My hair icons

Warning for any guys who happen to stumble onto this blog: this is a girly post! That said, to achieve my Old Hollywood look, we definitely have to spend some time talking about hair, right?

First, let's talk about the stylist. I scouted around for local salons that offered both a space for my girls and I to get ready together and and didn't charge an arm and a leg. No dice. Then, I lit on Plan B: a family friend (Trish) who's been behind the scenes at multiple family weddings, she's done my hair before, her prices are very reasonable, etc. I though, why not ask if she's willing to trapse up to Iowa for my wedding? The worst she can do is say "no." But, I think you know where this is going. She actually said "yes" and will be helping my group get ready in our cozy hotel suite on our big day!

Second, let's look at what we have to work with. Most of my life, I have had long, thick, naturally wavy hair. And at special events, I often convinced someone to tame it into an updo, like Trish did when my sister got married.  But, three or four years ago, I finally drummed up the courage to go short. With the wedding on the horizon, though I've spent the better part of the year slowly growing it out so, I can emulate my glamourous Old Hollywood icons. In chronological order:

And, the goal? Channel one of these movie sirens in a down-do (Maureen O'Hara and Lauren Becall). My hair's just about Lauren's length now.

And of course, I've scouted out some options for my bridesmaids. Check out Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Grace Kelly:

I admit, I had an ulterier motive for looking up these short pictures. If I don't think my hair is long enough by May or if I just can't live with the growing out stage, I figure I can always chop it and go back to short hair. 

What do you think? Should I strive for medium or short hair on my wedding day? If you come across a glamourous hair picture I need to see, let me know!

Help us build our playlist!

If our wedding style is "vintage," then our dance theme is "retro." What's your favorite tune from the 50's, 60's, 70's 80's or 90's? Our super cool DJ service has an online music request system. That means you can add your favorite tune to our dance playlist. Just visit A Fine Affair DJ at http://www.gigbuilder.com/cal/ia/afineaffairdj.nsf/guestlogin.html.

Simply input our wedding date (May 29, 2010) and the following case-sensetive password: SaraErikGuest

Note: As bride and groom, we reserve the right to veto anything we don't like. I'd avoid any current rap or country songs, if I were you. I'll leave you with some photos for inspiration:

 

January blizzards, May flowers?

Yesterday, I worked from home because we had yet another snow storm here in Iowa (and 52 cars in the ditch on my route to work convinced me that was a very smart move). On this cold inhospitable day, my florist or "flower lady," as I like to call her, e-mailed me to shore up the details of our wedding flowers!

So, since I haven't shared these with you yet, let me open with my inspiration photos for our wedding color scheme:

This first picture with the black cocktail dresses and the dark purple tulips. Don't those tulips look so lux?!

And then the combo of purple and white flowers in the second photo has me sold on my second flower color.

Tulips will be the main flower in our wedding, but I love peonies too much to ignore them on my big day. (My sister featured pink and fushia peonies in her wedding and it was gorgeous!) I'm putting my own spin on them and using white peonies to keep in my color scheme. In fact, I'll likely call on my aunts and grandmas gardens to provide some of these beauties.

My bouquet: I want something like this picture only with all purple tulips. I’ve got something in mind for a ribbon on this bouquet. If it doesn’t pan out, a shimmery gold ribbon would be fine.

Bridesmaid bouquets: I’m picturing these with white tulips and purple filler. They can be much less structured than mine (no banana leaves), and the gold ribbon will work with them also.

Altar arrangements: These can be similar to the bridesmaid dresses. I’ll leave the design up to my florist to somehow incorporate all of the wedding flowers from the purple tulips and filler to the white peonies and tulips.

Cake flowers: We’re actually having several round cakes as more of a desert buffet, and a mini two-tier cake for us to cut. The mini-cake will be 8” on the bottom and 6” on the top. I’m picturing purple and white tulips on top and maybe a few blooms on the sides like this picture.

DIY Centerpieces: I’m planning to types of centerpieces to be placed on alternating round tables. Since we last spoke I’ve been busy collecting vintage vases and pedestal candy dishes (see pics).

Centerpiece #1: I’m picturing two purple tulips and one white one in all of my tall arrangements very simply placed in my vases.

Centerpiece #2: My low arrangements are going to be white peony heads floating in the candy dishes. We’ll need about 10 of these as well.

I have 20 vases or candy dishes now and will likely pick up a few more before the wedding, so I don’t think I’ll need to rent any vases.I think this should be simple enough for my wedding party/family to do as long as my flower lady delivers the flowers. Does this seem practical?

I'm very excited about all of this, and can't wait to see it all come together. But I'm trying hard to make it super simple so we can just plunk these down on the tables the morning of the wedding and be golden!