Not a Ponytail Day

Let's talk about hair shall we? I am just like my mother, I wear my hair in a ponytail just about every.single.day. It's easy, it's out of my face, always stylish and oh yeah it's easy! I cannot do my own hair to save my life, so I can't do anything too complex, (I have no patience). If I have some place to be where I need to look nice, I typically straighten it (which typically only lasts a hour or two before I tie it back) or spend 2 hours attempting to curl it, then get pissed and throw it in a ponytail anyways. So when it came time to envision my wedding day look, I knew without a doubt that my hair would not be down. Nope not happening. There are a few reasons that lead to my decision though:

1. It's just not me to wear it down. 

2. I have REALLY long hair and it easily gets tangled if left down. 

3. It's going to be too hot. Remember hottest month and hottest time of the day for our ceremony.

4. I have naturally curly hair and in July it can get a little (or a lot) unruly if left down.    

So now that I knew I wanted to keep my hair back I had another important decision to make. Who would be the lucky lady to work on taming my mane?!?

Photo via Shrek found Tall Skinny Kiwi

I have worked with quite a few hair stylists however, I don't live in Eau Claire and don't know any stylists there. Originally I wanted to use a really great stylist that I have worked with before from Milwaukee but her travel fees made her outside of my budget, which made me incredibly disappointed. For anyone in the Milwaukee area check out Nola Kahn with, The Beauty Factory. Her team is amazing! 

So needing to find another option I took to Google. Knowing that I wanted to do both hair and makeup, I searched for makeup artists first to ensure I found a place that could do both. I emailed the first couple options that came up on my search and the first one to email me back was In-Style Salon. Colleen called me almost immediately after I sent her my email and was able to accommodate my requests. 

As I do not live in Eau Claire I knew that scheduling my trial could be very tricky. I will be in Wausau, Wisconsin for my bridal shower and since Wausau is an hour and a half away (the closest I will be to E.C anytime soon) I needed to find a stylist that would be willing to travel to Wausau for my trial. Another requirement that I needed met was someone who was comfortable working with hair extensions/hair pieces as Mama Barn has insanely thin hair and would need some added "oomph".  My final requirement was that the team come to us. The Florian Gardens has a bridal suite for us to get ready in so I wanted to be able to utilize it (with such a large bridal party it would be hard to coordinate everyone).

Knowing that I secured a salon that worked best for my needs, I had to send Colleen my inspiration photos to see which of her stylists would be the best fit for me personally. 

Photo via The Knot/Kelly Brown Weddings/Hair by Janelle Bunn/Hairpiece Bridal Accents Couture

I will be wearing a veil and a hairpiece so this style would need to be changed a bit to accommodate those things but it's the exact feel that I am going for. My veil will be worn UNDER my hair style as opposed to over. 

OVER

Photo via Brides/Ken Keinow Photography

UNDER

Photo via style-hair-magazine found Womenhaircolor.com

I prefer the veil clipped/combed(?) underneath. If I am going to go through with having such an intricate design done, I would feel bad covering all that work up, ya know? In my opinion a simpler 'do would be perfect for an over the hairstyle veil, much similar to Mrs. Bicycle's first inspiration photo. 

Thankfully after a few phone calls back and forth Colleen was able to assign me to a stylist she thought would be able to handle the job best. I have my trial scheduled for the morning of my bridal shower** in about a month and am super excited to get to meet Jez. We have been emailing back and forth and she seems like a perfect fit! She was able to offer me the level of service I required and I couldn't be more thankful. Sometimes you just have to ask, you might be surprised to see what your vendors will do to accommodate your needs. You don't get what you don't ask for. 

 Did you have any trouble finding a stylist to best meet your needs? Did you have any needs that were a little out of the ordinary?

P.S I would recommend getting your hair and makeup trial done when you have somewhere to go or something to do. If not, then I would recommend scheduling a lunch date with the girls or a date night with your intended. It doesn't seem right to let all that work go to waste.