The Girls Get Glamorous!

I quickly took a shower and grabbed the only piece of clothing that wasn't buried under a bunch of other suitcases and boxes -- the dress I wore to the rehearsal dinner.  Then I started getting ready.  And, away we go!

Tonya, my sister and MOH, putting on the pearl necklace that I got my girls.

Tonya helping me with my hair.

Tonya helping me with my hair as our mom looks on.  :)

Brooke, the flower girl, getting her hair done by her mom.

Doing our own make-up [Tonya, me, Aileen]

Me putting on my mom's pearl bracelet.

Tonya helping me put on my dress. 

Almost on!

My shoes. 

Mom helping me put on my pearl necklace. 

Mom helping me put on my pearl bracelet. 

Putting on my earrings.

Filing my nails.

Putting on my tiara/headband. 

When Howie left to do Philip's photos, we broke out the steamer and de-wrinkled my veil and our dresses.  When that was done, it was time to head to Bube's Brewery for the bridal portraits.  Up next, Philip gets ready.  

Photos courtesy of Howie Hartman of Double H Media.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

We finish setting up the tent
Wedding Day Details: The Favors
Wedding Day Details: The Set-Up 
Wedding Day Details: The Rings

Wedding Day Details: The Chair Signs

Wedding Day Details: Odds & Ends

Unexpected Last Minute Beauty Concerns

First, let's start with the tan line issue.  I tried laying out but it wasn't going away very quickly.  And I was running out of nice weekend days to lay out (when we weren't busy doing a billion other things).  And then I started running out of time.  I didn't want to lay out in the week or two before the wedding because I didn't want to worry about my skin peeling.  

So, I bought this product:

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I wasn't sure how effective it would be but I got it for like $3.50 at Walmart so I thought it would be worth a try.  I have been very pleasantly surprised!  The tan lines on my back are almost non-existent.  I'm still working on the ones on my chest, but I have faith that with a few more days worth of applications, I should be fairly tan-line free.  So, if you're trying to even out your tan or just get a little more tan (which is what I'm doing to my pasty-white legs!), I definitely recommend this lotion!  

Now on to the bad news.  I've been under a lot of stress lately.  I took over another person's job (on top of my own) at work.  Not only that, but the person left the job a mess and I've had to clean up month's worth of mess in order to even get started with it.  It's been very stressful.  Normally, I'd come home and cuddle with my beautiful pups and they'd make me feel better.  Not this week though.  They've been with my Mom (she's the dog-sitter when we're on vacation).  So, I haven't seen them since last Sunday.  And it's incredibly depressing.  

On top of that, we're waiting to hear back if Philip got a promotion.  It would be fantastic, but it would require a very long distance move to Chicago and Philip and I spending a month or more apart from each other (not to mention having to hire and train someone for my job here and find a new job in Chicago).  Oh, yeah.  And we're still planning a wedding from 1,700 miles away (with less than a week to go!).

So, yeah. Stress: I've got oodles of it.  What's that stress doing?  Causing my face to break out like a teenager.  Seriously.  It's ridiculous.  I haven't been wearing make-up and I've been trying to refrain from touching my face.  I'm slowing seeing an improvement.  However, I'm thinking that I will need plenty of concealer on the day of the wedding. 

Next up, I got my last haircut before the wedding on Saturday.  The lady was nice but she cut my hair so that it looks really choppy.  I'm not pleased.  I don't think it's super noticeable (especially since I just dyed it a really dark red color), but it still irritates me.  I may go back and try to have her fix it.  However, that scares me.  I think I'll just see how I feel about it in the next few days.  

Oh, what's that?  You want to see the color?  

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I freakin' love it!  It's the color that I used to dye my hair when I was in high school.  I haven't been able to find it for years and I just happened to see it on the shelf last weekend.  I will try to get a picture of it tomorrow (or rather, later today) when I actually have it styled for work.  

I think that's all for now.  I'm sure hoping that no more "beauty concerns" arise!  And I'm hoping that these will be fixed for the big day.  :)

New Goal

I spent much of the Memorial weekend working outside in our yard: weeding, mulching, cleaning, etc.  It was actually fun.  

Except for the part where I now have a hilariously awesome tan lines.  Well, scratch that.  They're really burn lines.  And they're sore.  But, the pain will go away.  I'm hoping that I can get the lines to go away, too.

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For those of you who don't remember, my dress is strapless and has a low back.  I was wearing a sports bra outside in the sun.  And, my dress will surely show all of my glorious lines.  I'm not normally one for tanning.  However, I also don't want to look ridiculous in my dress.  

Fortunately, I still have 116 days to get rid of these lines.  I will probably be spending a bit more time in the sun and possibly investing in some sunless tanning lotion.  Any suggestions?

DIY Makeup (Trial 1)

I do not wear a whole lot of makeup.  The dry Colorado climate caused me to have breakouts, so I've recently started wearing foundation to cover up some of that.  Fortunately, I've found a pretty good moisturizer and I've got it relatively under control.  Other than that, I typically just put on a little eyeliner.  

On special occasions, I'll put on some eye shadow and jazz it up a little bit.  That's about the extent of my makeup experience.

On our wedding day, I want to look special.  However, I still want to look like me.  I don't want to pay someone to do my makeup (of course!  I don't like paying anyone to do something I can do myself!  I'm cheap frugal!).  

So, I decided to do a makeup trial tonight at home.  This is what I came up with (please excuse my crazy hair.  I didn't do anything with it and it's crazy long -- for me at least!):

I thought it looked pretty good, but the lips looked too pink.  So, I changed that:

Better.  I'm still not really sure about all of it though.  My bangs are much longer than they're going to be for the wedding (they're driving me bonkers!), so the effects on the eyes couldn't be seen very well.  So, I took some shots with my hair pulled back.  I want to make sure that the makeup can be seen on my eyes, but not be too overpowering.  

I think it's pretty good.  I'm pleased for my first trial.  What do you think?  Any suggestions?

The Duck Butt

I am a short-haired bride.  And not what is typically referred to as a "short-haired bride."  My hair is actually short.  I have what my friends lovingly call "the duck butt."  It's short with the back sticking out all over:

When looking for inspiration for what to do with my hair for the big day, I had a huge problem.  When searching "short hair bride," I came up with photos like these:

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Obviously, my hair is much shorter than these styles.  I don't even consider the middle one to be "short" hair!  So, my definition of short is much shorter than that of internet-land.  

I really like my short hair.  I think it looks best on me.  So, I had originally thought of going with my normal duck-butt for the wedding.  Lately I've been toying with growing my hair out a bit.  I haven't had a hair cut since February.  That is an insanely long time for me.  My hair is driving me bonkers.  And, it's in that kind-of in-between phase.  It's shaggy but still short.  I hate it, but so far I've gotten a lot of compliments on it.  

I don't even know what my end goal is at this point.  I haven't seen any hairstyles that have really stuck out to me.  I'm just kind of bored with what I've got.  Normally when I get bored I chop off even more, but last time I had a super short pixie cut.  When I got bored with it, I went back to the duck butt.  So, I figure since I've done a ton of short, maybe I should expand my horizons and do a little bit longer style of "short."  

Honestly, I think this "growing out my hair" phase will last another week or two tops before it drives me completely nuts and then I'll hack it all off again.  But, we will see!  

Wedding Weight

The other day, I was snacking on a "fun size" Snickers (I don't know why they call it "fun" sized... the King size is the real fun size!).  A tenant walked in to pay rent and said something like, "You better watch what you eat!  You don't want to gain weight for your wedding."  

I was appalled.  First of all (for those of you who do not know me), I am really thin.  I'm a size 0.  My weight stays pretty much the same all year round.  I may gain a few pounds or lose a few pounds, but I still look pretty much the same.  

Secondly, what business is it of hers if I gain weight before my wedding or not?  It's not that every bride diets before a wedding (I'm healthy as I am, so there's not really any reason for me to diet).  I am comfortable with the way I look and I take offense to her comments.  It's no wonder most brides feel the need to crash diet and kill themselves with exercise.  People become judgmental about a bride's weight.  

If I'm comfortable with the way I look every normal day, why would my wedding day be any different?  I hate that brides feel so pressured to lose weight for the wedding days (especially the brides who are already thin, but somehow see something completely different in the mirror).  I understand the want to be healthy.  I watch what I eat and take care of myself.  But, I don't do that to change my appearance.  I do that to remain healthy!  

I really wanted to reach out and slap that woman.  This is the reason that women have bad body images.  Other people (I think mostly women) make them feel that they should be different than what they are.  How about you just try to be healthy and love yourself for who you are?  Don't let other people get you down!  

And, because I love them so much, have some Dove beauty campaign commercials.  :)