Before the Big Day

Here’s a look into us getting ready

Before the big day, the wedding, my mom and I went to get our nails done – we don’t often do this so it was a fun little way for us to splurge and spend some time together.  We stopped into Salon Vivace in Treesdale.  The girls were fabulous and we talked and laughed the whole time.

To get ready for the wedding, my maid of honor and I met my nieces at Bella Rae Hair Salon.  We were so excited.  About two weeks before, I had done a trial run, but when I got there that day, I through Melanie for a loop and asked for something different.  She didn’t miss a step.  My nieces had their hair all planned out and soon were all being fawned upon and treated like princesses.  I have to admit, after years of bad salon experiences, I started cutting my own hair.  When my entire family told me they were going to and loved Mel, I gave her a try and she has become the one for me.

 

Then we came back to the house, where my brother’s girlfriend did my and my maid of honor’s makeup, flawlessly.  Natalie is currently working with Lancome in New York and she is crushing it.  She’s so talented at doing makeup not just marketing it too.  We felt like ourselves in the makeup, it was comfortable and we looked amazing.

 

I never realized how much I would actually enjoy getting my makeup done.  Confession: I almost never wear makeup.  Before the big day, and Natalie teaching me how to apply makeup, I legitimately didn’t know what I was doing.  Growing up my mom never let me use too much because she told me it would clog my pores and I had young healthy skin.  I’m thankful for her wisdom, but it did leave me as a working adult with no idea how to do makeup.  As my dad said once, when I tried to put makeup on it looked like war paint.

Both my maid of honor and I have sensitive skin so we don’t wear a lot of make up.  That and my maid of honor’s family heritage is so Irish, her freckles have freckles.  I’ve always been an odd blend of tan with freckles thanks to my German/Irish mix.

While doing our makeup – we enjoyed some loverly DaBella’s subs that I didn’t think we would need, but thank God my fiancé thought differently, and some champaign.  Don’t worry Father Mike, I promise it was just a smidge.

Then we got dressed…

And since Murphy couldn’t be in the church with us…we snagged these socks before the big day.  I didn’t know that Chris was planning to wear them but it made it so much sweeter.

My dress…

Before the big day, my grandmother’s jewelry sat in my jewelry box patiently waiting.  Now I was ready and finally able to give my Grammy the tribute she deserves, and wear her necklace and earring on my wedding day.  Sweet story: My dad bought these earrings and necklace on one of his first big business trips.  It was in Japan and the roses are carved from deer antlers.  When my Grammy died, she gave them to me, along with her Mother’s Ring.  I wore them to one dance in High School and then squirreled them away for my wedding. Over the years my mom snuck in and grabbed them, and as a present she had the earrings converted posts for me so I wouldn’t be afraid to lose them.

Isn’t the detail on the dress fabulous? When I took it to The Fitting Room in Ligonier to have it taken in a bit, the ladies were fawning over it.  If you need something tailored, and are in or around the town, I highly recommend these women and their skills.  If you knew how overly constructed a dirndl is and having never worked with one before, they were delicate, they were thorough and it turned out beautifully.

Then it was on to first looks, in the backyard.  I know many people wait for the wedding to see each other for the first time, but we were doing everything so non-traditional for the US (very traditional for Germans) anyway that we decided to have a more intimate moment.

After, we got ready to leave for the church.  But there were a few final details to take care of before we did so.

Even if the church and reception venue allowed Murphy to come, it would have been chaos.  He cannot be apart from us and would have spent the entire time crying while some poor shmuck tried to handle him…and he is strong.  So we left him at home, and in peace…with people checking in on him to let him out.  Thank you Joe!

So we took a picture of him, and wrote our guests a note, asking them to sign the photo and wish his parents well as they start their new lives together.  He’s quite the dapper dog.