Part Deux- A Hair Raising Experience
And so the lack of sleeping began. Not only did we get home late from the rehearsal dinner, all the girls were scheduled to meet at Christie & Co. Salon in Bay Terrace for our 9 o'clock hair and nails appointment. Mom and I were the first to arrive as usual, everyone else coming from my aunt and uncle's house. When we got there, we asked the boss lady if anyone else was there and she kinda got snooty on us. She was a real piece of work, yelling at all her employees. I guess she was freaking out cause she had an entire bridal part to work with, but still... I felt more sorry for them than for her. So first, I had my first ever pedicure. I picked out a light pink, since they didn't have any lilac (I found out later that my aunt had a bottle from a wedding she was in, but ah well. It looks more natural anyway). It was weird with putting my feet in the water, but pretty relaxing, I guess. I was sitting next to the bride, so we were chatting and stuff. Then I got my first manicure, which wasn't as bad as I feared, since I didn't really have a lot of cuticles, so no blood was drawn. She should've put a second coat on though, since it started chipping that day and now most of my nails are half peeled already.
But the big worry of the day was with my hair. All of us were getting "updos," as they called them, which bothered me for some reason, but whatever. I had wanted something similar to my prom hair style, but I didn't have a picture, so I just let her do what she would. I had my eyes closed throughout the procedure, 1) because I was afraid to see it, lest I looked really terrible, and 2) because I didn't want to get hairspray in my eyes. The result was, while not horrible, not exactly what I would have liked. Mom said it was too severe and I looked like Olive Oil. I thought I looked older and not exactly in a good way, a feeling which progressed as the day wore on. But all the other girls seemed to like it. Both the other Jennifer and I had this swept over part thing, which I think looked a lot better on her than it did on me. All in all, I would've rather went to my own place, which not only looked better but was a lot cheaper too. The whole thing cost a pretty penny. Fortunately, my dad lent me money, although with a written contract to promise to pay him back. No kidding. I'm glad I'm working this week. So after that we just had to wait until everyone else was done. Noelle looked really pretty in her veil, she was the only one who had it sort of down. Although Sarah, the groom's cousin and the youngest bridesmaid of all of us, being a year younger than me was in curls that were like hanging down. She didn't like it that much, so she was fixing it herself-- she works at a salon where she lives in Jersey and has done stuff of the sort-- She did her own make-up and then when the flower girl came, she did her hair up in curls. She did a really good job with that. She was in charge of repairs and hair-sprayed us once more before we left for the ceremony.
Once hair was done, we returned to the house for lunch and the make-up artist, who came a bit late, which was unfortunate, since the photographer came early. She could only do one of us at a time, so the rest of were just hanging out. We watched some of my English soap opera obsession, Days of Our Lives, during which I filled everyone in on what was going on. They were quite impressed when I predicted Hope was going to faint before she did it (not quite a feat, as I'd had the priviledge of seeing the previews the day before and it was the end of the episode). We also spent time trying to calm Noelle, as her husband, who as I said went home to Jersey, called to tell her they needed to give the deejay a large amount of money in cash, and would she go to the bank as he had to pick up Sarah's shawl, which she'd forgotten at her house and for some reason couldn't do both. She was naturally livid, but we were laughing about how silly it would be for her to go to the bank in the veil- they'd think she was a runaway bride or something- and also her choice of words to him in describing the hectic situation- "We're in crisis here", which became the catch phrase of the day. I was put in charge of basketing the programs and making sure the butterflies stayed alive until we needed them. We kept listening at the box to see if we could hear them moving. Eventually, we released one as a test, which made Maria, the flower girl, very excited and keen to try it herself.
As my cousin Claudia anticipated, getting dressed ahead of time, the photographer was early to catch action shots of us getting ready. This was especially troublesome for me, as I was the last to get my make-up done and so was no where near ready. It didn't help that the make-up artist was distracted by having to move her van out of the neighbor's driveway. But it was eventually finished, so we went to help Noelle get into her dress without messing up her hair, before getting dressed ourselves. Then me and her friends got dressed in my aunt's bedroom (Sarah also dressed ahead of time, since she had to do the flower girl's hair). They were joking that I was a grown-up since I was the only one able to dress (mostly) on my own. I was in charge of everyone's shawls, since we were wearing them like jackets for church. Mom says I did it wrong, since most of ours were folded in half, but they looked fine. We had another missing shawl dilemma, as Claudia, who is living in Virginia for grad school and thus didn't try on her dress when it was picked up, couldn't find the shawl to go with it. At first we thought it didn't come with one, since she had a diferent style dress, as well as being a light lilac instead of our darker lavender, but it said on the recent that there was a shawl. It turned out to be still in the place and I had to send my parents to go retrieve it, since by that time the photographer was taking pictures and such. He got some nice shots of the bride and the flower girl outside, and I hope the one with me and my cousin alone came out well. We had to pull my uncle up from the basement, (he spent most of the day hiding from the rest of us) to take pictures and we went in search of my cousin's something blue- her garter- and her perfume, which we never did locate. Then the limo guy came way early to "Get her to the church on time" (heh heh, couldn't resist). Little Maria was very enthusiastic about the ride, although it was upsetting to see her with her feet propped up on a case of beer (the guys had used the limo before us and got an early start apparently). And now, stay tuned for Episode III: Revenge of the Slit!
But the big worry of the day was with my hair. All of us were getting "updos," as they called them, which bothered me for some reason, but whatever. I had wanted something similar to my prom hair style, but I didn't have a picture, so I just let her do what she would. I had my eyes closed throughout the procedure, 1) because I was afraid to see it, lest I looked really terrible, and 2) because I didn't want to get hairspray in my eyes. The result was, while not horrible, not exactly what I would have liked. Mom said it was too severe and I looked like Olive Oil. I thought I looked older and not exactly in a good way, a feeling which progressed as the day wore on. But all the other girls seemed to like it. Both the other Jennifer and I had this swept over part thing, which I think looked a lot better on her than it did on me. All in all, I would've rather went to my own place, which not only looked better but was a lot cheaper too. The whole thing cost a pretty penny. Fortunately, my dad lent me money, although with a written contract to promise to pay him back. No kidding. I'm glad I'm working this week. So after that we just had to wait until everyone else was done. Noelle looked really pretty in her veil, she was the only one who had it sort of down. Although Sarah, the groom's cousin and the youngest bridesmaid of all of us, being a year younger than me was in curls that were like hanging down. She didn't like it that much, so she was fixing it herself-- she works at a salon where she lives in Jersey and has done stuff of the sort-- She did her own make-up and then when the flower girl came, she did her hair up in curls. She did a really good job with that. She was in charge of repairs and hair-sprayed us once more before we left for the ceremony.
Once hair was done, we returned to the house for lunch and the make-up artist, who came a bit late, which was unfortunate, since the photographer came early. She could only do one of us at a time, so the rest of were just hanging out. We watched some of my English soap opera obsession, Days of Our Lives, during which I filled everyone in on what was going on. They were quite impressed when I predicted Hope was going to faint before she did it (not quite a feat, as I'd had the priviledge of seeing the previews the day before and it was the end of the episode). We also spent time trying to calm Noelle, as her husband, who as I said went home to Jersey, called to tell her they needed to give the deejay a large amount of money in cash, and would she go to the bank as he had to pick up Sarah's shawl, which she'd forgotten at her house and for some reason couldn't do both. She was naturally livid, but we were laughing about how silly it would be for her to go to the bank in the veil- they'd think she was a runaway bride or something- and also her choice of words to him in describing the hectic situation- "We're in crisis here", which became the catch phrase of the day. I was put in charge of basketing the programs and making sure the butterflies stayed alive until we needed them. We kept listening at the box to see if we could hear them moving. Eventually, we released one as a test, which made Maria, the flower girl, very excited and keen to try it herself.
As my cousin Claudia anticipated, getting dressed ahead of time, the photographer was early to catch action shots of us getting ready. This was especially troublesome for me, as I was the last to get my make-up done and so was no where near ready. It didn't help that the make-up artist was distracted by having to move her van out of the neighbor's driveway. But it was eventually finished, so we went to help Noelle get into her dress without messing up her hair, before getting dressed ourselves. Then me and her friends got dressed in my aunt's bedroom (Sarah also dressed ahead of time, since she had to do the flower girl's hair). They were joking that I was a grown-up since I was the only one able to dress (mostly) on my own. I was in charge of everyone's shawls, since we were wearing them like jackets for church. Mom says I did it wrong, since most of ours were folded in half, but they looked fine. We had another missing shawl dilemma, as Claudia, who is living in Virginia for grad school and thus didn't try on her dress when it was picked up, couldn't find the shawl to go with it. At first we thought it didn't come with one, since she had a diferent style dress, as well as being a light lilac instead of our darker lavender, but it said on the recent that there was a shawl. It turned out to be still in the place and I had to send my parents to go retrieve it, since by that time the photographer was taking pictures and such. He got some nice shots of the bride and the flower girl outside, and I hope the one with me and my cousin alone came out well. We had to pull my uncle up from the basement, (he spent most of the day hiding from the rest of us) to take pictures and we went in search of my cousin's something blue- her garter- and her perfume, which we never did locate. Then the limo guy came way early to "Get her to the church on time" (heh heh, couldn't resist). Little Maria was very enthusiastic about the ride, although it was upsetting to see her with her feet propped up on a case of beer (the guys had used the limo before us and got an early start apparently). And now, stay tuned for Episode III: Revenge of the Slit!