, etc.  She was most helpful and also told me that I would be happy about this at my wedding because my skin will be predictable – no breakouts at the wedding! Yea!

I purchased Dermatologica products – Daily Microfoliant, Special Cleansing Gel, Sheer Moisture Face Lotion, and Multivitamin Body Block.  I have loved how my face has reacted to this new regimen, and I especially love the exfoliant.  My face just feels more fresh and like I have a sort of glow about me – and who wouldn’t want to glow!

Have any of you out there started a beauty regimen for your wedding or for your life in general?  If you happen to be like I was, I recommend getting on board!

After being unsuccessful at finding a hair and makeup person to return my emails, I luckily found Uyen Tran and had a fantastic trial! She spent three hours with me and I’m so happy with how the trial came out.

This was my inspiration:

Hair Inspiration

Makeup Inspiration (pink lips and cheeks and lots of false lashes!)

And this is what she miraculously did with my hair and face…

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I just wanted to let you know, in case you wake up to a zit somewhere dangerously close to the big day, that I found something that worked for me!

image source

I always use the neutrogena on-the-spot benzoyl peroxide (because it’s hard to find the cheaper off brands with a comparably low percent, and 10 percent dries skin out which can make it more irritated and break out more!!). I put it all over my face every night and dare the zits to come out. Somehow they still do when I’m stressed. And with wedding planning I’m definitely stressed.

So last night before bed I decided to dab a whole big blob of it onto a stubborn under the skin painful zit that had worried me for a few days. I didn’t rub it in. When I woke up, it had gone down completely! Me=impressed!

I’ve heard that toothpaste can dry out zits and I think I even tried that when I was younger. And a wedding coordinator told me that the men’s toner at the clinique counter (4 or 5) is stronger and that if you hold a q-tip with that stuff on it to a zit for a few minutes it’ll go away in a few hours. Good to try for ones you wake up with.

What are your little beauty secrets?

I’m going with lipcolor #1. To refresh your memory:

versus

There were definitely way more votes for #1, 18 versus 10. It was really fun to see the comments pour in, I just got a blackberry and the entire weekend I was getting messages about my lip-color! It was like all my girlfriends were hanging out with me. The comment that initially won me over was Dawn who said,

“absolutely number 1!!! i can totally tell a difference between the two. i’ve worked as a makeup product developer for over 15 years so i spend my days analyzing tones of colors. number 2 is way too yellow for you and doesn’t photograph very well. number one is brighter and looks amazing with your eye color & skin tone!!!”

Plus Garrett thought he liked that one better as well, from seeing me wear both, until I said, “are you sure?” and then he wasn’t at all. So cute.

And, I promise to do a makeup tutorial soon for Lydia Joy, though I must say I haven’t mastered keeping my face from getting shiny with makeup yet. My face challenges powders and usually wins. I probably need to rediscover those oil absorbing sheets I was obsessed with in middle and high school.

Okay, here are the two choices. Both are Covergirl outlast and in the berry family. The first is timeless ruby, and it seems a bit more magenta/fuchsia to me. The second is wine satin and it’s a little more red. I know they aren’t that different, but humor me. It’s a big decision.

pardon that dorky expression on the first face, I’m not a good photography subject and besides that, Garrett makes me laugh.

So, number 1 or number 2?

Oh, and stay tuned next week when I will hopefully have my hair dyed (eek!) something resembling my natural blonde color (which is very much alive in about half of my hair, and while I call it “golden blonde” it’s a little bit brassy/dirty).