May 24, 2015 will forever be one of happiest days of my life. Its the day I married my best friend in front of all the people I love. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect ceremony and reception.
I guess you could say I was a more easy going bride. I had never really given the details of my wedding much thought. The only thing I knew was my dress had to be perfect and the music had to be killer!!
My maid of honor took initiative and booked an appointment with Davids Bridal. I was about 8 months out and I hadn't even thought about dress shopping but she did her homework and told me a wedding dress can take anywhere from 3 to 5 months to receive from the date you order it. So future brides make sure you start shopping for a dress at least 6 months before your wedding date. David and I had come up with a $2,000 budget for my dress, which in my eyes was more than enough. When I showed up to my appointment with my MOH I had no clue what type of dress I was looking for. All I knew was that I didn't want lace on my wedding dress. Don't ask me why but I think I said that so I didn't look like a total unprepared bride-to-be at my appointment. She gave us time to browse the aisles of never ending gowns. I felt overwhelmed and wanted to leave. My MOH had suggested a strapless fit and flare dress or a mermaid style dress. She was talking but I had no idea what any of that meant. Thank god one of us was prepared! While we were browsing my MOH pointed to this beautiful dress in a picture they had displayed and I told her thats probably an old picture and they don't carry that dress anymore. She asked anyway and they did have it. I tried it on and I think we both knew it was the one.
After the dress comes the shoes. At first I wanted to wear 2 or 3 inch heels because I'm so tall already (5'9) that I didn't need any added height. I looked and looked but I couldn't find any heels that would go perfectly with my dress. After talking to a few close friends I decided to expand my search to any heels under 5 inches. Wow did that open up a whole new world of fabulousness!! In my search I discovered Blue by Betsey Johnson which is a bridal shoe line. I loved her unique idea of adding a blue sole to all her heels because it killed two birds with one stone. My bow heels from the collection became my something blue for the wedding.
I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I started searching for a makeup artist. I knew that I needed him/her to travel to me on the day of my wedding and to transform me into a better version of myself. That was a huge factor for me because I didn't want someone to transform me into someone my fiancé wouldn't recognize walking down the aisle. I started my search online looking on yelp for artist's in Laguna Beach. I would browsed website after website and I kept gravitating towards looking on their Instagram page. I couldn't find anyone that matched the style I was going for so I expanded my search to Instagram. I found Leslie (@Leslie_Love) on Instagram and I knew by the way she did makeup on herself that she was a true artist. I decided on her for my big day because on the day of my trial she was so sweet and very down to earth plus her makeup skills were amazing!!! On my wedding day Leslie took her time on everyone who was in my wedding party and I was saved for last. She made sure I would be done on time and even fixed my hair because my hairstylist had left and I was not fully happy with the way my hair had come out. I would 100% recommend her to every one of my friends and family and I will definitely be using her again!
Wedding Dress: Oleg Cassini via Davids Bridal / Heels: Blue by Betsey Johnson (similar here) / Head Piece: Borrowed from hairstylist
Hope you enjoyed this very personal post!
XO,
Shirley
